Bees, Bee Wax Food Wraps & Lavender Propagation

Today we talked to the kids about bees.  We learned about the characteristics of native New Zealand bees verses introduced bees and talked about pollination, bee anatomy, life cycles, bee hives and the kids got to sample some beeswax from Emilie's hives.

The students then had the opportunity to choose to make reusable bee wax food wraps, learn more about bee anatomy, or learn how to propagate lavender with Tom.

The Bee Wrap kids made dozens of reusable food wraps that can be used in place of plastic wrap for storing food.  Many thanks to Convita Honey for donating the wax.

The students learnt to take a cutting from a lavender plant, They removed all of the leaves from the lower 4 cm of the stem and then scraped  the skin off the bottom portion of the stem on one side with a knife. They then mixed compost with lime and dipped the stripped tip of the cutting in rooting hormone. Rooting hormone helps prevent the tip from rotting and encourages quick, strong root development.    Fingers crossed the lavender clones will take and we will have an abundance of lavender to plant in the spring!