Did God Make Bees?
Yes, I know God made bees… but did he have to make so many?! : ( This last summer (2013) was a very busy bee season. I know because I asked other venue owners and many caterers. I think the caterers had it the worst. When the food came out the bees seemed to come front and center. So what is an outdoor venue owner to do?
First you call pest control. I had two different pest control companies at the Ridge and while I know they helped, at a significant cost, the bees did not just go away. We also had between 15-20 bee traps situated everywhere in the yard. And… we were spraying nests as we found them.
In the picture you can see two kinds of traps. The one on the right that looks like a honey jar was given to us by Ms. Linda. Her daughter was married on the Ridge this last summer. Ms. Linda was determined that the bees were “not” going to steal the show.
The day she showed up to start decorating and preparing for the wedding she brought with her a few bags of bee traps, bounce dryer sheets and deli chicken salad! Ms. Linda had done her homework. I loved this! I was all out of ideas, felt totally responsible (right Teri, because you can control what God made) and really felt helpless, ugh.
Bee traps
After the traps had a scoop of the deli chicken salad in them they were strategically put around the yard. Wow, the bees “loved” this!! Ms. Linda had also read about putting dryer sheets under the table linens, so that is what we did. Then someone else did this later for another wedding, so maybe the dryer sheets help too?
I think it was a success story! Ms. Linda left me the traps and they are all washed and ready for next year. Really though I have “never” seen a year like 2013 for bees and I hope we never have another.
If it’s an outside wedding you just have to know there might be bees, but at Denison Ridge we really try and “BEE” responsible in this area.
Teri : )
