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Lisa Novich and Brian Griffin as they
appeared in the April 2004 issue of People Magazine |
Welcome to Knox
Cellars! We have been selling Orchard Mason bees (called Blue Orchard
Bees by our east coast customers) and other North American native bees and
supplies since 1990. My father, Brian Griffin, started this business out
of his workshop in Bellingham WA as a retirement hobby. It got out of
control and I joined in the effort in 1992. Over the years most of the
members of our extended family have lent a hand and thus this is truly a family
endeavor.
As of November, 2004, Brian has
decided to try retirement again, this time without the bee business. He
will still be around when it fits his creative mood. You may see him at
the NW Flower and Garden Show in Seattle or at occasional educational talks,
but other than that the torch has been passed on me.
Knox Cellars started this
industry with our wonderful book, The Orchard Mason Bee, by Brian
Griffin. From this little book, an industry was launched and we now sell
bees, books, habitat, and various accessories all across the country. Our
products are available at specialty nurseries or through this web site.
Check out our online sales
section for a full description of all our products. We ship bees from
November until spring and ship all the rest of our products year around.
If you are just getting your feet wet in Native Bees, read thru our on-line
catalog and then scan our back copies of The Urban Farmer. It is the
newsletter that we send yearly to all our customers. It contains all
sorts of great information on raising native bees as well as little tidbits of
learning that we discover over the years. I am also adding a new
Frequently Asked Questions section which you can refer to for common
problems. This should be on line soon. If this doesn't answer your
question, e-mail me at Lisa@knoxcellars.com
and I'll get back to you asap. Be aware however that during the busy
season I get many more e-mails than I can return each day. I do keep
plugging away at them and will do my best to get back to you in a reasonable
amount of time.
You can write to Knox Cellars at:
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Look for our product display in a retail
store in your area. |
ORCHARD MASON BEE
This small black gentle bee is a native of almost the entire continental
This bee is not a hive dwelling
social bee like the honey bee. It lays individual eggs in a mud walled cell
that it has provisioned with pollen and nectar. Because it can not make it's
own hole, it depends upon others for the nest site. In nature it frequently
lays it's eggs in abandoned beetle holes in the old growth forest. In cities it
will use the spaces between shingles on a dwelling or any other small holes it
can find. If we provide proper holes for egg laying, the Orchard Mason is very
easy to propagate at home. They are completely non-aggressive and perfectly
safe to raise in your backyard. In my yard with children and dogs we all
happily co-exist. The males don't even have stingers and the females will
only use theirs in times of true distress. In fact, unless you actually squeeze
one of the females between your fingers, it is almost impossible to get stung.
Early in the Spring, when the
weather warms and the day time temperatures begin to reach 50 degrees with some
regularity, the hibernating bees emerge from their nesting holes, males and
females from each hole. They promptly mate and the female immediately begins
her nest building. She gathers pollen and nectar from the spring blossoms and
brings it to the nesting hole. When the proper amount of food is gathered and
placed in the back of the hole, the female backs in and deposits one egg into
the food provision. Then the chamber is completed with a plug of mud masonry
collected piece by piece by the hard working female.
The process is repeated again
and again until the entire hole is filled with nesting chambers. Finally an
extra thick masonry plug is constructed at the hole opening and the bee flies
off looking for another hole. This frantic gathering, egg laying and masonry
work goes on throughout the spring until the adults all die, presumably from
sheer exhaustion.
Inside the egg chamber, life
goes on. The egg hatches into a larva, the larva eats the food. spins a cocoon
and within that cocoon transforms through the wonders of metamorphosis into a
pupa, and finally by the end of summer, into a complete adult. There, within
the sealed chamber, the bee will hibernate through the long winter to awake
again the next spring to renew the cycle.
FAX us at (425) 898-8070 or Phone us at (206) 849-5065
E-Mail Knox Cellars at:
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For sales, orders, shipping, etc. |
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To Contact Lisa Novich |
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Knox Cellars 1996 - 2004
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