[Pollinator] Pollination Games?

[Peter Bernhardt]

Yesterday, Ren and I were tourists.  We went to the Royal Easter Show with
Wendy's sone Philip. This is a big country fair that runs the last two
weeks in March.  It is  housed in Olympic Park, the site of the Sydney
Olympics so there are lots of stadiums and pavilions,

Attention was paid to honeybee pollination.  The produce hall had exhibits
of local fruits and vegetables arranged according to district.  Each
district had to have an educational theme and the Northern District
selected pollination as you will see.  The display was so huge and the
place so crowded I couldn't get all of it in but a sign emphasized that
65%* of what is eaten in Australia is honeybee pollinated.  Look Cynthia,
Australian farmers are growing giant pumpkins but Americans would not
approve of their colors and downgrade them to squashes, right?  A lot of
the pigmentation of some of the smaller pumpkins reminded me of Chinese
breeds (mottled blues and greens).

There is an agricultural  pavilion for children as well.  Yes, they had a
display for honeybee pollination (real hive but dead bees) but the display
also featured a pollination game.  The child is given a honeybee doll on a
stick and told to place it in a circular pit outlined with flower petals.
Rub the bee against the yellow ping pong balls and pick up the pollen.  The
children were very energetic.  I don't think those honeybee dolls have a
long survival record.

*After 65% sounds a little weak for North American bee-keepers remember
that Australia was a country of meat eaters and their move to fruit and
vegetable diets is comparatively recent and spurred by Asian and Middle
Eastern migrants.  The children's agricultural pavilion also had an
observation bakery where every good Australian boy or girl could watch the
production of trays and trays of meat pies.

Peter  .
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