A new non-profit called The Bee Cause Project is teaching school children about the importance of honeybees and beekeeping.

Honeybees are dying in alarming numbers, and unless we find a way to replenish local hives, a lack of suitable pollinators will devastate our food system. For years, beekeepers and scientists have watched Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) wipe-out entire hives, and despite proof that commercial pesticides are a huge part of the problem, the EPA has refused to take definitive action.

While politicians and chemical companies hash it out at the legislative level, concerned citizens around the country have taken action. Keeping backyard honeybees has now become a staple of urban homesteading, and across the nation, people are pressuring their representatives to make protecting the bees a top priority.

Long before CCD hit national news, however, Ted Dennard made it his personal mission to protect and care for our most precious pollinators. As owner of Savannah Bee Company, Dennard has spent a lifetime supporting local beekeepers through the sale of real honey body care products. Now, the lifelong beekeeper is taking his message to an even more important crowd: our kids.

In late July, Dennard (pictured below) launched The Bee Cause Project: a not-for-profit that teaches children the ABCs of honeybees, beekeeping, and the importance of both. The goal? To put observation hives in 1,000 schools, so that kids can watch bees at work, participate in their care, and fully understand what an integral role this tiny insect plays in our every day lives.

“I want to raise a generation of kids that know how important the honeybee is,” Dennard said in a press release. “A generation that when someone says ‘bee,’ they don’t think ‘sting’ but they think of the wonderful little pollinator and its role in the ecosystem and our lives.”

The Bee Cause Project will place glass-sided observation hives in schools for absolutely no charge: 100 percent of the costs required to install the observation hive case and managing the initial hive case and honeybees is covered by the organization. This generous gift is made with the understanding that each school will pay it forward so that other students can enjoy the same experience.

“Schools that receive a honeybee observation hive agree to run an annual fundraiser selling Bee Cause Honey to help pay for the ongoing care of the bee family they have adopted and for the installation of honeybee observation hives at other schools,” explains the project website.

“The honey that is sold as part of the annual fundraiser is provided “at-cost” by The Savannah Bee Company and 100% of the profits are used to support The Bee Cause’s mission to install honeybee observation hives in 1,000 schools and “to save the honeybees one school at a time.”

Find out how your child’s school can become part of this amazing project by visiting www.thebeecause.org.

Related on EcoSalon:

Solving The Mystery Of Our Vanishing Bees

EPA Ignores Its Own Science And Approves Bee-Killing Pesticide

Image: Public Domain & Bee Cause Project

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A gourmet slow food paradise in the Smoky Mountains.

In the misty foothills of eastern Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, Blackberry Farm is a delightful and unusual hotel offering a gastro-luxe farm-to-table experience, with southern hospitality.

This being Earth Month, we’ve been reflecting on various ways we’re bringing nature into our homes, for example with micro-sized sexy urban gardens. This rural hotel/farm is at the other end of that scale, a vast 4,200 acre estate with a range of animals including sheep, which produce milk (for cheese), wool and meat; pigs, for sausages and pork; and hens (free-range, naturally), for their eggs. The animals also regenerate the pasture, fertilize, control pests and consume waste products from the farm’s food production.

The gardeners produce heirloom varieties (organically developed over generations, un-genetically-modified) of fruit and vegetables, such as apples, beans and carrots, while wild mushrooms are foraged from the woodlands. They even have black truffles – perfect with fresh eggs for breakfast.

Foodies will truly find heaven, care of the artisans of the farmstead as well as the gardeners. The farm has its own bee-keeper, for instance, and cheese-maker, butcher, plus a preservationist who makes jams, pickles and preserves. There’s a cooking school with celebrity chef guests, as well as a packed program of other food and wine events.

Accommodation is either in a beautiful private house and cottages, or guestrooms in the guesthouse: all is comfortable and classic, with four-poster beds, low-key prints or chintz in muted tones. All rooms and houses have fireplaces, high-speed internet, and integrated surround-sound systems. As well as the outdoor pool, with mountain views, there’s the spa with a wet treatment room offering the latest technology, such as various high-pressure water therapies; yoga classes are also available. Croquet, wildflower hikes and horse-and-carriage rides are other low-impact activities designed to get you in tune with nature, without harming it.

Rates from $345 excluding tax (two night minimum).

Photos: Blackberry Farm

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

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Urban homesteading is more doable than you think.

At the risk of stirring up controversy for using The-Term-Formerly-Known-As –Urban Homesteading, I’d like to talk about the practice of achieving more self-sufficient, sustainable living in cities from a strictly aesthetic point of view. Who says keeping chickens has to be hard? Take a look at the Kippen House above, a modular, multifunctional and modern chicken coop designed by Seattle-based architect Traci Fontyn.

Kippen means “chickens” in Dutch, and the Kippen House is a combination of the designer’s Dutch heritage, her love of Scandinavian design and “curious interests with urban agriculture in the form of an urban garden chicken coop.”

The Vertical Homesteader

The amazing thing about gardening trellises is that you can repurpose them out of anything (from old ladders to headboards), and they provide much needed support for the urban or vertical homesteader with a taste for cucumbers, tomatoes, and other climbing produce.

This one is made by UK artist Clare Harris who constructs trellises, bath mats, waste paper baskets, and table mats out of natural and locally coppiced materials. The trellis seen here is made from hazel poles and willow withies.

The Knife-Wielding Homesteader

UK retailer Hen & Hammock claims that every gardener needs a good pocketknife, as well as a trug and some string. I’m going to trust them on that. Clicking through their site is a lot like paging through a J. Crew catalog: not only is every object a total lustable, the entire lifestyle is, too.

The Bee-Keeping Homesteader

The well-documented peril of bees is that they’ve been dying off at a staggeringly high rate for years. Our life cycle is connected to bees in many ways, both seen and unseen. The direct impact on homesteaders meanwhile, is they need bees to pollinate their crops. Enter the Bee Station, an innovative little refueling and nesting station you can stick right in your garden.

Does all this talk of urban gardening have you hankering to show us your gorgeous stems and desirable pots? Then give us a peek into your homestead. Send pictures to editor@ecosalon.com.

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