Bee-friend Our Precious Pollinators!
Dear Friends,
Hello! We are Wintergreen Studios ; an off-the-grid environmentally friendly retreat centre and charity in the heart of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere (South Frontenac, Ontario, Canada). Our 204-acre property–speckled with forests, meadows, and marshes–gives us plenty of space to host retreats for artists, citizen science events, sustainability workshops, and more. We LOVE the natural world, which leads us to our latest project: saving bees (and making delicious honey in the process)! To keep the bees happy and the honey flowing, we need your help.
Meet the bees in our apiary!
Project Bee
With funding from the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area, along with partner support from the Limestone Beekeepers’ Guild (a member of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association), we have commenced Project Bee! Starting in May 2019, we installed 3 beautifully-painted hives and chose the name '9th Meadow Apiary' to represent our buzzing bee village. The honeybees moved in just a few weeks later and have since grown their population to over 70,000 bees and counting!
Bees are currently facing a population crisis, which is compromising our food production and disrupting the balance of ecosystems. This apiary is our way of lending a hand to our precious pollinators, by increasing the number of bees in our surrounding meadows and beyond!
To spread the word on the importance of bees, we hosted a hive-painting party earlier this year and now our bees have the most vibrant hives on the block! We also invited the community to learn some beekeeping techniques and explored the joys of wearing a bee suit...in the sizzling summer heat. What’s next for Project Bee? Our vision is below!
Happy bees and happy program participants in Beekeeping 101, July 2019.
9th Meadow Apiary
Our vision for the 9th Meadow Apiary is to create year-round programming that will educate the public and enhance local bee populations. The precise aims are to:
1. Offer a sanctuary for honey bees at Wintergreen through the maintenance and care of our hives.
2. Enhance native plantings in Wintergreen's gardens, to give local pollinators the sustenance to shine.
3. Make our apiary a central teaching space, enriched by partnerships with local schools and national bee organizations.
4. Gather the honey produced by our bees to sweeten our locally-sourced meals at Wintergreen. Honey will also be sold under our brand new honey label: 9th Meadow Honey! Proceeds from honey sales will support the ongoing delivery of Wintergreen's educational programs, including Project Bee. 
Sneak peak of our honey label!
Fundraising Goal
We have reached our fundraising goal of $6,300! Additional donations are always welcome, to help us continue Project Bee.
For all donations above $5, we will send you a private message to collect your contact information in order to send you a tax receipt. 
Fuzzy bee glamour shot.
Thank You!
Make a beeline toward Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any other social media platform you use to share this page and share the love for Wintergreen’s bees!
Thank you ever so much for visiting our page and considering Wintergreen Studios as the destination for your donation. Visit again for updates on our progress and to hear us gush about our generous donors :)
If you would like to learn more about Project Bee, visit our website here .
With gratitude,
The Wintergreen Studios Project Bee Team
(Rena, Monica, and Jess)
Wintergreen's queen bee (centre), thanking you for bee-friending our precious pollinators!
