Part 2 of a 4-Part Series
By CLAUDIA HARMON WORTHEN
Beautify Cambria Association is hosting its 8th Annual Bee, Butterfly & Bat Faire on Sunday, May 5, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Cambria Historical Museum, 2251 Center Street.
In 2022 the Bee Faire expanded, adding butterflies and moths. Last year bats as pollinators were added (April 17 is International Bat Appreciation Day). Solar telescopes will be available, a bonus from BCA’s Dark Skies program to highlight the fundamental role of photosynthesis (photos of a sunspot and solar flare below attributed to Dave Tyler). (View of the sun through a Ca-K filter. Photo Credit: Astrograph.net) And seeing the sun through specialized filters is just plain amazing. Pollinators need sun and healthy soil for their food. It is said that one handful of heathy soil contains more living organisms than all the humans on the planet, while insects in soil feed birds, bats, and other wildlife.
Fungi are critical to soil health. They most likely originated in water and survived by mining rocks for minerals that, over millions of years, turned into soil. Chomping and decomposing, fungi turn dead organic matter into life, releasing nutrients that feed plants and good bugs. Healthy soil promotes healthy blooms on plants strong enough to thwart harmful pests. No pesticides needed. Along with plants and trees, healthy soil sequesters carbon and protects from the heat of climate change.
One important thing gardeners can do is “Leave the Leaves” (more information available at: xerces.org/leave-the-leaves). Thirty percent of native bees are tunnel-nesting, like leaf cutters and mason bees. They need narrow tunnels, tiny spaces in dead wood, hollow stems, and leaf piles. Leaves are a safe haven, food source, a protective shield, and hold moisture in the soil. Many other creatures live beneath the leaves, like bumblebees, moths, butterflies, salamanders, frogs, snakes, and pillbugs, sometimes called roly-polies due to their ability to roll into ball when disturbed.
By deciding not to use noisy and polluting leaf blowers, homeowners will save money, suppress weeds, grow healthier plants with natural fertilizer, and invite more essential ground-loving creatures. Cristy Christy, owner of Black Diamond Vermicompost, will be speaking about soil science at the Faire.
Land animals, including humans, evolved from fungi. As Michael Coulson, owner of Plantae + Fungi in Cambria, told BCA, “We are more genetically like fungi than plants.” Michael will be serving vegan food grown in healthy soil at the Faire.
Part 3 in this series will be about Faire activities for children, including a fun and educational scavenger hunt with prizes, more information about Stellaluna, the pallid bat, and what to expect at the live bee demonstration hive provided by botanist John Chesnut. Learn more about the Faire at beautifycambria.org or email BCA at info@beautifycambria.org.
