To the Editor:
(Editor’s note: text is written from the perspective of a honey bee) Something wonderful is happening in Ortonville. My friend came home from her daily foraging and did the most amazing waggle-dance at the front door. When the rest of us followed the map she danced, we ended up in Heritage Garden, and, miracle of miracles, there we found a Culver’s root, just as she’d danced it. Culver’s root is beautiful and white with spiky blossoms nodding in the breeze. There are other delightful, nectar-bearing blants in this remarkable garden, as well. Amazingly, no chemicals have ever been used here, so it’s absolutely safe for us to use. I hope you’ll forgive my over-the-top enthusiasm for Heritage Garden, but we haven’t seen native Culver’s root in this area for quite a while.
Culver’s root, which produces one of our favorite high-quality nectars, is one of those native plant species that has all but disappeared from the landscape. You see, it’s been really tough for us for a couple of decades now, watching our number diminish and hives collapse as human development replaces our favorite nectar-rich places with lawns that we can’t use. Tough enough for us pollinators, but, down the road, it will be a disaster for the humans who are removing these native plant communities, since 95 of the crops that constitute the human menu are imperiled by the disappearance of us hard-working pollinators.
So, I say, hats off to Ortonville, a community whose reputation is based on the random acts of good nature that its human inhabitants typify. Hats off for recognizing that there are other species who live here too, who deserve equal consideration. Hats off for your wisdom, your intelligence and your deep understanding that it takes an ecosystem to raise a village.
Honey Bee (Lois Robbins)
Brandon Township