I am participating in the Great Sunflower Project this summer! This is my second time – I first participated in the summer of 2011. This project is what prompted my interest in bees and the Colony Collapse Disorder.
Here is a summary that I wrote previously on my experience in 2011:
I read about a study at San Francisco State University that was recruiting volunteers to track honeybee populations in order to understand the impact of Colony Collapse Disorder. I was enthusiastic about participating in the Sunflower Project for the opportunity to help the ailing honeybee population. As a volunteer citizen scientist that summer, I grew sunflowers in my backyard, counted the number of bees that visited the sunflowers during specific times of the day, and submitted this data online. Collecting data became an interesting endeavor to me, and I looked forward to the designated times when I would observe and record honeybee activity. I experienced a pang of sadness when the sunflowers began to wilt and my observations came to an end. Watching the bees made me wonder about so many things, yet I was limited to a small garden in my backyard for answers. While I started The Great Sunflower Project purely as a community service activity, I took away far more from it.
After 6 years, the project is still active. Scientists at SFSU are still requesting that volunteer citizen scientists grow sunflowers in their backyard and track bee activity in order to help researchers. The link to the project is here http://www.greatsunflower.org/.
Do something good for the bees and participate! You will take away far more than you put into it. Feel free to ask my any questions.
The Great Sunflower Project – Growing
I started growing my lemon drop sunflowers before I went away to a summer camp. My mother has been sending me photos of them. Here they are:
1 week old:
2.5 Weeks Old
4 weeks old:
BEE AWARE 