Bee Garden NetworkA focus and network project on apiculture and biodiversity in the city Since Spring 2011, a network of "Bee Gardens" is being developed. Bee Gardens are garden installments based on a composition of seeds from so called "honey plants" with blooming periods over the whole spring/summer/early autumn season. Beekeepers and other people engaged in supporting honey bees use these seed mixtures to plant gardens and fields for additional bee nutrition especially in areas where monocultures or other environmental conditions have led to a decline of natural ressources for bees and other insects. Unlike countryside bees suffering from agricultural monocultures city bees enjoy a likewise comfortable situation: Urban greens will usually provide enough nutritional plants. So why install bee gardens in the city? The Frankfurt Bee Gardens are conceived as 'educational gardens' and test sites: A tool to provide information about the living conditions of honey bees, inviting people to learn more about the important role bees and other pollinating insects play for biodiversity – and also a tool for research about the socio-ecological conditions of the related "Urban Biotopes". The Frankfurt Bee Gardens are installed in different places/areas of the city and thus also in different biotopes (= habitats and sociotopes), therefore monitoring will also allow to compare the informations gathered and the experiences made. "Bee Gardens" is a practice-oriented focus project in the framework of the ongoing projects "Urban Biotopes", "Biotope City Frankfurt" and "(IN)VISIBLE GARDENS". Over the summer term 2011, working on/with "Bee Gardens" is part of the ongoing project seminar work with students ("Urban Greens" and "Biotope City Frankfurt", and hereby also continuing the work groups started with the project "Bee Hive" in 2010). Moreover, it is part of the project "Connected Open Greens Frankfurt Rhein Main" and thus also linked with the international network of "Connected Open Greens" (see also the links below). A more detailed project description in English will be available soon. Thank you for your patience! Related project site: Context projects and background info: Beehive – Basic project info at www.visuelle-kultur.info Urban Biotopes – Main project info site at www.under-construction.cc (IN)VISIBLE GARDENS – Special project info site at www.under-construction.cc This entry contains links to external websites. You might like to consult the disclaimer in case. project: Bee Garden Network main project: (IN)VISIBLE CITY related projects on www.under-construction.cc: DIY SCI, (IN)VISIBLE GARDENS, Insect Imagology, Urban Biotopes related projects on www.visuelle-kultur.info: Beehive, Biotope City Frankfurt, Sustainability |