Pollinators Bees in Greenfield!
TAKE THE DETOUR FOR THE BEE TOUR! Do you live in Greenfield or will you be visiting? You can take the free Bee Promenade created by ECHOES. Download the free app on your Apple or Android mobile phone and look for audio walks near you to find the GPS-guided audio walking tour that will take you to multiple bee-related sights and historical markers around Greenfield. Bring a pair of headphones for the best experience.
Bees, bees, bees! Greenfield LOVES the bees! Why?
First, let's have our friends from the Greenfield Bee Fest tell us about the Greenfield connection:
Reverend Lorenzo L. Langstroth, the “Father of Modern Beekeeping,” was pastor at Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts from 1843 to 1848. This “citizen scientist” invented and patented the modern moveable frame beehive in 1852. Langstroth’s design, based on his discovery of “bee space,” is still in use worldwide. He also wrote the first beekeeping manual, Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee, which was printed next door to the church the following year, and is now in its 40th edition.
And why should we care about bees and beehives? Because a third of the world's food production - fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts - depends on the pollination bees provide! In addition, bees serve as proverbial canaries in a coalmine; their health alerts us to changes in our environment. Greenfield, located in the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, is part of a significant agricultural region that depends on a healthy population of pollinators such as bees to grow its many crops.