Poisoning our Kids and our Bees

  I was wandering around the back yard at the Art Garage yesterday, and looking at the remaining stumps of the daisies that were cut down by the city, when I saw the black circles so familiar from our main garden.  Did our city officials pour poison on my pollinator flowers?  

This may be the most painful part of the story.  Not only is my garden destroyed for this year, it will be contaminated for years to come through the use of poison.  

I was recently watching the film Pollinators, though I had a hard time getting through the whole movie since it is heartbreaking to see thousands of dead bees.  Here at the Art Garage garden we have always welcomed bees.  We even have a sign.  The truth is that Peoria has an indigenous bee population, and I was reminded of this when I brought home some squash blossoms from our pumpkin plant.  These are delicious and nutritious and a great attraction for bees. The blossoms were closed since it was late in the day, and when I got in the house to rinse the flowers, two honey bees flew out.

Why is the city choosing this very harmful approach to addressing what they refer to as weeds.  Besides spraying in homeowners yards, they are spraying throughout the city.  Personally, I do not have a problem in using these to address the poison ivy, which still hasn't been addressed, but when they are being used for the natural and indigenous plants in the area, I see a complete lack of awareness.  

How is this helping our community?  Why is the office of Community Development concerned with plants that are harmless, or even helpful and not concerned with the massive problem of meth going on all around me?

Let's get focused on the real problems, and start to work together for the true betterment of our community.

Bees on my neighbors thistle.