A Dutch group, The Pollinators, called on all Netherlanders to spring into action in the run-up to National Sowing Day on April 22nd to help protect pollinators by sowing the seeds for an epic bee food banquet.
1500 volunteers signed up this year to act as "Bee Food Banks", distribution points for free organic flower seeds. Anyone in the country could contact their local Bee Food Bank to request seeds and then pick them up before National Sowing Day, which this year coincided with Earth Day.
Each seed packet contained 2 grams of seed representing 14 different flowers that are attractive to a wide range of pollinators.
On April 22nd people across the country participated in what amounted to a massive seed sowing festival, with thousands of seeds scattered on balconies, roof terraces, in gardens - anywhere that the seeds might find a welcoming home.
Six weeks later -round about now - the flowers are beginning to bloom. And the bees beginning to alight.
The campaign was designed so anyone can participate, whether in city or country, living in an apartment or with access to a yard. Sound like the Pollinator Pathway?
Says The Pollinators founder Tom van de Beek, "Bees are struggling everywhere and they can be fed everywhere. We started this program in the Netherlands but that doesn't mean it also ends in the Netherlands because the problem is global. If there are people anywhere in the world who want to start the same kind of initiative, then we Pollinators support them wholeheartedly."
Food for thought? And not just for the bees?
The Pollinators are a community and a platform in the Netherlands that mainly focuses on supporting and connecting people and initiatives that protect and stimulate the pollinators and biodiversity.
Thanks to Shawnee Baldwin and Lisa Eldridge of Pollinator Pathway Glastonbury, CT for bringing this inspiring story to our attention.