Entering into relationship with honey bees goes beyond simply harvesting honey and wax, and is further away from protecting the pollinators than is often touted. Yet, learning about their unique way of cooperating to sustain themselves and their particular niche in the broader ecosystem can teach us so much about how we might show up for each other in community, and how to relate to our more-than-human kin. Beekeeping can also provide valuable livelihood and materials for small-scale production and subsistence, physical and mental health, and when done well, can positively contribute to integrated agroecosystems.
In this workshop, we will sit with their hum and consider not just the practical steps to caring and being cared for by these special creatures, but also the context of their existence in this modern landscape, and the perennial, eusocial way that they belong together, within the hive and the ecosystem, season after season.