Hello folks!

I'm currently living in Columbus, Ohio, but will be visiting Prescott, Arizona mid-Nov through mid-January as I may be moving out there. I will be presenting a workshop on "What Bees are These? Native Bees ID in Prescott, during this time. I realize that Ohio and Arizona environments and climate are extremely different, but I'm hoping to network with others who have an interest in supporting pollinators and wildlife habitat for them. My business in Columbus is Sunny Glen Garden, an educational demonstration site to learn how to turn urban lawns into organic permaculture food gardens and wildlife habitat. I have done the Master Gardener, Urban Farmer, and 4H Teacher extension programs out here, as well as a Pollinator Specialization Course and Wild Bee Field School with Olivia Carril and Dense Ellsworth. I've also been involved with Project Wingspan which deals with Landscape Enhancement for Imperiled Pollinators of the Midwest by educating others about proper native plant seed collection for projects with Pollinator.org. Can you let me know what activities and programs you currently have going on?

Hey All,
Sorry been out of touch. I've been busy on the Rhizehome project and with this heat... I've been a water slave keeping the corn alive !
Anyway, after rhizehome is over, and after we get back from vacation, I'll get serious about this project and get in touch with you all again to move it forward.
Happy Harvest ! AND PRAY FOR RAIN !!! but not on Sept 15th.
e.

Hi All. I am back in town and have about 2 weeks before I go back to work. That means 2 weeks to work on projects like this one.
I am going to go inspect the old, neglected habitat garden at Lincoln Elementary tomorrow and see what can be done to incorporate some pollinator habitat. If anyone wants to join me and give their 2 cents, I'll be there at about 9:00. I'll be in either the vegetable garden, located on the edge of the big grass field, or the habitat garden, located on the southeast corner of the campus. You would need to park on Park Ave and enter the only unlocked gate right next to the little free library box. Hopefully see some of you tomorrow, or I'll keep you posted as to my findings.
~Sommer

Pollinator Partnership Prescott consists of 5 founding members:
Earl Duque - Urban Farmer Delicious Earth Farm, Prescott, Arizona
Delisa Myles - Urban Farmber Delicious Earth Farm, Prescott, Arizona
Molly Beverly - Chef and Main Organizer for our our Slow Food organization, Chino Valley, Arizona
Sommer Dunn - Librarian and Garden Champion at Lincoln Elementary School, Prescott, Arizona
Ashley Fine - Teacher and Garden Champion, Skyview Charter School, Prescott, Arizona
Sedona Ortega - High School Student, Prescott, Arizona

The current plan for using the funding is to:
1) Work with local school garden programs to provide them with pollnator plant seeds and starts
2) Work with local school garden programs to provide them mason bee houses and pollinator watering stations
3) Develop a website that
a) Disseminates educational material for distribution to school garden programs and the general public at large.
b) Provides references for quick reference
c) Documents via images and stories the school gardens in the local area and how they implemented a successful pollinator garden.
4) Host a workshop at the Natural History Insitute with Bill McGuire, desert gardener, and native bee enthusiast from Tucson Arizona. This workshop would be similar to the one he has done recently (see https://www.nativeseeds.org/products/pollinator-week-desert-native-bees-workshop?variant=13980611182647)
5) Participate the upcoming farm to table event at Delicious Earth Farm in September 2019. Provide written materials discussing the use of rain gardens, annual and perennial native and cultivar plants and how the plantings were intentially placed to enhance the polinator population.

All of these activities are designed to educate our community on the importance of pollinators and how we can help improve thier population. By working with school gardens, the plants and housing will persist in the community and help educated 100's of students every year. The website and pollinator workshop will educate the general population providing the with actionable processes that they can implement in thier own garden. The participation in the farm to table will also help dissemnate information to the community at large.
The images attached are the team members, Earl Duque, Sedona Ortega and Ashley Fine, Milk Weed at Skyview School, Monarchs at Skyview garden last year, and a rain garden at Delicious Earth Farm planted out with an asian pear, poppy, datura, clover and two variety of milkweed.