Blog – Page 11

Which pollinator are you?

Written by: Sylvie Finn, one of our newest TPI members!

It’s National Pollinator Week, so in an effort to learn about our diverse pollinators, take this quick quiz to see which pollinator is in your personality!

Directions: This is an old school keep-track-yourself type of quiz. Think personality quiz in a tween magazine. Grab a piece of scrap paper, keep track of how many A’s, B’s, C’s, etc you have, and at the end you will be able to discover something fabulous about yourself.

1. Imagine you step into your dream house. You look around and see:

A. Ornate geometric patterns
B. Sophisticated plaster work all around
C. The house you’re sitting in right now!
D. This is a hard question…I’d rather have two totally different and exciting homes
E. As long as there’s a stacked pantry, I’m happy!
F. Something I build myself to my liking

2. Your friends would describe you as:

A. Hardworking
B. Friendly
C. High strung
D. A social butterfly
E. Loyal
F. Hyper

3. On a Saturday night, you can be found:

A. Out on the town with “the girls”
B. Working in your basement
C. At a dive bar with your buddies hovering around the peanut and pretzel bowls at the bar
D. Getting your beauty rest
E. Cuddled up with a good book
F. Indulging in your sweet tooth

4. Your personal style is:

A. Whatever your friends are wearing
B. Stripes!
C. All black every day
D. Bold color choices
E. Give me that fuzzy sweater
F. Metallics anyone?

5. Your favorite color is:

A. Yellow
B. Blue
C. White
D. Pink
E. Ultraviolet
F. Red

6. You get to the park and someone is sitting on your favorite bench, you:

A. Take a seat, there’s room for two
B. Decide that going to the park was a horrible idea
C. Linger in front of the bench until the person sitting there becomes uncomfortable and leaves
D. Go to another bench, there are plenty of benches to go around
E. What person? I see a bench, I sit
F. I don’t have this problem, no one likes the kinds of benches I do

7. Your dream vacation:

A. Take me to a new city! I love a buzzing metropolis
B. Exploring a cave with your pals
C. An all-inclusive resort just for the all-you-can-eat buffet
D. Mountains of Mexico, please and thank you
E. Stay-cation works for me, as long as there are snacks
F. Take me anywhere ~TroPiCaL~

8. For your birthday this year, you want:

A. A big party with all of my of friends and acquaintances
B. A small party with only my closest friends
C. To be left alone
D. To fly in the sky! Paragliding? Skydiving?
E. To make sure those around me are well fed
F. To go on an adventure somewhere new

Time to find out which pollinator you are…

MOSTLY A’s: **Honey bee (Apis mellifera)**

You are the “gold” standard for bees. Known for your incredible social intelligence and honey making skills, you are very hardworking and constantly referenced. You’re a total feminist, loving to live in female-dominated society.

MOSTLY B’s: **Cellophane bee (Colletes spp.)**

You are an aesthetic architect. You are literally named after the materials you build with and are fashionable in your stripes and fluff. You like your alone time, but enjoy sharing experiences with friends when the time is right.

MOSTLY C’s: Hover fly (e.g. Eristalis transversa)

You are one of the lesser known pollinators and you like it that way. Your fast paced lifestyle keeps others on edge and you always stay unconventional.

flower fly, hover fly — Photo: Team Colletes, Flickr

MOSTLY D’s: **Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)**

You are the poster child of all butterflies. Like a monarch, you are elegant and have very specific taste. You also are a total travel junky and love to go to new places beyond what your imagination can hold.

MOSTLY E’s: Bumble bee (Bombus spp.)

You are everyone’s best friend, smart and oh so sweet. You know how to cuddle up with a good book, but when you think theres some good food somewhere, you can zoom there quite quickly.

MOSTLY F’s: Ruby throated **humming bird (Archilochus colubris)**

You are many people’s favorite birds and a very special pollinator. While there are hundreds of species of humming birds in the tropics, you are the only one to grace us here in the North East. If people can catch a glimpse of you, you always dazzle them.

educate

Let’s celebrate pollinators!

How to bake pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) empanadas

When I was growing up, my mom often bought pumpkin empanadas from El Aguila bakery in Fremont, Ohio. Let me tell you, there isn’t anything better with a hot cup of coffee.

As a kid, I never realized the important role pollinators play in creating these special treats. While many crops are pollinated by the wind (wheat, corn, rice), many fruits and vegetables are pollinated by insects. In fact, two important ingredients in my favorite empanada recipe benefit from animal pollinators.

