Helping bees can also help us. We’ve all read about declining bee populations and the vital role bees play in helping pollinate both crops and flowers.

This is our first bee house. Solitary bees, like mason bees, like the tubes. You might not guess there is a whole host of care needed to help the bees make it through the season and then safely through the winter. There has been a lot written on this by experts, so I won’t rehash it here.

So what exactly is so complicated? For starters, wasps, mites, birds, and fungus can all pray on the cocoons within, turning a safe haven for the next generation of bees into a death trap. It’s all in the design and care.

This was more of an endeavor than I perhaps imagined. Fingers crossed we’re being responsible hotel owners.