We’re thrilled to announce that the B & B Highway is coming to Ryde!
FoodFaith has won a My Community Grant Project, which will allow Ryde residents, young and old, to host the Sydney B & B Highway - an important airborne pollinator passageway that provides ‘bed and breakfasts for birds, bees and biodiversity’.
We started this initiative in January this year with the support of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney. With 1 in 4 bites of food relying on pollinators and startling research from the UN that 40% of insect species could be under threat with habitat destruction being a major cause, FoodFaith has already established eight pollinating gardens and native stingless beehives in four Sydney areas.
With these new gardens in Ryde, the network of B & B’s in Sydney will rise to 30 by the end of the year. Our founder, Judy Friedlander says, ‘We’ve already had ten educational institutions agreeing to host B & B’s in Ryde and know this will be a wonderful boost for the citizens, both human and pollinator.’
With Macquarie University an agreed B & B location, we spoke to students Nicolas Kakaroubas, Monica Gonzalez and Sophia Kloosterman, who say that a pollinating garden and native stingless beehive would contribute to many positive outcomes at the university. Gonzalez is excited about the B & B Highway, ‘I think a lot starts with education. If someone can stop and be engaged with the literature, they can connect with the issue with action. By seeing a hive in a local context the issue becomes more interesting and encourages a broader community.’
Local pre-school children in East Ryde were also excited to hear about the possibility of a B & B at their school. William, 4, says ‘They turn plants into honey,’ of the bees that will soon share their garden. Clarissa, also 4, says I would like to see more birds because they are very pretty.’
We’ve also got big plans for Ryde with a special project in the works for 2020 but more on that soon…
For now, we’re off to build some pollinator gardens thanks to the support of the Ryde community!