Buzzclub and The Honey Gardens

by Bridget Adams -Shaw in Belper, England, United Kingdom

Buzzclub and The Honey Gardens

Total raised £10,902

raised so far

244

supporters
Support

It might sound like an 80s teen band, but actually we need help setting up our community apiary, gardens and wildlife enrichment project.

by Bridget Adams -Shaw in Belper, England, United Kingdom

We're still collecting donations

On the 18th September 2024 we'd raised £10,522 with 235 supporters in 0 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.

 New stretch target

Our stretch target will go toward developing other aspects of the community space, including a community hub hut for use in very poor weather.
We also have need to repair and replace several of our outbuildings and storage before winter. 


We moved to a new site in April which we hope to be our home for many years.
having lost our bee based pollinator support project to flooding last year we longed to have another stab at it. And recently we have been lucky enough to start again.
Smoking A Hive
1722969409_431170112_445877838014828_7478721334626667733_n_(1).jpg

We have a small community of BuzzClub members and five colonies of bees.
We also have a large area that needs to be cleared and cultivated into a public apiary where we can bring our community together to make honey whilst the sun shines. We have five hives up here now, the area is very overgrown with nettles which we are about to harvest to create organic fert and nettle fiber cordage!


The Apiary And Wildlife Gardens Will Be Developed Here
1722969479_431053011_350809301278318_7144576766115738970_n_(1).jpg

We are currently co producing plans with the buzz club and our other groups to design the apiary to suit all users, creating a herb garden, through raised planters. All weather paths and a clover carpet ‘lawn’ to reduce weeds and give the bees a year round source of food. Creating seating and observation areas, an a forage orchard with fruit and nut trees. Foraging hedge lines and wildlife habitat. All with a view to offsetting some of the farms carbon footprint. Sustaining our bees and increasing biodiversity in the area. Whilst giving our community a space for wellbeing and skill building.

We Have Made A Start Clearing And Cutting Back. 

1722970330_453029745_2644830535699849_1212003450664690426_n.jpg

1722970355_452552112_510921201424657_834495520223452960_n.jpg

1722970376_452260866_960899085834374_3262441795696255721_n.jpg

We want to run all age groups in the apiary and currently have members ranging from 8 to 60 plus, Its really important that the apiary is open to the whole community, bee they an old buzz or a young worker, anyone with an interest in preserving the wildlife of our farm is welcome.

'' I have been wanting to learn about bee keeping for a long time, other groups say I am too young but without young bee keepers, we risk loosing them all. At Buzzclub I am treated like a member of the team.''

Buzzclub Member aged 10 years
.
We don't stop this project at bees though, the garden has many features we want to include:


Wildlife pond,
Bat boxes,

Badger hide, 

Clover carpet, 

Living roof arbor / tool store, 

Natural forage hedging,
Fruit and nut tree copse
Hedgehog habitat.
Teaching apiary
Rent a hive spaces
Wild flower raised beds
Micro veg gardens

Our Honey Haven home education group, Carrot Club and Buzzclub have started outlining their plans for the wildlife garden and apiary and we have extended the planning to include the Micro gardens for Natural dyes and forage & food.

Now we need to bring the community together and make the very best of our new home and our vision. and we are hoping you will help. 



Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation.

£15 or more

A taste of Honey

Supporting our project with this reward will give you the change to sample the goods for real as we send you a 150ml sample of our

£40 or more

Sponsor a tree

Support our project and choose one of four varieties of heritage fruit trees to be planted in our fruit and forage copse orchard, choose from Derbyshire Apple, Bristolian Pear, Lincolnshire Cherry or Leicestershire Plum

£250 or more

Join us for a well being day.

Gather your friends and come on down to the farm and spend a day relaxing with the residents and connecting around the fire pit. Suitable for up to six people why not share the donation and the day with workmates or friends!

Show your support

Payment and personal details are protected