Did you know that mason bees have no stinger?

They can't sting, and they can still pollinate. Dogs might have a little competition as man's best friend.

The unique fact (other bee varieties do sting!) was just one of the many facts that members of Rochester Girl Scout Troop 81001 taught younger children at Plumb Library on Monday June 12.

"We're the bee people," said Audrey Blanchard, who led the talk alongside fellow Girl Scout Lauren Eldridge. "We want you to forget everything you learned from 'Bee Movie' - none of it is true."

The two girls, flanked by fellow scouts, stood at one end of a table, with a presentation in front of them. Three illustrations of strawberries and three illustrations of blackberries were displayed on the board - examples of wind-pollinated, insect-pollinated and self-pollinated.

"Which one would you want to eat?" Blanchard asked the group of children, who pointed to the middle illustrations, indicating a healthy bee-pollinated fruit.

"See, if you didn't have bees you'd be eating these," Eldridge said as she pointed out the misshapen berries. "You might eat them if you were forced to, but that's about it."

"Without bees, we wouldn't have any of the things around us," Blanchard continued, as she pointed to the trees outside the library. "Bees make fruits and vegetables possible."

The Girl Scouts brought along a number of crafts for the children; the first was a bee house, for bees to live in. The 'houses' are easy to make - simply insert open paper cylinders into a clean soup can and watch a bee move in! Do note that the cylinders shouldn't be any longer than the lip of the can - bees won't move into a cylinder wet from rain.

Bee house builders can use any type of paper they set their heart on; if the paper has ink on it, however, the ink should be rolled on the outside; the chemicals from the ink can make bees ill.

The project was the first in a series of three hosted at Plumb Library. The overall program intends to teach young children about the importance of bees and butterflies in the world. The project is Girl Scout Troop 81001's Silver Medal project - to earn the Silver Medal, the troop must put in 50 hours of research and preparation.

"We had to create a project to help better the community," explained Blanchard, "and we were learning in school about how important bees are.We thought it would be a good thing to teach other people."

"If we didn't have bees, Rochester wouldn't have any farming," Eldridge pointed out.

The second part of the project is "Planting Flowers for Bees and Butterflies" from noon - 2 p.m. on Saturday June 17. The third portion is "Butterflies!" and will teach participants about butterflies as well as allow them to decorate butterfly pots.

Registration for the program can be found online at plumblibrary.com under "Calendar of Events."