March 6, 2025
By Frances Chamberlain
It’s almost spring, and time for the air to fill with flying insects, moths, and bees. While we may find them annoying, they are necessary to our environment. In fact, according to John Markelon, an environmental educator from Litchfield, about 80 percent of a human’s calories come from ecological pollinator foods. And pollinators are part of the food chain for all other animals.
All these moths, wasps, bees, and even flies help to pollinate plants. The insect collects pollen from a flower, then flies to another plant, where the pollen sticks and helps to make other fruits and flowers. Foods that depend on pollination include apples, oranges, coffee, peaches, pears, and many others. Bees are among the best-known pollinators because they also give us delicious honey.
Flanders Nature Center in Woodbury, a 200-acre preserve with several beehives, uses no pesticides or herbicides, providing lots of food to keep the bees healthy and happy. The Flanders bees live in an electrified enclosure—to protect them from bears—and are close to a wide-open field, where they can feast on goldenrod.
Al Avitabile, a longtime beekeeper and consultant to Flanders, is assisted by a board member, John Trainor. They care for the bees, which involves treatment for mites and checking the hives a couple times a month. The fascinating story of how beehives work is complex but includes behaviors like fanning the air when the temperature rises above 95 degrees. Avitabile says bees can recognize ultraviolet colors and identify shapes like triangles and circles. They have very particular habits around their hives that help protect the hive from danger and keep the queen safe.
Extracting the honey is time-consuming, says Trainor, who recently harvested 70 pounds from two hives—but it took him two days to pull the honey through cheesecloth to make 36 quarts.
According to Avitabile, large beekeepers make their operations profitable by renting beehives to farms. “Ninety percent of the world’s almonds are pollinated by 1.5 million hives being brought in.”
Food for humans requires keeping pollinators well-fed and happy. The average person can do their part easily. “It’s a standard paradigm of maintaining your lawn or developing it as a habitat with a real function,” Markelon says.
He recommends getting rid of non-native or invasive plants, reducing mowing, and starting to learn about native trees and flowers. “Be cognizant of the fact that native plants are what pollinators need, not black-eyed Susans from Montana,” he says. “Cherries, willows, maples, and birches all support pollinators. Witch hazel, woody raspberry, and wildflowers are all good. A 1/8-acre lot of native plants—instead of lawn—makes a measurable difference,” he notes.
Tracy Zarrillo, an assistant agricultural scientist at the Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, said they encourage people to use a variety of plants for bees. “We advocate diverse flowers, and dogwoods, willow, blueberry plants, plus early-season things like bee balm.
“Rewilding our yards makes better habitats for pollinators,” Zarrillo says. “The more diversity in your yard, the more birdsong.”
