THE GARDEN STORY

Retail Construction Services, Inc. is dedicated to giving back.

We give back not only to those in need within our community, but also the future generations of this wonderful community. What started out as a great idea has grown exponentially and became an amazing reality. Here at the RCS Giving Garden, school groups, master gardeners, corporate volunteers, and our own employees work together for the common good of teaching children the art of gardening and the importance of healthy eating. Click Here for Full Story.

LOCATION:
Retail Construction Services, Inc.
11343 39th Street N.
Lake Elmo, MN 55042

From HWY 36 - go south on Lake Elmo Ave, turn left onto 39th Street, garden is at corner of 39th and Laverne.
From HWY 5- going west from Stillwater take right onto Laverne (near Fury dealership) garden is on the right at corner of Laverne and 39th street.

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The RCS Giving Garden

The RCS Giving Garden

4/15/14

Bee Hives Arrive at the Garden!

AJ and Jonathan after the putting in the bee hives
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
One third of our food needs to be pollinated by insects. Honey bees are responsible for most of it, and our garden is dependent on having good pollinators.

Bees donated by Nature's Nectar
This week, we received the most wonderful gift for our garden… honey bees!   AJ Moses, one of the new master gardeners to join our volunteers, offered to place honey bee hives on the property.  Not only will these honey bees help with the pollination of our garden, but AJ is going to be donating the honey to the food shelf!  What a great gift for Valley Outreach!

An extra surprise was the donation of the actual bees from Nature’s Nectar out of Stillwater, MN!! http://www.natures-nectarllc.com/

AJ Getting ready
One of our employees, Jonathan Kasper, is interested in bee keeping, so AJ let him tented his head so he could watch the process close up and help with “safe” close-up pictures.

AJ fed the bees with a combination of nectar and sheets of pollen.  He will continue to feed the bees every five days until we have the appearance of dandelions and other flowers in the area.   As he assembled the hive, added the bees, and finally the queen bee to each hive, we learned not only the importance of the nutrition for honey bees, but their importance overall.

Opening the bee cage
The Queen Bee in a separate box
Bees play an important role in nature, but in recent years, millions of honey bees have been disappearing around the country. There is a great PBS program called “Silence of the Bees” that is an in-depth look at the search to uncover what is killing the honeybee, visit this website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/introduction/38/  and to watch the podcast called “Silence of the Bees”, click this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIUo3STj6tw

Adding the bees to the hive
Nectar added for feeding
We have put together an informational sheet on honey bees that provides some fun facts.  Click this link to open: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_wUswO1jhWsUW1YbEVTZ29wNHM/edit?usp=sharing

The Queen Bee added to the hive!
Pollen sheets for feeding the bees
Here is a link with more information regarding honey bees from the University of Minnesota’s Extension Program: 
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/honey-bees/


Thank you AJ, and thank you Nectar’s Nature for donating and bringing these important pollinators to our garden property!


“We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, 
or a bee makes honey, 
or a vine bears grapes season after season 
without thinking of the grapes it has borne.” 
- Marcus Aurelius

- Contributing writer, Joni Fletty