Pollinator Rescue Project awarded a $2500 grant at Casey Farm

Pollinators are in trouble worldwide! As many of you know, without pollinators, one-third of our most nutritious fruits and vegetables will disappear. One thing everyone can do to help pollinators is to plant more diverse sources of food for them. To do their part to prevent this loss, a group of concerned citizens, known as the Pollinator Rescue Project, came up with a plan. Their goal is to establish a pollinator-friendly garden on the grounds of Casey Farm using mostly native pollinator plants. By planting a pollinator garden at Casey Farm, the Pollinator Rescue Project is working to educate the community about the importance of planting pollinator attractant plants. To assist in growing and maintaining this installation the Plum Beach Garden Club applied for and received a $2500 grant from the Bayer Feed a Bee Foundation. Part of the funds will also be used to create and print materials for educational outreach.

The Pollinator Rescue Project, is a collaboration of several local organizations including The North Kingstown Groundwater Committee, The NK Water Department, Casey Farm, Blue Moon Nursery and the Plum Beach Garden Club. They are helping to ensure that local bees and other pollinators are well-fed.

The grant we received to fund this project is part of a two-year, ongoing planting initiative through the Bayer Feed a Bee program. The mission of the Bayer program is to provide a tangible, sustainable solution to the current lack of forage for bees and other pollinators nationwide by awarding $500,000 to organizations in all 50 states by the end of 2018. To date, the program has selected 93 deserving grantees in 36 states and Washington, D.C.! The money is being used for forage projects such as establishing local pollinator plots, integrated vegetation management (IVM) initiatives and habitat restoration programs. The Pollinator Rescue Project is honored to be one of the grantees.

Our heartfelt thanks go to Ed Tarbox of Tarbox Motors and Steve Moran a local real estate developer who donated money for a shell path. We are also grateful for the help of Ken Buteau, his Scout Troop 152, and the scout’s parents, who donated time and effort to install the shell path at our wildflower site at Casey Farm.

In the spring and through the summer we will be preparing the soil. In the fall, we’ll begin planting a new community pollinator garden that will provide much needed forage to serve as nutrition and habitat for these important insects and will educate the public about this critically important issue.

If you’d like to volunteer to help, please feel free to join us! I’d be happy to speak with you. Carol Gjelsvik 295-0855 for the Pollinator Rescue Project from the Plum Beach Garden Club. Thanks!

Carol Gjelsvik, 30 Cecil Avenue, North Kingstown, RI 401-295-0855