Let me tell you 'bout the Birds and the Bees
and the flowers and the trees
and the moon up above.
And a thing called "Love"
I have always remembered this song by Jewel Akens, and it seems fitting to quote these lyrics now as I love everything about the birds and bees and the moon up above me.
I truely believe when we provide for the bees, they will provide for us.
I can't believe the bird and bee life that has changed already in just 3 months since I started work out the back. 
We now have a resident Pīwakawaka (fantail) who appears to be on it's own with no mate, and follows me the entire time I am outside flitting from tree to tree and nearly landing on my shoulders.
We have wax eyes feeding off the small bugs that are around the flowering camellia and other trees and plants.
I love birds so much and my main goal is to have a garden that a Tui will want to visit! The Tui is my favourite bird and that will be the icing on the cake for me to look out a window and see one in one of my trees.
There are bees and other winged insects flying around continually. This is all in a matter of weeks from a plain grass lawn expanse to a mulched area with fruit trees and many small plants planted. I can only imagine what it is going to be like in a couple of years time.
The bees work tirelessly on my open flowered camellia's, flowering rosemary bush and my wild flowers that are scattered around the garden.
Everything I plant out in the garden is either for the birds, the bees or us.
Just before Christmas I brought some Leafcutter bees and a house for them. Leafcutter bees are amazing pollinators, they don't sting, and don't make honey. They are a solitary bee, cutting perfect wee circles from petals and leaves to make their nests to lay eggs in. Rose petals are their favourite to cut holes from. They only fly about 300m from their nest so will stay in your garden which is so awesome for pollination. Sadly none of them have chosen to come back to the house since hatching but some mason bees have built their clay nests in there. Mason bees are good pollinators as well so I am happy. I am sure the leafcutter bees have found another nesting area close by as I saw little round circles cut in my beetroot leaves over summer.
In the fridge I have a couple of dozen leafcutter cocoons that I harvested in early autumn and will lift out in late spring and will pop them in the big tube in their house and hopefully they will hatch.
Below is a couple of images of the mason bee nests in the leafcutter bee's house. I am fascinated how they collect the clay to line the nest to lay their eggs in, with a spider caught and paralysed for food for the hatching babies.
Just mind blowing!
A food forest is so much more than just an area to feed us. It is an entire ecosystem within my garden where we can all live harmoniously.
