Local environmental issues will be the main focus when Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) hosts presentations on bees, food and milk at the Randall Oaks Recreation Center on May 20.
Terry Miesle of the Native Bee Awareness Initiative, which works to raise awareness of local native bees, will present "Bees at Home and on the Prairie." There are more than 4,000 species of native bees in America. While honeybees are important to the agricultural industry, native bees are efficient pollinators that should be encouraged in the garden, he said.
Miesle has spent years monitoring bees and other insects at the FermiLab Natural Areas and in East Dundee.
Cliff McConville, founder of All Grass Farms, will follow Miesle with "Sustainable Food and Raw Milk." An organic farmer, McConville has been farming in the area for 19 years. All Grass Farms provides 100 percent grass-fed beef, raw milk, free-range chickens and eggs and woodland pork to local customers. The farm store also carries raw local honey and fresh organic vegetables.
Following the two presentations, which run from 9 to 11 a.m., Skillicorn will update attendees on upcoming environmental legislation that might affect Illinois.