Amazing South African photographer Pieter Hugo is well known for his large scale portraits with a focus on African communities. I came across the Wild Honey Collectors, a series he did about a collective of workers in the forests of Ghana in 2005. The men would wear plastic and branches to cover themselves from the potential stings when they smoke out the bees in order to collect the desirable honey. Just beautiful.
Gardening. It used to be the staid occupation of your grandmother, kneeling on a cushion pulling at weeds and complaining about the slugs. I remember being about 7 and precariously handed a pair of scissors and asked to go around the garden to snip off the head of anything that looked remotely dead – a task I probably relished more than I should have. But needless to say, such activities slightly warped my perception of what the role of ‘gardening’ and, actually, ‘nature’ is – something to control, manage and, most importantly, to admire (surely everyone gets flashbacks of garish flower beds bursting smugly with pansies, crocuses and daffodils). It was gardening for our own sakes – aesthetics trumped everything.
Beauty is of course important. No one is arguing with that. Gardens and parks are important sources of nourishment, emotional and physical, especially in urban areas. But it’s only one part of our relationship with plants.
And that’s exactly what The Honey Club got together to understand and explore at the ‘Guerilla Gardening’ event a couple of weeks ago: a new way of thinking about gardening which contributes to the bigger picture - thinking about what we should be planting not just because it makes sense to us (visually) but because it adds to and enhances the system we live in.
Led by our green-fingered guru, Paul Richens, and the Generators, we learned about how bees see the world and understand flowers – and colour, interestingly, doesn’t even enter the equation. Rather it’s about patterns, ultra-violet spectrums, stamens and scent.
Putting theory into a practice we braved the rain and had a go at regenerating disused banks and planting some wild flowers – poppies, cornflowers, marigolds, tickseeds, wild roses - that bees are particularly partial to.
So with a bit of water, some sand, a patch of ground and a 99p ‘wildflower seed mix’ you can do a lot. Actually giving bees what they want and need. Simple.
And to ensure we would remember the lessons we learnt, we all received a handy little booklet and some seeds to take home.
The evening was rounded off with some good food (thanks Global Generation!) and a bit of thinking time. And, putting it so much better than I can, here are some quotes below from some of our participants:
“I’ve really enjoyed this wonderful experience. I feel like me being here has contributed to something much larger than myself or the project”
“Green space is not just an aesthetic luxury but vital for our future – our climate, our economy… What is happening at Kings Cross is testament to the natural world – both in an economic but spiritual sense”
“[The Honey Club] is creative, unpretentious, resourceful and fun. Beyond bees, it’s a manifestation of a necessary path, where we can all celebrate green spaces in different forms”
“I am a young person in the big city, making small difference that I am told will make a big impact. I believe it will have a big impact too if I keep on doing it”
A big thank you to everyone involved for making this a very special event!
Nokia Connects have deemed us Social Innovators of the week! Read more here.
We’re thrilled to have been spotted, and to sit alongside other amazing and exciting projects that they have showcased so far on their site, like Enfuse Youth which helps young people turns dreams for the future into a reality (a cause close to our heart).
“…just unsuitable clothes.” Or so were the words of Jane Riddiford at Global Generation in an email in the run up to our third event that took place last night. Wise words as the rain was relentless. But undeterred The Honey Club community got together to learn all about guerilla gardening. Our wonderful gardener, Paul Richens, and the Generators shared their green- and bee-related wisdom on how and what to plant to support the bees! Full download to follow, but in the meantime here’s a taster of what the evening entailed. Rain macs and smiles.
Ever wondered why bees use the hexagon in their hives? The BBC have made a cute little film exploring that very question…
Friends of the Earth have started a petition to get the government to support bees. I’ve signed!
Plus, The Bee Cause campaign helps you find interesting bee related events and action that you can take part in. Find out more here.
Rooftop gardening is taking off in Shaghai thanks to a great project called V-roof. There are around 90 million square metres of unused rooftops in Shanghai which V-roof aim to put to good, ecological use: creating rooftop gardens that can become efficient spaces to produce food, wonderful places for relaxation and shared activity…not to mention being prime bee pollination centres.
Ahead of our ‘Guerrilla Gardening’ event next week, it’s wonderful to see motivated people creating green spaces all over the world.
Thanks to our friends from Shanghai for sharing - we look forward to showing you our own rooftop oasis next week!
Our next event is coming up: how to create a garden that bees will love. It will be hands-on, led by our wonderful garden facilitator Paul RIchens and the green-fingered Generators. Everyone will get to take away a little something they’ve planted, plus a load of other useful facts and tips.
We can’t wait!
Here it is…our TEDXCSM talk. All you ever needed to know about the Honey Club in 29 minutes!
Last Wednesday, Jane and I shared the story of the Honey Club at the TEDX event held at Central St Martins. It was an amazing event - loads of inspirational speakers including Michael Wolff (one of the founders of Wolff Olins), Tom Hulmes (design director at IDEO and co-founder of open innovation platform OpenIDEO) and Urban Green Line (an exciting startup that aims to link up sustainable action around the world)…and many more.