Without insect pollinators, particularly bees, there would be no pumpkin, the main ingredient of the empanada filling. Pumpkin vines produce male and female flowers – this means that some flowers produce pollen, while other flowers bear fruits. Pollen from the anthers of male flowers must be deposited on the stigmas of female flowers for the vine produce fruit. Since pumpkin pollen grains are very heavy, pumpkin flowers cannot be pollinated by the wind. Instead, pollen grains must hitch a ride on a bee.

One of the cutest – and most important – pollinators of pumpkin are squash bees (Eucera pruinosa). Squash bees are solitary, ground nesting bees: a single female digs a nest for her offspring in the soil. Found in both the United States and Mexico, squash bees collect pollen exclusively from plants in the gourd family (genus Cucurbita), including pumpkin, zucchini, and summer squash. These little bees are super effective pollinators of squash plants, transferring up to 4 times as much pollen between flowers as honeybees.

Oranges, used to flavor the filling of empanadas, are another ingredient which can benefit from insect pollinators. Unlike pumpkin flowers, orange flowers are hermaphroditic: flowers can produce pollen and bear fruits. Orange flowers can be pollinated without help of insects if pollen from anthers is shed directly onto the stigma of the flower. However, orange flowers still are better off with bees than without. Without the help of an insect, flowers may be insufficiently pollinated, and will produce smaller and more acidic fruits. Sweet orange production is 35% higher for flowers visited by pollinating insects (like honeybees) compared to unvisited flowers.

In honor of National Pollinator Week, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite recipes for pumpkin empanadas, modified from a recipe originally published by La Piña en La Cocina.

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) Empanadas

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cold butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 large egg at room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2/3 cups warm milk (110 degrees F)

For the filling:

16 oz canned roasted and pureed pumpkin
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 star anise pods
1 cup of water
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
Zest from one orange

For assembly

1/4 cup milk
1 lightly beaten egg white

Instructions

To prepare the pasty, sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter, then cut in sugar, cinnamon, and yeast. Add the egg, and slowly incorporate milk until a dough forms. Knead for 6-8 minutes. The dough should be fairly sticky. If it is too dry, add more milk, and if it is too wet, add flour. Let rise about 2 hours.

To prepare the filling, boil star anise and the cinnamon stick in about 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes (or until about half of the water is evaporated). Add pumpkin, sugar, and juice concentrate to ¼ cup of this liquid, and cook until thickened, about 10-20 minutes. Let the filling cool in the fridge.

After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Punch down the dough and divide into 1.5 oz balls. Roll out each ball until it is 4 inches in diameter. Place two tablespoons of filling in the center of the dough.

Brush the edges of the dough with egg white and fold the over dough and press out any air. Crimp the edges using a fork, or pinch to seal. Place the filled pastry on a greased backing tray. Repeat until all of the dough has been used. Once the pastries are all shaped, bush tops with milk. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry becomes a dark, golden brown. Makes 10-12 empanadas (which are best eaten within a day or two).

Enjoy! I hope you all have a very happy National Pollinator Week!

Citations:

Canto-Aguilar, M. A., & Parra-Tabla V. (2000). Importance of conserving alternative pollinators: assessing the pollination efficiency of the squash bee, Peponapis limitaris in Cucurbita moschata (Cucurbitaceae). Journal of Insect Conservation 4: 203–210.

Malerbo-Souza, D. T., Nogueira-Couto, R. H., & Couto, L. A. (2004). Honey bee attractants and pollination in sweet orange, Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck, var. Pera-Rio. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases 10(2): 144–153.

educate

Pollinator Week BINGO!

Every year, a week in June is dedicated to celebrating pollinators. All week long TPI will be posting pollinator-related videos, blog posts, etc. PLUS, you can play BINGO for a chance to win a prize!

To play Pollinator Week BINGO, which features flower-visiting insects you can find in the Northeastern USA this time of year, download and print the Bingo card (below) or screen shot the image on your phone. Take your card/phone outside and if you find the correct insect, mark it off on your printed card with a pen/pencil or with your phone’s photo annotation option.

If you get BINGO! (five in a row, vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, TPI logo is a free space), send a photo of your annotated card to tuftspollinators@gmail.com or tweet a photo and tag @PollinateTufts by 11:59 pm on Friday, June 26. Each completed BINGO! card will be entered in a drawing to win TPI swag and a voucher for a free pollinator-friendly plant at next spring’s TPI plant sale! Limit one entry per person.

For help identifying the insects you observe, download our identification guides or reach out to us with photos via email or Twitter!

Pollinator Week BINGO!Download