Join HoneyLove January 18-19, 2020 for an unforgettable weekend filled with educational lectures and workshops, hands-on demonstrations, the latest in natural beekeeping techniques and findings, an elite collection of exhibitors and sponsors, rare opportunities for you to connect with likeminded beeks, sweet raw honey tastings from around the world!

There will also be “Special Interest Groups” on both days covering a wide range of topics for both beginner and advanced beekeepers (see full schedule at the bottom of this page).

All who are interested in bees and beekeeping are welcomed to attend! #HLONBC

Limited tickets available to this awesome weekend so REGISTER NOW!

LOCATION:
Pasadena Masonic Temple
200 S Euclid Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101

CONFERENCE FEATURES:

• Full line up of General Session Presentations (GSP) on Saturday and Sunday
• Vendor tradeshow with the latest and greatest natural products and services in the beekeeping industry
• Shared Interest Group (SIG) meetings on Saturday and Sunday (stay tuned for topic announcements!)

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

• National Honey Bee Day— FREE Public Outreach Event (Sat. Aug 20, 12-1pm)
• HoneyLove Annual Yellow Tie Event Fundraiser (Fri. Aug 19, 6-9pm)
  • Silent Auction benefiting 501(c)3 Non-Profit HoneyLove.org
    

OUT OF TOWN GUEST RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Hilton: (626) 577-1000 — 168 S Los Robles Ave, Pasadena 91101
• Pasadena Inn: (626) 795-8401 — 400 S Arroyo Pkwy, Pasadena 91105

---

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS:

Michael Bush
Author of The Practical Beekeeper—Beekeeping Naturally

Michael Bush is one of the leading proponents of treatment free beekeeping. He has been keeping bees since the mid 70’s, usually from two to seven hives up until the year 2000. Varroa forced more experimentation which required more hives and the number has grown steadily over the years from then. By 2008 it was about 200 hives. He is active on many of the Beekeeping forums with last count at more than 50,000 posts between all of them. He has had an eclectic set of careers from printing and graphic arts, to construction to computer programming and a few more in between. Currently he is working in computers. He has a web site on beekeeping at bushfarms.com/bees.htm

“His writing is like his talks, with more content, detail, and depth than one would think possible with such few words…his website and PowerPoint presentations are the gold standard for diverse and common sense beekeeping practices.”–Dean Stiglitz

Dee Lusby
Organic Beekeeper, Writer—http://beesource.com/point-of-view/dee-lusby/

Known to many as the “mother of treatment-free beekeeping”, Dee manages 700 hives in the remote desert rangeland of southern Arizona. Dee runs the Organic Beekeepers Yahoo Group (6,000+ members) and organizes the annual Treatment-free Beekeeping Conference in Oracle, Arizona. 

May R. Berenbaum 
Professor and Department Head PhD, 1980, Cornell University

May Berenbaum, Ph.D. has been on the faculty of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1980, serving as head since 1992 and as Swanlund Chair of Entomology since 1996. She is known for elucidating chemical mechanisms underlying interactions between insects and their hostplants, including detoxification of natural and synthetic chemicals, and for applying ecological principles in developing sustainable management practices for natural and agricultural communities. Her research, supported primarily by NSF and USDA, has produced over 230 refereed scientific publications and 35 book chapters. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, she has chaired two National Research Council committees, the Committee on the Future of Pesticides in U.S. Agriculture (2000) and the Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America (2007). Devoted to teaching and fostering scientific literacy through formal and informal education, she has authored numerous magazine articles and six books about insects for the general public. She graduated summa cum laude, with a B.S. degree and honors in biology, from Yale University in 1975 and received a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University in 1980.

Michael Thiele
Founder of Gaia Bees

Founder Michael Joshin Thiele is leading an innovative approach within the biodynamic apiculture movement and teaches in the United States and abroad. Gaia Bees is engaged into the research of wild Apis Mellifera and new dimensions of apiculture in a sociocultural, agricultural and spiritual context. In the last decade, Michael has been involved with the creation of Honeybee sanctuaries and refuges as a means of protection and education. The most recent project is the Honeybee Sanctuary & Refuge at Green Gulch Farm. The underlying concept of a “Landscape Apiarium” is the leading principle in this bee-centric approach. In 2013, he worked as a biodynamic consultant for the USDA in the Dominican Republic. His work is documented in various national and international magazines, books and film documentaries (“Queen of the Sun”). For one of the most recent interviews (2015) go to: Made Local Magazine. Michael is available for consultations, seminars/workshops and set up of sustainable apiaries.

Dr. Rebecca Marsland
Researcher and Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh | Beelines Project

In 2014 she was awarded her Scottish Beekeepers’ Association Basic Beemaster Certificate after learning to keep honeybees at Newbattle Beekeepers’ Association. Her work ‘before bees’ has focused on Tanzania, where she has worked on traditional medicine, public health, infectious diseases, and debates about tradition, funerals and witchcraft.

Sam Comfort
Founder of Anarchy Apiaries

Anarchy Apiaries is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to 1) make more beehives than televisions, and 2) have a good time, all the time (with bees). Sam Comfort is the founder of this treatment-free, fly-by-night bee operation who began raising queens from survivor stock in 2005. Anarchy Apiaries runs around 800 hives (a mix of Langstroth, top bar, and modified-Warre “Comfort” hives) up and down the east coast with concentrations of localized gene pools in both the Hudson Valley, NY and south FL.

