[UrbanCropCircle] Mason Bees - A new beginning

Wed Sep 29 13:21:39 PDT 2010

Dear fellow gardners,
I'm passing on to you something I got from Paula: a report from Dave Hunter,

owner of Hunter's Mason Bees, to his partners.

Susan
 ------------------------------
 From: dave at huntersmasonbees.com
To: dave at huntersmasonbees.com
Subject: Mason Bees - A new beginning
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:00:13 -0700

  Dear Partner,

 This has been a busy summer which culminated last Friday with the launch of
a new company, Crown Bees.

(www.crownbees.com) I’d like to share with you specifically what’s going on
and how you are a key component of this company.

*Short story* (for those who just want the big picture!)

·        You have partnered with me to produce mason bees.  I am extremely
grateful for that honor.

·        Through providing free straws and returning more mason bees each
year to you (pest free), I would,

 in turn, be working to sell the extra mason bees to commercial industries
in need.

·        I’ve started harvesting bees out of the straws, but am only 20%
along.  I’ll be increasing my pace and

will begin sending out personal reports to each of you within a few weeks.

·        This year, I feel I’ll have accumulated about 200,000 mason bees
(plus or minus) through the efforts of you and many others.[image:
Description: Description: image003.jpg at 01CB5E34.4A584400]

·        I’ve been doing all of the above through a home equity loan and the
loving graces of Barb, my wife, who shifted to

full time work to help finance me.

·        Crown Bees is the 2nd step of many, with Hunter’s Mason Bees as the
first.

*Crown Bees* – what is it? (*more of the story*)

·        This is a web-driven company whose purpose is to help others be
successful in raising mason bees.

·        If you have a chance to dance through its pages, you’ll find that
it is thorough, easily navigated, and designed to not

just sell things, but assist the mason bee owners to do things right.

·        There are innovative items for sale, aesthetic houses, and mason
bees as well.  Due to not a great season anywhere

along the coast, mason bees will be in short supply this year.  I suggest
the cost of retail mason bees will be high.

·        Some of the mason bees produced from your backyard will be sold to
help finance this company.  I suggest only 50,000 total.

·        The remaining 150,000 will be back to the same partners as last
year, only with more mason bees in each backyard.

My intent is to keep the right number of mason bees that match the pollen
content in your yard.

*Long term vision *

·        Read the pollination
crisis<http://crownbees.com/educate-yourself/pollination-crisis>and
answering
the pollination
crisis<http://crownbees.com/responsibility/answering-the-pollination-crisis>in
the website; it will provide a bit more background

·        Big picture:  the honeybees, (the backbone of our orchard/crop
pollinators) continue to fail.  We can hope that world scientists

solve this dilemma, AND we can begin providing alternatives now if they
can’t.

·        The native spring mason bees of the Seattle/Bremerton/Vashon/Port
Townsend/Arlington/Puyallup/Redmond/Kirkland/Woodinville…

will be used to pollinate orchards/crops in Washington.

·        Native summer mason bees in this same area will be used to
pollinate June/July crops in Washington as well. [image: Description:
Description: image009.jpg at 01CB5E34.4A584400][image: Description:
Description: image014.jpg at 01CB5E34.4A584400]

·        Different native spring/summer pollinators need to be nurtured,
produced, and sold to crops in Portland/Salem area for

Oregon, Boise area for Idaho, Sacramento for northern California, and
Philadelphia for Pennsylvania/New York.

·        It’s not necessarily the same mason bee that you and I know, but
could be a different species altogether.

·        Timing of this vision?  I’ll be working with eastern US cities in a
couple of years to copy the Hunter’s Mason Bee concept.

*How can you help?*

1.      Continue to partner with me.  I’m not going away, and you’re going
to continue to receive a bunch of mason

bees for many years to come.

2.      Become Facebook friends of Crown Bees, or follow the blog on
twitter. (I can’t believe that I just typed that…)

 I can *still* learn a thing or two…  J (you can reach these by the website)

3.      Share crownbees.com with others.  Encourage them to buy or produce
their own bees, and become successful.

4.      *Consider becoming a competitor of Hunter’s Mason Bees*.  I’m
serious.  Email me and we’ll talk.

5.      Hug your spouse/partner/children/friends and let them know that
things will be ok for a long while.

Thanks for reading this far.  This has been a VERY busy summer with
producing this company in addition to

running Hunter’s Mason Bees.  I’m ready for a 1 or 2 day vacation.  (and so
is Barb!)

Sincerely,

Dave Hunter

Hunters Mason Bees, LLC

O. 425.949.7954

C. 206.851.1263

www.huntersmasonbees.com

[image: Description: Description: Description: Bee on white.jpg]
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