Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary

Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary was founded in the certainty that there can be a better future for the Honeybee. Our vision and commitment is to create a place of beauty and harmony in a biodynamically invigorated landscape in which the human beings, plants and animals create the necessary sheaths of protection, care and healing for all. We call this place a sanctuary rather than an apiary because we know that treating the honeybees with respect for their own needs, protecting and nourishing them will make them vital and strong to withstand the impact of our modern civilization. Our beekeeping methods are not driven by a financial bottom line. Although it is not a profit-making endeavor, we lovingly and respectfully receive their gifts of honey, wax, propolis and pollen. We are, however, strictly against harvesting royal jelly. Millions of queens are raised all over the world and killed in the larva state in order to harvest this queen food.

Our focus is to practice and continue developing sustainable beekeeping methods which are taught in workshops, lectures and articles. Sustainability can only be attained when we work with, and not against, the laws of life inherent in nature. When we work with the animal kingdom, this means basing one's care and methods on a deep understanding of the specific animal's unique needs as directed by its instinctual wisdom.

Inspired by Rudolf Steiner's deep insights into the honeybee and our successful beekeeping experiences gained in more than 35 years, we seek to promote in young and old not only interest, joy and love, but also a new understanding and awareness for the importance of the honeybee. A newly awakened awe and reverence for all beings of nature in their amazing interconnectedness opens the door for the necessary healing impulse to gain strength, now and in generations to come.

We are committed to continuous research and collaboration with national and international organizations seeking new answers to the many questions the plight of the honeybee raises.

Our deepest belief is that in order to continue our life and humanity on earth, we have to move from the dominant industrial paradigm of control and manipulation of nature for profit, to one of care and cooperation. The honeybees, through their crisis, are asking us to move into this direction NOW -- perhaps more quickly than we would otherwise move.

Spikenard Farm and Honeybee Sanctuary Gunther Hauk, biodynamic gardener and beekeeper, teacher and lecturer, his wife Vivian and many supporting friends, trust that the enthusiastic response this work has received in the last 15 years will grow.

We welcome you to help by joining the strong grass-roots movement needed to overcome the degradation of the honeybees and the wake-up call that is known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

Gunther's book "Toward Saving the Honeybee", first published in 2002, and reprinted in 2008, can be obtained through the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association.