Pollinator Garden – Help Us Build!

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There is nothing superfluous in the universe. Even flies, gnats, and mosquitoes are part of creation and, as such, serve a divinely-appointed purpose.

— Bereshit Rabbah
A pollinator garden. Ours won’t look exactly like this, at least not at first, but this is the idea.

We’re Starting a Pollinator Garden!

CBI is starting a pollinator garden! (More on that below.) The first step is building a few raised beds, and we could use your help.

If you have extra lumber (2x4s of any length, untreated) sitting in your garage, we’d love to make good use of it. You can drop off donations at CBI. If you’d like to help with building or planting (or tending the garden once it’s built), please contact Caleb at caleb.wolfsonseeley at gmail dot com.  Thanks!

What’s a Pollinator Garden?

A pollinator garden is a garden designed to support and maintain pollinators (butterflies, bees, etc) by supplying food in the form of pollen and nectar that will ensure that these important animals stay in the area to keep pollinating things. A pollinator garden benefits our ecosystem while also beautifying our grounds. Ours will begin with one bed of herbs, and one bed of flowers — some with Torah connections! — and some of the aromatics will become part of havdalah at CBI in years to come.

Why a Pollinator Garden?

This garden will enable us to care for the environment at CBI, as an expression of the Jewish value of bal tashchit, “do not destroy [the natural world]”; to provide sustenance for pollinators, such as butterflies and bees, with awareness that these are an essential part of our ecosystem; to create more natural habitat on our land, remembering God’s commandment l’avda u’l’shamrah, “to till and tend” the Garden of Eden; and to bring our community together on our beautiful grounds.

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