5/21/2021 Foundry Giving Friday: Pollinate Minnesota

5/21/2021 Foundry Giving Friday: Pollinate Minnesota

Every Friday The Foundry Home Goods donates 5% of our total sales to a different community-nominated small-and-mighty cause. This Friday's Foundry Giving Friday recipient? Pollinate Minnesota!

As the flowers fling open their arms, the trees blossom into green, and the eternal clock of the universe inexorably turns forward with the gusto of winter-wound springs, we begin to think of bees. In the natural realm, this is the time when these erstwhile lady foragers begin their solstice-tuned revels, ramping up into a (hopefully) sweet summer of honeyed bounty. It used to be that hives buzzed forth from tree crooks and bowers with clockwork regularity after quiet winters marshaling their strength from within their self-made cozy beeswax palaces (same). It used to be that beekeepers could count on 70lbs of honey every July from every hive and the only thing they had to worry about was how many swarms they could catch to increase the buzz in their beeyards. It used to be that, like everything we take for granted, bees just were, going about their busy business and letting us reap the golden excess of their labors. It used to be...better.

You've likely heard about the current difficulties facing bees: there are many ills of unconfirmed and embattled origin that threaten to wipe out the entire species of Apis mellifera. The theoretical causes of bee-death are manifold: cell phone towers, monster pesticides, over-prescription of medications in the hive, loss of habitat or forage from unchecked growth, mowing, new pestilences that arrive like little imperialists-arriving on ships and decimating native populations out of greed...and, of course, climate change. The problem is a multi-tentacled beast of modernity. The possible devastating result is simple, yet somehow beyond comprehension: no more food. But...what can you do about it if you don't even know what the cause is?

We've written before about ways to help, and while planting a pollinator friendly garden or buying local honey are great small steps to take, one of the most crucial tools in our arsenal is to harness the power and methodology of community organizing to bring the fight to the legislative and policy level.

Pollinate Minnesota is a Minneapolis-based, state-targeted non-profit working toward a better Minnesota for pollinators and people. They teach immersive education classes, establish educational hives with community partners, and advocate at the local, state, and federal level for pollinator-friendly policies. pollinator education. Like the best hives, Pollinate Minnesota is women-led and focused on the health and well-being of the whole community.

 

Thank you to our dear friend Beekeeper Kate—the fourth-generation-beekeeping queen behind our beloved Old Mill beeswax candles—for the recommendation!


We are pleased and proud to support this deeply necessary work, this Giving Friday and always. If you don't need anything from us, consider donating to Pollinate Minnesota directly

If you DO find yourself in need of—ahem—new golden-scented beeswax candles, sweet Minnesota clover honey, or a dipper to go with it, know that your purchase goes to support good change happening on the community level.

If YOU have a worthy cause to nominate for our Foundry Giving Friday initiative, pop on over to our Nomination Page and drop us a line. We're all in this together.

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