Honey bees are the backbone of our global food supply. The Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary, a nonprofit founded by Heather Wood, offers education, community enrichment opportunities, and cooperative partnerships for the health and survival of honey bees. Her recent book, “The Case of the Vanishing Buzz,” and its accompanying coloring books for children and adults, is now available.
We Are Bee-Dependent for Our Food
One in three bites, or roughly 35% of global food crops, rely directly on animal pollinators such as bees. Honey bees pollinate over 130 types of fruits, nuts and vegetables. Almonds depend entirely on honey bees for pollination, and many other crops are 90% dependent. For those thinking they’ll just eat meat, consider that livestock eat alfalfa and clover, which are totally dependent on bees for the seeds. Regardless of your diet, we are all in this together.
Increased use of pesticides, habitat destruction, and commercial monoculture have dramatically impacted bee’s health as well as limiting their genetic diversity, which weakens the species. The Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary wants people to know this and learn ways to participate in a more bee-friendly world.
Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary Educates
Heather has always been drawn to bees and beekeeping. Previously, she helped people build wooden hives, got people started on their own beekeeping, and had a composting service. Beekeepers can use compost under their hives. Pseudoscorpions and predatory soil mites can eat the harmful mites that drop down as bees clean themselves.
The Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary now has a focus on honey bee conservation, ecological education, and sustainable bee habitats. It’s mission is to protect pollinators and create resilient, healthy ecosystems through biodynamic beekeeping, community, education and arts.
‘The Case of the Vanishing Buzz’
Heather wrote “The Case of the Vanishing Buzz,” children’s book, to honor her love for her daughter, who illustrated the two coloring books. The book follows bee detective Geraldine on her adventures in solving curious behaviors going on with the local bees. The overarching themes in the book emphasize the importance of slowing down to listen and ponder before rushing to solutions. It’s great to read aloud and lets listeners color along the way. It’s available on the website or Amazon.
Offerings from Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary
Heather speaks to groups at schools, libraries, and other locations with interactive programs and workshops explaining the importance of bees. Her program, Listening to the Bees, can be tailored to be appropriate for your age group. She can be found at fairs and community events.
Bee Centered Sun Hives and Sustainable Materials Exchange
The Sun Hive was designed by German sculptor, Guenther Mancke, to mimic a natural wild nest. It looks like an upside-down straw basket. It creates a cozy home for bees with its natural architecture. Natural beekeeping is a more hands-off manner and encourages all sorts of people to participate. Rather than practicing commercial beekeeping, the Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary advocates for natural, bee-centered methods that support their genetic diversity and long-term health. Ideally, many community members would have a Sun Hive so when a swarm was looking for a place to land, it would pick a safely located Sun Hive, perhaps in your own yard.
To encourage people to connect around hive-making and other traditional crafts and sustainable practices, The Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary is creating the Sustainable Materials Exchange. It brings people together while supporting pollinator-friendly agriculture, local resilience, environmental education, and creative reuse. It is a way for the community of growers, beekeepers, artisans, educators, and conservation organizations who believe in the value of sustainable natural materials and pollinator-friendly practices to connect.
The connections are for any of the following:
- Farmers and growers with natural materials available
- Basket weavers, straw artists, fiber artists, and makers
- Beekeepers with beeswax, honey, propolis, or educational resources
- Teachers, schools, libraries, and community groups
- Conservation organizations and native plant advocates
- Artists and craftspeople seeking local, sustainable materials
Materials may include natural fibers like rye straw cattails, reeds, wood, wax, seeds and other plants. People can connect via the Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary website.
The Future for Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary
Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary plans to set up workshops for making Sun Hives. It also is gathering youth from schools, homeschools, and families for choirs to record honeybee music. Heather is planning to combine art (like glass fusing) with tea and Talk to the Bees get-togethers. The nonprofit is working with NeuroStride Foundation for youth and veteran empowerment through environmental stewardship and hands-on education experiences. Heather is pondering her next book.
Along the way, she is finishing her master’s degree in clinical herbal medicine from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She hopes to practice apitherapy and herbal remedies that are integrated with wildlife, bees and other pollinators. “I love to share my passion with those who want to live well with herbs,” she says.
Learn to grow bees, one hive at a time with Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary.
