Huzzah for June 16-24, Pollinator Week! This was designated once upon a time by the U.S. Department of Interior. It was a day when top officials understood the critical importance of bees for our food and survival. See the Pollinator Partnership, largest nonprofit in the world dedicated to promoting the health of pollinators—critical to food and ecosystems— through conservation, education, and research.

Our Burque Pollinator Festival on June 16 was a success despite the rainy day! Thanks to Seth Hoffman, music maker extraordinaire, who crowned the day with his original tunes!

 

 

 

I celebrate the newly minted 501C3 status of Think Like A Bee! Please raise a cup, tip your hat and/or practically contribute some Honey Money to honor the work of bees.  This officially kicks off the June Fundraising campaign for us!

Here’s how we contributed to the community in 2017:

2017 Community Benefits and Outcomes

1. BURQUE BEE CITY USA

We honored Albuquerque’s status as the first Bee City USA in the southwest with a city wide party!

 

 

Goals met were increased community awareness for how they can support our new Bee City USA pollinator protection status and ongoing cooperation and education with the City of Albuquerque and neighborhoods to ensure pollinator protection. Check out Burque Bee City’s new webpage at the City of Albuquerque’s Open Space Division (https://www.cabq.gov/parksandrecreation/open-space/bee-city-usa), Also find us on Facebook

2. SUMMER YOUTH FARM INTERNSHIP

Think Like A Bee collaborated with Cornelio Candelaria Organic Farm to host a summer youth farm internship from May-August 2017. Community Benefits are future generations of youth learning about New Mexico’s long and dignified history of traditional and small scale farming, pollinator importance in food system health and food security. Students participated in local food markets and were introduced to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

 

 

As the students worked for Cornelio Candelaria Organic Farm CSA and Think Like A Bee, they learned healthy soil composition, beekeeping 101, composting, seed saving and management, food as medicine, hoop house growing and irrigation, harvesting and marketing. Youth learned life skills including the ethics of hard work, team cooperation, discipline, persistence, courage and independent learning.

3. The Council of All Beings

The youth attended The Council of All Beings, where they made masks of animals and spoke through the voices of these silent ones to tell us humans something we need to hear for this time. The voices of wolf, sunflower, bear, cat, deer and so many others were profound and from the heart.

 

 

Youth acquiring very practical skills of beekeeping and pollinator’s keystone importance in our food system as well as habitat for bees. They were able to learn how to sustain a healthy food system, from farm to table and all the steps needed, including pollination, healthy habitat and animal husbandry. The program was duplicated with friends and family of the youth who were invited to a final awards/graduation ceremony. Youth from the program shared their experience, gaining self esteem and merit. Goals for our programs were met as Think Like A Bee was able to help provide ten youth a summer stipend. Ten more youth without nature deficit. Ten youth who didn’t sit in front of their screens all summer. Ten youth who had an amazing hands on experience and made new friends across cultural boundaries and language.

2018-19 GOALS

Think Like a Bee will be collaborating with other Bee organizations, Parks and Rec, City Council, Albuquerque Neighborhoods and partners dedicated to habitat/wildlife corridors and preservation

We want to embed best pollinator practices in our city’s communities and build Neighborhood coalitions for bee habitat. We will continue to educate in schools, with youth and children and civic organizations to increase pollinator protection and food security.

We are happy to be the recipient of a grant to create a Rio Grande Watershed documentary with youth interviewing land based elders. We are exploring a very exciting collaborative opportunity with the UNM Taos Digital Media Arts (DMA) to record the stories of New Mexico’s treasured farming and landbased communities for future posterity.

 

For contributions to our 2018-2019 projects, checks can be sent to Think Like a Bee, c/o 410 Morningside Dr. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108

OR Click on our website, Think Like a Bee, to donate by credit card.

Thank you for your incredible support. Hive mind at work!

 

Think Like a Bee is a 501C3, tax exempt organization.