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Bee Totem Tagua Pendant
In commemoration of taking the first steps to start our first apiary (purchasing two packages of bees to be delivered in the spring) I designed a bee pendant - something I've been wanting to do for a long time!
Proceeds from the sales of these bee pendants will be going towards our efforts to rehabilitate native prairie on our land, an 80 acre farm we pulled out of (corn) production and are seeking to turn into native grassland, native wildflowers, and support sustainable grass-based alternative livestock. A big step in that is starting an apiary, with both honeybees and bumblebees to help create stronger pollination pathways in an area where a lot of monoculture farming has destroyed the ability for important insects (and many other species) to find food.
Bees are really important for food production of things you might not even think of - they pollinate everything from almonds and apples to alfalfa and soybeans - they are responsible for a huge amount of our food supply and are really in trouble at the moment. Combinations of factors including rampant pesticide use, aforementioned monocultures, introduction of exotic pests and many other things have hit bee populations worldwide, it's a surprisingly large and mainly hidden issue. Did you know that people actually truck colonies of bees in mass all around the country to pollinate fruit and nut crops because there are not enough natural pollinators to support those massive farms anymore? It's quite crazy!
Anyways, I love bees, and what they do - they are really fascinating creatures! I'm excited to get the chance to work with them on the farm!
Proceeds from the sales of these bee pendants will be going towards our efforts to rehabilitate native prairie on our land, an 80 acre farm we pulled out of (corn) production and are seeking to turn into native grassland, native wildflowers, and support sustainable grass-based alternative livestock. A big step in that is starting an apiary, with both honeybees and bumblebees to help create stronger pollination pathways in an area where a lot of monoculture farming has destroyed the ability for important insects (and many other species) to find food.
Bees are really important for food production of things you might not even think of - they pollinate everything from almonds and apples to alfalfa and soybeans - they are responsible for a huge amount of our food supply and are really in trouble at the moment. Combinations of factors including rampant pesticide use, aforementioned monocultures, introduction of exotic pests and many other things have hit bee populations worldwide, it's a surprisingly large and mainly hidden issue. Did you know that people actually truck colonies of bees in mass all around the country to pollinate fruit and nut crops because there are not enough natural pollinators to support those massive farms anymore? It's quite crazy!
Anyways, I love bees, and what they do - they are really fascinating creatures! I'm excited to get the chance to work with them on the farm!
Category Artwork (Traditional) / All
Species Insect (Other)
Size 155 x 284px
File Size 14 kB
Have you thought about using https://www.Kickstarter.com for this project? It sounds like something that would go over great there to get crowd-funding support. I only have 7 acres, but in trying to grow gourds, pumpkins, and more...we've also had a hard time trying to get the bees to come and many farmers are resorting to pollinating themselves which is not a fun process and kinda hit and miss if you ask me. I'm all for this project and I would pledge, and your tagua pendants would be a great reward for backers. Congrats also on getting your land...I remember back when I was still part of things we talked about you seeking that perfect plot of 60+ acres. I'm also interested in how you are going about acquiring these bees and what all that takes...not sure it would be worthwhile for me personally though just for corn and pumpkins, lol, but it sure would help all the local farmers.
Yes, I actually plan to run a kickstarter program called 'Bees and Trees!' - I have just been getting everything together. It's kind of hard to video right now since the land is blanketed in snow, but I don't want to wait until spring thaw which is months away, so not sure what to do on that end! Thank you for your support, it's going to take many years and a ridiculous amount of funds to re-establish prairie, since the seeds cost an arm and a leg but also the scheduled burnings and everything else that has to be done to really get it going over a period of about 10 years. Looking forward to it, though - there is so little real prairie left in the midwest!
As far as the bees go, my husband and I took a class at the University of Minnesota about beekeeping - I know that local groups sometimes offer this as well. It seems there are strong beekeepers associations all over, you might want to check your area and see if there is a club. Buying the bees is the easy part - there are breeders who sell 'packages' of bees in the spring - a queen and some workers and you get those, put them in a hive and feed them until they get established. Keeping them healthy, checking on them often, and getting them ready for the cold midwest winter is more of the challenging part!
Here are also some books that were really helpful for me : http://foxloft.com/beekeeping - I will be adding more info and links as I get the time to do so. :) Beekeeping is quite involved, but really rewarding! I'm very excited to be starting this venture.
I will let you know when I put up the kickstarter, I will post a journal here on FA about it. :)
As far as the bees go, my husband and I took a class at the University of Minnesota about beekeeping - I know that local groups sometimes offer this as well. It seems there are strong beekeepers associations all over, you might want to check your area and see if there is a club. Buying the bees is the easy part - there are breeders who sell 'packages' of bees in the spring - a queen and some workers and you get those, put them in a hive and feed them until they get established. Keeping them healthy, checking on them often, and getting them ready for the cold midwest winter is more of the challenging part!
Here are also some books that were really helpful for me : http://foxloft.com/beekeeping - I will be adding more info and links as I get the time to do so. :) Beekeeping is quite involved, but really rewarding! I'm very excited to be starting this venture.
I will let you know when I put up the kickstarter, I will post a journal here on FA about it. :)
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