College of the Melissae
Center for Sacred Beekeeping
Past Projects
The following projects represent a few of the MANY activities and projects worked on in the past few years by faculty and students of the College of the Melissae.
Les Crowder and Laura Bee spent a month on a volunteer teaching mission sponsored by Partner's of the Americas/Farmer:Farmer/USAid to teach value-added marketing and hive products to the developing beekeeping communities of Jamaica in January, 2014
Arizona Organic Beekeeping Conference
2014, 2015 & 2017
Laura & Les
Go to Jamaica
Students from Germany, Nederlands, England, Ireland, Australia, all over the US and HI joined together at Findhorn to immerse ourselves in Bee-dom.
For more information:
https://www.findhorn.org/programmes/216/
and http://www.sacredbeesymposium.com/findhorn-symposium
Findhorn
Forres, Scotland
2016 & 2017
Sacred Bee Symposium
and Immersion
Bee Mystic
2016 & 2017
Bee Mystic Asheville was such a success we are going to do it again!
Ceremony, meditation, history and methodology are thoughtfully delivered, practiced and demonstrated in this weekend practicum
Stay tuned for more...
The picture above shows the first few days of our brand-new apiary in 2012, built on-site at the Jackson Wellsprings in Southern Oregon. Funded fully by donations and more than 60 volunteer workers, a permaculture design and large bear-fence were implemented and installed to create a safe home for up to 24 hives. Major work was needed to clear the site of poison oak.
Laura Bee brings the historical sacred story of the bee as a regular presenter to the Arizona Organic Beekeeping Conference in Bisbee AZ, February 2014, 2015 and coming up March 3-5 2017
Internships
More than 100 people, young and older, have spent what amounts to thousands of hours working on the land and learning about beekeeping. From swarm catching to greenhouse and gardening, these young folks enthusiastically put their muscle into it!
Built an Apiary
2012
The children are our future and the College of the Melissae hosted over 100 children ages 5-15 for
Bee Camp! Weeklong beekeeping intensives for children with related art projects and hive product workshops as well as good old fashioned beekeeping.
Greenhouse
2013-2015
More than 50 volunteers raised plants for seed to provide organic forage on site and for community members. All seeds, soil and funds were donated to create ongoing, self-seeding abundance for the bees! Some plants are gloriously growing still!
Food Security
2012- Ongoing
Seed Justice and Family Farms inspire many of the faculty and students of the college and they helped Jackson County become GMO-Free through community education, public speaking and legislative action. Laura also moderated at the Pesticides, Pollinators, People and Planet conference April 2016. In November 2016 Laura presented at a state panel for DEQ to halt use of cosmetic neo-nicitinoids and to call for greater oversight of use of this dangerous chemical.
Bee Camp
2012-2015
Devotional Bee Club
On-Going April- October
Ashland, OR and in 2017 Williams OR
$10-20 Sliding Scale
Lecutres, Meditation and Bee-Centric Methodologies. Craft Workshops
Devotional Forage Gardens
For more information:
laurafergusonabc@gmail.com
And Peru
Hawaii
NY
and more:
subscribe to this page to stay updated!
BEe Healing Gathering
2016 & 2017
As an Advisor and Presenter, Laura joins such notables as Les Crowder, Corwin Bell, Jacqueline Freeman, Don Huber, Matt Wiley in a lecture series devoted to a deeper understanding of the bees
Pesticides, People, Pollinators, and the Planet Conference
Pesticides, People, Pollinators, and the Planet:
Safer, Healthier Practices and Policies
including a keynote address by Kim Leval, the Executive Director of the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides and Phyllis Stiles, the visionary leader and founder of Bee City USA
You are invited to the first-ever conference in the Rogue Valley
hosting national and regional experts speaking on the important
topic of pesticides, people, pollinators, and the planet.
Co-sponsored by Pollinator Project Rogue Valley, SOU's Bee Campus USA, ECOS, EcoSolutions, Cascade Girl Organization, the Ashland Emergency Food Bank, College of the Melissae, and the Rogue Valley’s three Bee City USAs: Talent, Ashland, & Phoenix
Hosted by Southern Oregon University, Ashland
