Students raising mason bees at Orcas School

Orcas Master Gardeners Dray Longdon, Laura Walker, Tony Suruda and Nancy Forker visited the Orcas School Garden on Oct. 6 to help the 5th-grade students harvest cocoons of mason bees and prepare them for winter storage. Mason bees are native pollinators that nest in cavities. They harvested nesting tubes that have been at the school from April through October. Mason bees, along with bumble bees, are important early spring pollinators in our cool coastal climate. There were 24 kids from the class and the supervising faculty member was Mandy Randolph.

Contributed photo
Contributed photo
Contributed photo
Contributed photo