BACKLAND’S BIPOC BEEKEEPER GATHERING
JULY 27, 2024
10:00AM - 7:00PM
UNADILLA, NY
IMPORTANT: This event is at full capacity and we now have a waitlist to attend. If your ability to attend changes, please notify us at backlandny@gmail.com. Thank you!
Backland NY is an educational apiary co-creating a network of regenerative beekeepers who steward a surviving ecotype through biomimicry practices. We aim to reform the modern beekeeping perspective away from the unsustainability of industry and back toward small-scale practices centered by deep local networks and a holistic relationship with the natural world. We host an annual gathering of beginner beekeepers to further this mission through education and community-building.
Thank you for registering for Backland’s third annual BIPOC beekeeping gathering: an immersive unlearning for a renewed relationship with the Honey bee. This event is for NY and Northeast land stewards and beginner beekeepers who identify as BIPOC (a Black person, an Indigenous person, or a person of color).
This gathering is rain or shine. Please plan to arrive by 10am so we can orient the group together. Please bring a reusable water bottle. A refill station is available on site. We also have access to an outhouse. We suggest wearing comfortable outdoor clothing/footwear that you don’t mind getting dirty. The land features hills, uneven ground and tall grass.
ATTENDING DETAILS:
SUGGESTED DONATION: Sliding scale $20-40, per person. All proceeds go to the educational apiary. No one will be turned away for a lack of funds. Make your donation here: backland.org/donate
OUR ADDRESS IS: 263 Washburn Road, Unadilla NY 13849
PARKING: All parking is roadside. Please park in line with other cars.
LUNCH: We will serve a locally-sourced lunch, with both meat and vegetarian options. If you have dietary restrictions, please email us. We will do our best to accommodate.
OVERNIGHT LODGING AT MALLORY BROOK FARM: If you have registered for complimentary overnight accommodations, participants can access their room after the event. Mallory Brook Farm is a 40-minute drive southeast from Backland. Please check-out of room by 11am the next day. You are welcome to stay until 1pm in the common areas and explore the land.
MALLORY BROOK’S ADDRESS IS: 7019 County Road 26, Hamden, NY 13782
TOGETHER WE WILL:
Review the age-old timeline of beekeeping.
Explore materials of the hive and learn how to sustainably harvest.
Learn about different hive designs.
Ferment local honey and pollen to brew a mead beverage.
Hand dip a pair of candles using local beeswax.
CONVERSATION CO-LEADERS:
HIVE DEMONSTRATION BY ISLAND BEE PROJECT: We will discuss and demonstrate the pros and cons of the Langstroth and Kenyan hive inner workings. We will emphasize how to identify a healthy thriving colony. As well as, how to mitigate the problems that could develop from disease and poor nutrition. If time allows, we'd love to share some information about the many benefits of propolis, for both bees and humans! Island Bee Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by three Latinas committed to being stewards of the environment with a mission to spread pollinator awareness through public programming and access to local urban apiaries and greenspaces in NYC.
INTUITIVE MEAD MAKING BY SUANNY UPEGUI: Mead is an alcoholic fermented drink of water and honey through the process of wild yeast activation. Mead is one of the oldest fermented drinks from Africa. Ancient Greeks believed this to be the drink of deities (bees as the messenger of creator) that activated magical powers. In this workshop, we will connect to plants to intentionally ferment a drink that will activate our super powers individually and/or collectively. We will learn how fermentation works with honey and pollen, from our intuition and our taste buds. Suanny, born in Embera Dobida territory, Afro-Colombiana and Indigena—is Founder of Casa Finca, Community Organizer/bridge, Psycho-spiritual, embodiment and Medicine Guide. Through ancestral wisdom and elders’ wisdom, she curates magical experiences that support the healing of our individual and collective consciousness. She hopes her service will foster the internal and external health of the ecosystem and earth. At 12 years of age she was displaced to the United States away from civil war; this has shaped her way of thinking and deep joy for seeing people and communities thrive in the process of collective healing and relationship building.
HAND DIPPED CANDLES BY ALYSIA MAZZELLA: Tapers are the eldest candle form, dating back to 3000BC. We will gather around a sensory pot of molten beeswax and practice the meditative art of dipped candles. By repeatedly dipping a cotton wick into wax, participants will handcraft a pair of taper candles to take home. Alysia Mazzella is a biracial Black candlemaker, gardener and Backland’s co-founder. She became a student of the Honey bee in 2017 and launched Backland’s educational apiary in 2021. She is devoted to creating a resilient network of wild and regenerative apiaries. Alysia is also a mother who believes in seasonal rhythms and the power of imagination.
GATHERING CO-LED BY DARA NICOLE BOYD: A multi-generational Black land steward and second in her family in Central New York, on the ancestral lands of the Haudenosaunee. Dara’s lifework on land involves imagining and designing liberated futures for BIPOC communities, an exploration carried out through Dara's work on her BIPOC-centered educational off-grid homestead and through partnership with local land stewardship and food sovereignty organizations. Dara is committed to connecting with and creating spaces for BIPOC people, particularly Black and Indigenous womxn, who are similarly committed to anti-capitalist, communal, liberatory world-building.