At Petaluma lavender farm, bees come first

JoAnn Wallenstein has had the good fortune of taking over the family farm in beautiful Sonoma County. JoAnn and husband Richard Wallenstein have created a lavender haven and a bee paradise with their Lavender Bee Farm, located on the outskirts of Petaluma.

“I haven’t ever found a better place than Chapman Lane in Petaluma,” said JoAnn Wallenstein, “so here I am.”

The bees came first. Richard Wallenstein began keeping honey bees 35 years ago. They had joined the Sonoma County Beekeeper’s Association and it was there that they learned how to keep bees correctly.

“They are all wonderful beekeepers and they are fabulous for knowledge,” said JoAnn Wallenstein.

With the Lavender Bee Farm, the Wallensteins are not only maintaining a thriving farm in Sonoma County, they’re also stewards. They’re committed to educating the public as they bring groups in for scheduled tours, shopping and weddings on the property.

The bees are raised naturally and only 40% of the honey is harvested, leaving the rest for the bees for their winter food.

“It’s a labor of love,” said JoAnn Wallenstein.

They began planting lavender ?20 years ago out of a simple love for the plant. They found the products from their lavender and honey sold well and they maintain a flourishing business, selling an array of lavender and bee products in their store and online. The bees love the lavender but they also have other bee-friendly plants growing on the property to help keep the bees heartily fed.

Ettamarie Peterson of Sonoma County Beekeepers Association, SCBA, says that bees here have warm winter temperatures tempting them outside to forage, so they need a year-round food supply. She noted that bunches of the same plant are helpful because the foraging bee will only gather from one type of plant at a time during each trip from the hive.

She also explained that planting multiple types of plants helps to ensure there’s a good balance of nutrients around for the foraging bees. The SCBA has a very popular group called Gardening for Bees and meetings are noted on their website.

Another way locals can help bees is to call upon The SCBA if you find a swarm. Don’t kill them says Peterson. The beekeepers will come and take the swarm away for you, saving the bees.

Peterson has rescued 20 swarms herself this year alone. She described some interesting swarms she’s seen over the years, including a dress outside a Petaluma shop that was hiding a swarm under its skirt.

“Knock off using insecticides, fungicides and herbicides,” said Peterson.

She noted that bees forage over a large area and that different pesticides being sprayed within that area means the bee is getting a dangerous cocktail of chemicals while foraging.

“Bees are insects and are therefore susceptible to the chemicals in insecticides,” said Associate Professor Margarita M. Lopez-Uribe, of the Lopez-Uribe Lab at Pennsylvania State University where she and her team study bees.

She noted that fungicides don’t directly impact the bees, but they can affect the beneficial fungi in the guts and nests of insects. “So, these chemicals have been designed to kill things other than bees but are affecting bees directly or indirectly,” explained Lopez-Uribe.

“The toxicity of all pesticides is not the same and there are safer alternatives,” said Lopez-Uribe. “Most importantly, the amount that is applied will always determine the toxicity of a chemical. Even pretty mild pesticides could become highly toxic if used in excess.”

“Most of the research to develop labels for the use of pesticides is based on quantifying how much of a pesticide is needed to kill something,” explained Lopez-Uribe. “However, pesticides can have very serious negative effects on bees even if the bees are not dead. These are called ‘sub lethal effects’ because the pesticide does not kill the bees but it affects their foraging, cognition, lifespan, etc. These effects can have very bad consequences for bee populations in the long run and none of this is taken into consideration when developing pesticide labels.”

Peterson pointed out that the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association website has a recipe for a weed killer that doesn’t hurt the bees. The simple list of ingredients can be found in most kitchens.