Decorate a native bee house and start your own mason bee colony!

Bees play essential roles in maintaining a balanced ecosystem, and are important for pollinating all kinds of plants. But did you know that we have over 4,000 native bees right here in North America, and that many species nest in the ground or plant stems? Join us for a fun-filled afternoon with artist/entomologist Heather Andrews learning about these diverse and fascinating insects. 

We’ll start out the class with a lesson on the different types of native bees here in the Willamette Valley, and the various kinds of habitat they need. Then we will decorate mason bee houses.

Students will also receive:

• Several mason bee cocoons to start their own colony
• Seed packets to plant native flowers in their yard
• A coloring book with recipes and plenty of information on native bees
• A poster with the different native bees found right here in Oregon

This class will be offered at two different locations on different dates. The format for both classes will be identical, but the mason bee houses are slightly different styles. These classes are open to ages 6 and up.

Blue Pine Gallery
Date and time: March 19 th , 1-3pm
Cost: $50
Location: 761 NW 12 th ST., Gresham, OR 97030
Register: bluepinegallery.com

Art-O-Maddic
Date and time: March 22 nd , 5:30-7:30pm
Cost: $60
Location: 181 N Grant St., Suite 107, Canby, OR 97013
Register: https://www.artomaddic.com/bird-house-class-8/newpage1a29a4f3

About the instructor: Heather Andrews is a research entomologist at Oregon State University.  She works at a university extension office in Aurora where she studies growing practices in orchard crops that minimize their negative impact on the environment while maximizing yield.  In her free time Heather makes jewelry, draws and also plays the harp.