Scott FarmΒ is a 40-acre farm in Dummerston, VT, that began cultivating in 1791. They grow heirloom fruit (mostly apples), which they sell at their farm market and to wholesale co-ops, markets, and distributors, including The FruitGuys! Scott Farm has been working toward transitioning from rented honeybee hives to native bees. They received a $2,211.54 grant to create six bee hotels and add pollinator plantings to their orchard.
They used their grant to seed 50,000 square feet of pollinator plantings for native bees, build and install five large insect hotels, and add educational signage to their farm about the importance of native pollinators. Ali Stevenson, assistant orchard manager, told us, βThe pollinator plantings buzzed with native bees, and the flowers had enough time to go to seed for next year. People were also much more interested in the project than we had hoped, so we had many more educational opportunities than we expected.β
