Four Minus Four Equals Nine Plus Five
Hundred
(Welcome
to the age of new math!)
Even though my last intimate bee
encounter had me (soon afterwards) paying a visit to the London Hospital’s
Emergency ward, these small creatures are my favourite winged insects. This may have to do with the fact that most
life on our planet would cease to exist without them. This commands my respect!
Last January there was an event happening
at the Wolfe Performance Hall within the Central Library that was designed to
educate people about the importance of bees.
After having spent the previous summer reading many news reports about
how certain neonicitoids (used by some farmers) are having a devastating effect
on these insects, I felt a need to learn more about them.
After the presentation, a discussion took
place to answer questions from the audience.
One of the panel guests was a representative from the City of London who
was there to tell everyone about a fairly new program entitled
‘Adopt-A-Park’. She informed us that
this program allowed community members to work with City staff to care for
local parks, create tree planting events and build flower gardens designed to
attract many of our pollinating friends… including bees. I listened intently!
It wasn’t long until I had sent off my
first letter of inquiry to City Hall.
Soon after that, Vanessa Kinsley (Adopt-A-Park co-ordinator) and Carl
Carnegie (Byron Optimist Community Centre manager) and I had our first onsight
meeting at Jorgenson Park to discuss ideas that soon had everyone quite busy.
Over the course of the next couple of
months, plans were drafted that would soon be bringing local Byron residents
together to plant some more trees and spring flowering bulbs around the
children’s wading pool and playground. These
plans were shared with the community with an absolutely positive result! Every person we spoke with became very
excited to learn that people were taking the time to improve our local
environment.
These events could not have occurred at a
better time. In early June four Ash
trees were cut down around the wading pool.
Suddenly, there was no shade to protect our children from the heat of
the summer sun.
 | |
| Mr. Jim with new friends! |
To prevent such a loss from occurring in
the future, we all decided that it would be best to plant a variety of
different species and soon Basswood, Ginko Baloba, Tulip, Red Bud and Sugar
Maple species had been selected. We
decided to ‘up our game’ by not only replacing the cut down Ash trees but
adding a few more trees to this area, as well.
A total of nine trees have now been planted to replace the four that are
sadly missed.
It came as a pleasant surprise to hear
that Vanessa had also been able to arrange for an additional five hundred
spring flowering bulbs for our event.
These were planted in the area between the tennis courts and the parking
lot. There were six different species of
bulbs and I’m very excited to see them all in bloom, this coming spring. This will surely be Jorgenson’s most
colourful year to date!
Residents from all across Byron attended
this October event with additional nature lovers travelling here from London’s
core regions. Close to forty Byron Boy
Scouts, Cubs and Girl Guides along with their parents also participated,
bringing attendance numbers up to sixty people!!
We worked hard! We sang songs! We made new friends! We warmed our fingers and bellies with mugs
of hot chocolate! We left with smiles on
our faces!
As with any new life adventure, the first
steps are the most challenging. Each
additional footstep becomes easier and soon you will notice that you have
inspired others to walk with you. I hope
that this story inspires each of you to find your own adventures to work
towards throughout 2016, and together we can bring a bit of nature back into
our community… our home… our Byron!
Jim Kogelheide
2015
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