Rob & Chelsea McFarland
Founders of HoneyLove, Authors of Save the Bees

Rob and Chelsea McFarland are the husband and wife team behind Los Angeles based 501(c)3 non-profit HoneyLove.org. HoneyLove has a thriving social network with more than 30,000 Facebook followers and a full calendar of educational and community-based events. HoneyLove has been profiled by many publications including the Associated Press, LA Times, The Christian Science Monitor, LA Weekly and Sunset Magazine. The Disney Channel, Ford Motors and YouTube’s SoulPancake and Rhett & Link have also featured HoneyLove in video segments.
View more about HoneyLove here: http://honeylove.org/press/

Hilary Kearney
Founder of Girl Next Door Honey

Hilary Kearney is the girl behind Girl Next Door Honey. She is a San Diego native with a degree in fine art from the University of California Santa Cruz. She began her beekeeping journey in 2008 and has been enamored of the subject ever since. Today, she’s an active board member of The San Diego Beekeeping Society. Her favorite thing about honey bees is that they are almost all female. When she’s not working with bees, she’s juggling a dozen other hobbies and passions including but not limited to: painting, knitting, dishing out fashion advice, traveling and movie-going.

Eliese Watson 
Founder of ABC Bees

Eliese Watson started ABC Bees in 2010 and has shared her passion for honey bees and building connections to the community through bees all over North America. A happy mother, beekeeper, fisher-woman, hiker, baker, and chopper of wood; Eliese loves being outside and talking about BEES! She is so proud of the community that has supported her and her dream of building a beekeeping company that was focussed on educating the public on hive management, urban stewardship for native bees, and youth programs and outreach. She is living her dream through her work with ABC Bees.

Matt Reed
Owner of Bee Thinking

Bee Thinking was created 2008 by Matt and his wife Jill Reed as an Internet resource for beekeepers throughout the world. Bee Thinking sells thousands of hives to beekeepers throughout North America and many countries abroad. When not reading about beekeeping, building hives or talking the ear off of anyone who will listen about bees, Matt spends his days ensuring operations at Bee Thinking run smoothly. Matt and Jill have their son, Henrik, over 35 bee hives and 2 rescued, Miniature Australian Shepherds: Fred and Polly.

David King
Gardenmaster, Author—The Learning Garden, Seed Library of Los Angeles

A transplant from northeast Kansas, David started gardening as a five year old under his grandfather’s tutelage. He lives his life full-time as an author (“Growing Food In Southern California”), writer, gardener and activist in Los Angeles, working to make home grown food a part of the Los Angeles’ culture. As a speaker and instructor, he shares his knowledge of growing food with quick witted humor and an infectious passion for the subject. As the gardenmaster/director for The Learning Garden and Founding Chair at Seed Library of Los Angeles, King has been published in a number of different horticulture and gardening venues and has appeared on TV and radio. He teaches for UCLA Extension, writes for gardening and ecological magazines and blogs.

Erik Knutzen & Kelly Coyne
Authors, Founder of Root Simple

Authors of The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World. They live in the heart of Los Angeles, in a little bungalow set on a 1/12 acre lot where almost all of their land is devoted to growing edible or otherwise useful plants and trees. Their obsessions include bees, bikes, beer, chickens, healthy cities, healing herbs, simple living and good food. In short, everything DIY!

Christy Wilhelmi
Author, Founder of Gardenerd

Christy Wilhelmi is the driving force behind Gardenerd.com. Her obsession with gardening began in 1996 on the balcony of her Los Angeles, California apartment. She eventually became a member of Ocean View Farms Organic Community Garden in Mar Vista, California and has served on the Board of Directors since 1998. She also wrote, co-directed, edited and hosted a weekly lifestyle television show, The Garden of Life: whole life wellness through gardening, fitness and food. Christy believes that gardening unifies both physical activity and healthy food choices, while providing a grounding spiritual and creative outlet. She has dedicated herself to the study of organic gardening and its benefits, and delights in sharing this information with anyone who will listen. She is your one-stop-shop for gardening resources and information.

Max Wong
Filmmaker, Founder of Sticky Acres

Although she was instrumental in the campaign to legalize beekeeping in Santa Monica, Max actually lives and keeps bees in Northeast Los Angeles. The recipient of a Metabolic Studio grant, she is currently filming THE BACKWARD BEEKEEPER, a visual textbook that focuses on treatment-free beekeeping for urban beekeepers. Max’s favorite aspect of beekeeping is turning people to the dark side by convincing them to become pollinator advocates. To that end, she teaches beekeeping to kindergarteners at Mount Washington Elementary. When she is not ruining dinner parties with her bee-centric commentary, Max spends an inordinate amount of time working as an architectural photographer, writing about sustainable living, and making award-winning fruit preserves and pickles for her handmade food company, Sticky Acres.

---

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
General Session Presentation (GSP) | Special Interest Group (SIG)

FRIDAY:

6-9pm—HoneyLove’s Annual Yellow Tie Event Fundraiser (Early conference check-in)

SATURDAY:

7:30am—Conference check-in
8-9am—Breakfast
9-10am—GSP 1
10-11am—GSP 2
11am-12pm—GSP 3 / SIG 1
12-1pm—Lunch / National Honey Bee Day Outreach Event
1-2pm—GSP 4 / SIG 2
2-3pm—GSP 5 / SIG 3
3-4pm—GSP 6 / SIG 4

SUNDAY:

8-9am—Breakfast
9-10am—GSP 7 / SIG 5
10-11am—GSP 8 / SIG 6
11am-12pm—GSP 9 / SIG 7

---

Interested in becoming an exhibitor or sponsor?
This year’s Natural Beekeeping Conference will be one of the largest gatherings of natural beekeepers in the country! Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with our specialized group of influencers.
Email us today to join: info@naturalbeekeepingconference.com or call (424) 625-8233

Watch some videos from our speakers!