So you may wonder, why our activity was apple tasting? 

  • Each year Vermont growers produce around 1,000,000 bushels (or about 40 million pounds) of apples.
  • Vermont orchards grow more than 150 varieties of apples.
  • The McIntosh is the most important apple grown in Vermont accounting for about 50% of Vermont’s apple crop.
  • Local Food 

Beside apples, other local major crops that rely heavily on insect pollination include almonds, blueberries, melons, and squash. Some additional produce that require the help of pollinators are strawberries, chocolate, peaches, figs, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Many of which, you can find in The Knoll! 

Pollinators are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world’s flowering plants to reproduce. Without them, humans and wildlife would not have much to eat or look at! They include animals that assist plants with their reproduction and range from bees, bats, birds, butterflies, and even beetles. 

Bee The Change 

This is also a good time for you to know about Bee the Change, a Vermont-based family farm using the unused space in solar fields to support threatened pollinators and bees. Their first field was installed in May 2016, and in their first year, there were 34 unique pollinator encounters in a 15 minute period. The next year, they surveyed the same plots and encountered 174 unique pollinators in 15 minutes. 

Mike Kiernan, the founder, has internships for Middlebury students to work on Bee the Change every year!