By Alex Tuchman | Director
Dear Friends,
Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary was founded on principles of creative resilience. Our Founder, Gunther Hauk, famously said, “More than we can imagine depends on our ability to turn the crisis into an opportunity for change.” He said this over 20 years ago when his book Towards Saving the Honeybee first came into print as the honeybee crisis reached worldwide attention.
After nearly seven years of nurturing and taking care of Spikenard with Gunther and Vivian, it is now my great privilege and task to help Spikenard into the next stage of growth. Since I arrived at Spikenard in 2014, Gunther and Vivian have been planning for a time when they would transition into a slower-paced supportive role in the organization. The work of succession planning was always part of our vision for the future and our work together with the Board of Directors. When 2020 came to meet us, the necessities of life and the pause in our in-person programs allowed for Gunther and Vivian to transition into their next phase of life in a way that felt possible and right for the organization. Carrying this work with Gunther and Vivian has been a very special and incredible journey, where grace allowed for the kind of beautiful and organic working-together that one can only dream of. The years that we spent side-by-side in this labor of love are some of the most formative years for the Honeybee Sanctuary, and of my life. Particularly productive were the past three years, where the three of us formed a Co-Director team and worked to solidify essential organizational structures, built the Bee Barn, and developed the Honeybee Sanctuary and our educational offerings into a robust and diverse set of well-attended and well-loved programs.
I am proud and grateful for the work we have done together, and I am glad that Gunther and Vivian will remain in supportive, new positions in the coming year. I joyfully continue on in service of this organization as the Director and embrace this challenge with hope because I see clearly the need to continue to support the proliferation of healthy honeybee colonies and thriving flowering landscapes—in cities, suburbs, farms, schools, and anywhere where serving the honeybees and pollinators lives in human hearts. We are already planning events for next year!
I invite you to join me in honoring the legacy of the founders, Gunther and Vivian, who have given so much of their love, life forces, and wisdom to bring Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary into being, and I invite you to join me as we walk into the future, inspired in service of our beloved honeybees, the pollinators, the living Earth and all her beings. Your supportive thoughts and your financial contributions to Spikenard Farm are so deeply appreciated at this time.
With very best wishes for good health and an inwardly enriching Holiday Season,
Alex
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