// Green tip of the month//

With gardening season coming up, I got to thinking- “What is a great way to help a garden?” The first thing that came to mind was composting, which I’ve already shown you all how to do.

After thinking about something I really want to do to help my garden I thought about bee-keeping.

A friend of mine just put a bee-hive in her zero-carbon cabin in the middle of the woods. She has fruit trees and an organic garden she maintains to hopefully sell at the local farmer’s market.

I knew I wanted to have bees someday. To be able to make my own soap and candles and even have honey of my own. But what I didn’t think about was how great they are for the garden! Pollination is huge, especially for the fruit trees and maintaining wild prairie flowers.

So my green tip for this month is to support your local beekeepers and maybe even start a bee kit yourself! You can support local beekeepers by checking out your local farmers markets for their honey or candles or beeswax soaps or, my personal favorite, lip balms!

Bee keeping is much simpler than it sounds, and they are fascinating creatures. Note: it will be a project and it’s just a set-up-and-leave type deal. But bees are wonderful.

Here’s a really great site that can give you the tips and tricks of the trade: http://www.homegrown.org/forum/topics/beekeeping-101-the-first-year

Good luck!