Saving the honeybee one beekeeper at a time!

“That which we experience within ourselves only at a time when our hearts develop love is actually the same thing that is present as a substance in the entire beehive.”  -Rudolf Steiner (Bees, Feb. 3, 1923)

Dear Friends,

In February of 2023 we will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Bee Lectures, which Rudolf Steiner gave to the workers who were building the Goetheanum.  Looking back, we can marvel with awe and wonder that the collapse of the honeybees that Steiner predicted has proven true, and yet, how little of the wider understanding that he shared with us a century ago is actually being applied in the mainstream.  Artificial queen breeding and sugar feeding continue as strong as ever while the conventional beekeepers and scientists blindly search for the silver bullet that will pull us out of the crisis and save them from having to change their ways.  As I write this, new articles and presentations are coming from these mainstream groups, demonizing and ridiculing biodynamic, natural, and small-scale beekeepers with blanket statements which convey little understanding of the deeper issues or the healthy relationships that are being cultivated.  New weapons are constantly being invented in the war on parasites, meanwhile all the beekeeping practices that have caused the high hive losses and upsurge in varroa mites remain, and small-scale beekeepers are certainly not the culprit.

With your help, care, and continued support, we can grow ever-more effective in communicating our deep knowledge on these issues to widening circles of friends who truly want to help the bees and our Earth and not just continue to exploit her for selfish means.  The development of love in human hearts that Rudolf Steiner spoke about brings us closer to the spirit of the Bee, to our fellow humans, and towards realizing the spiritual beekeeping impulse that was given to us a century ago.  May its moral sensibility and healing effect increase and expand in service of the whole exponentially in the next 100 years, and may we have the strength to continue to work towards these goals as if our life depends on it—because it does!

With this End of Year Letter, we warmly invite you to give a gift to Spikenard Farm, so we can continue to give ours.  We need support now more than ever to help us end this year in the black numbers!  As you plan a gift for our future, please do imagine the goodness of the Hives for Humans space where we will study together, surrounded by thriving insects and flowers, and the strength of a growing community of bee and land stewards.  These things are worth real investment and need our attention to flourish and grow.

Thank you so much for connecting with us in these bee-inspired relationships of service and love.

Yours, on behalf of the Spikenard Team,

Alex