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Christopher Guest
Planted this seed
Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Small farmers, homesteaders, community gardeners, and church garden programs across Chattanooga and Hamilton County. Priority neighborhoods: Jefferson Heights (District 7), Clifton Hills/East Lake, Brainerd, South Chattanooga. Sites in conversation: Jefferson Heights Community Garden — E 19th St (Christopher's neighborhood) Crabtree Farms — 1000 E 30th St, Clifton Hills (22-acre urban farm, Carmen has taught classes here) Gardens at Ascension — Ascension Lutheran Church, 720 S Germantown Rd (community garden plots-Carmen has bees here) Hart Gallery Garden — 110 E Main St / 1501 Rossville Ave (nonprofit with community garden) Sanctuary Gardens — 4707 12th Ave (produce for Sanctuary Cafe) Green Grace Gardens — Grace Episcopal Church, 20 Belvoir Ave, Brainerd Westside Community Garden — 4001 Hughes Ave, South Chattanooga Ancestral Roots Community Garden — Menlo Park Neighborhood Neema Taking Root Community Garden — 2407 E Main St Violet Permaculture at Emma Wheeler Farm (Nathaniel, permaculture practitioner) Bird Fork Farm Audubon Acres/Society
Gardeners
Roots
Guides
Fertilizer
Water$5000-8000.
Host site recruitment and commitment — Small farms, homesteads, and gardens need to say yes and mean it through the full season. We're building the qualification criteria and outreach process now. Public perception of bees — Some people hear "beehive" and think danger. Education at each site before installation is part of the plan. Carmen does this already. Seasonal timing — Swarm season in Chattanooga peaks in April and May. The funding timeline and the biology timeline are running in parallel. We need to be ready to install as soon as we have sites and funding confirmed. Ongoing winter maintenance — The seed budget covers through winter preparation (September-October), but hives need monthly winter checks November through March. This is where the transition to sustainable nonprofit revenue begins.
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Please reach out to us (Farm Park)! Luthelandlegacy.org
I'm concerned about domesticated bees pushing out or competing with native bees that are needed for our native ecosystem. Does this plan include anything to keep the honeybees out of wild areas where they might have a negative impact on native bees? Or does this initiative include promoting native plants for native pollinators?
Hi Sadie, you're right to ask. The research on honeybee and native bee competition is real, especially in resource-scarce wildlands. A few things about how we're built: every host site signs a no-pesticide commitment. Pesticide use and habitat loss are the top drivers of native bee decline. We're not importing bees. Carmen's colonies are feral bees already in Chattanooga. She gives them managed homes instead of letting them get exterminated. We're also adding native pollinator plantings at every site. Tennessee natives like coneflower, beebalm, and mountain mint that support ground-nesting bees, bumble bees, and specialist species. Research shows high-protein native plantings can offset competitive effects of honeybee presence. And we're placing hives in resource-rich gardens/farms, not wildland habitats where threatened species are concentrated. This is ecosystem work, not just beekeeping. Thanks for pushing us to say that clearly.
The Zoo wants to add bee hives in an educational garden. We have identified grants to help. Let us know if we can work together!
Hi Anne! We would love to talk more about this! If you follow this Seed, we can reach out to you!
Sunlight (76 supporters)