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Rewilding Our Planet raised £3,083 from 62 supporters

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Closed 07/04/2020

0%
£3,083
raised of £25,500 target by 62 supporters

    Iʼve raised £3,083 to create log hives for the honey bee and reforest

    Woking
    Funded on Tuesday, 7th April 2020

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    Story

    Our work is focused both in Portugal and England and we are, alongside other natural beekeepers, part of a ripple around the world putting the health of the honey bee first, not our own gain.

    What allows honey bees to thrive?

    The honeybee has been in decline for many years due to the degradation of the natural world. Historically, honey bees live in natural cavities such as old hollow trees and on cliff faces.

    Over time humans have domesticated the bees taking them from their natural environment and placing them in artificial homes, close to the ground, designed to best suit the needs of the beekeeper rather than the bees.

    Combined with the rise of industrial farming practices and the use of pesticides, pollution, loss of foraging spaces and and the removal of natural habitat (the trees), the health of the bees is now in a critical condition. This is now a serious threat to human survival and to the ability of our children to thrive in the future. This situation must be turned around not one day in the future, not tomorrow - but starting now.

    In response to this threat, a global movement has arisen to return the bees to homes that mimic tree cavities.

    One such home is the log hive. This simple design utilises timber from trees that have come to the end of their life because of wind fall or disease. We have worked with various hives over the last 3 years and since understanding the benefits of log hives, we have placed log hives on regeneration projects in our Portuguese valley and surrounding areas. We are currently in the process of placing more log hives in England.

    There are many benefits to such homes:

    1) The shape of a hollowed-out log closely replicates a natural tree cavity. This means the bees make their comb to suit them and their health needs, not the beekeeper for extracting honey. Below is a photograph from Matt Somerville, Bee Kind Hives.

    2) The walls of a log hive are much thicker than is found in commercial hives, providing greater insulation. This means the bees expend much less energy cooling their home in summer and warming it winter so they can redirect their time to getting stronger in order to face the other challenges we humans bring them.

    3) The log hives are elevated on long legs. By being higher up the bees are kept out of the cold damp air which is present at ground level where commercial hives exist. Here bees are left without continual human intervention, yet can still be monitored for health checks. Bees can then maintain a beneficial atmosphere within their home that suits them, not the beekeeper.

    When housed in this way, the health of bee colonies has been seen to improve dramatically, showing a significant decrease in disease. Science has also shown the bees in such homes are able to fight off disease without the need for chemical intervention.

    OUR WORK CARRIED OUT TO DATE

    We purchased the land in Portugal in 2016, Quinta Das Abelhas. It was made up of pine monoculture and degraded grassland. We began by removing the pine monoculture to allow light in to the forest floor, and quickly saw the return of native trees such as oak and chestnut through dormant seed in the ground.

    Through interventions such as composting, mulching, water retention strategies, and seeding, we witnessed a significant increase in the number and diversity of wild flowers and plant life. This has led to seeing many more pollinators such as butterflies and bees. In turn, the bird life is increasing and this year we have witnessed more birds breeding on our land. For the first time we have seen the exotic hoopoe rearing their young and bat breeding on the land.

    SUPPORT FOR NEXT PHASE

    Our next phase of work will consist of felling 250 pine trees that are either dead or dying. This will allow even more light to encourage the small self-seeded native trees to flourish, and more dormant seeds to come up.

    Then, we will be planting an extra 500 trees that have been selected for their suitability to the climate in our region and that require pollinating insects. This will provide the extra all year round forage needed for the bees, butterflies, bats and birds found on our land.

    We will be making and installing log hives to further the network of hives we began this year. They will be placed on land that is being rewilded across Portugal and England, as well as in suitable gardens in peoples homes.

    To further accelerate the introduction of log hives we will be running workshops to teach others how to make them and also share the theory of hands off-bee husbandry.

    Our aim is to place 50 hives ready for the swarming season in Spring 2020.

    HOW THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT

    We will invest the capital you provide in volunteer facilities so we can bring in extra hands for the reforestation and log hive making, buying trees for planting, equipment for making log hives and running the hive-making workshops, fuel. and our time so we can focus fully on the land regeneration and bee work.

    If you can support us to help the honey bees we would be so grateful. The names of everyone who donates will be engraved on a wall of gratitude on the land, and you are invited to create with us and be part of the regeneration work .

    Any amount you can contribute is welcome, and if you are willing to share this campaign with family and friends, that would be wonderful too as we want to raise awareness as much as we want to raise funds for this important work.

    To the return of human health where we once again we protect the other species that keep us alive.

    Much gratitude and love. Deborah & Phil

    For more information and to follow what we do you can visit our Website , Instagram or Facebook.

    Free meditation to find out who the bees really are and to ask the bees a question you may have in life

    Updates

    14

    • Rewilding Our Planet5 years ago
      Rewilding Our Planet

      Rewilding Our Planet

      5 years ago

      Thank you 62 supporters as we close this page down. A wall of gratitude will be made in your honour with your names written and one to represent the anonymous. We have been able to purchase log hive tools, continued the reforestation work, brought and planted trees and upgraded the facilities on the land so more people can come and reconnect with nature. Deep gratitude that on our first outward fundraising experience we made it to 12%. Please keep connected to our work through the website and our stories on the blog. Thank you x

      Update from the Page owner

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    • Rewilding Our Planet5 years ago
      Rewilding Our Planet

      Rewilding Our Planet

      5 years ago

      Hello everyone in these times. Just to let you know we managed to put up 7 log hives in Southern Portugal before being advised to stay home. A picture of Phil with one of them. We are now going to close down this page so please visit our website for updates on our work. Thank you to everyone who supported this CrowdFund, we are so grateful. We need to take a breather to see the direction we go but rest assured many more bee centred hives will go up when we can and the reforestation work continues. Much love Deborah & Phil x

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    • Rewilding Our Planet5 years ago
      Rewilding Our Planet

      Rewilding Our Planet

      5 years ago

      On route to Southern Portugal with 7 log hives to put up on land regeneration projects :)

      Update from the Page owner

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    5 years ago

    Rewilding Our Planet started crowdfunding

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    Page last updated on: 3/31/2020 13.17

    Supporters

    62

    • Robin Fearnley

      Robin Fearnley

      Mar 28, 2020

      £40.00

    • Gill and Jonathan Landsberg

      Gill and Jonathan Landsberg

      Dec 20, 2019

      In complete admiration of your incredibly important work. Good luck.

      £30.00

    • Victoria Greenly

      Victoria Greenly

      Oct 16, 2019

      Looks amazing and would love to see what you do in England!

      £5.00

    • Vishwam

      Vishwam

      Oct 4, 2019

      Thank you for the wonderful work you are doing to help save our planet! May all abundance flow to you to support you in supporting life itself ❤🌳🌸

      £25.00

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      Oct 3, 2019

      Thank you for your contribution to nature and our all future!

    • Cheyanna Bone

      Cheyanna Bone

      Oct 1, 2019

      Keep up the good work! You are truly an inspiration!

    • stinky bum junior

      stinky bum junior

      Oct 1, 2019

      We are dancing with you.

      £120.00

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    About Crowdfunding
    About the fundraiser
    Rewilding Our Planet

    Rewilding Our Planet

    Woking

    The founders of Rewilding Our Planet are Deborah Richmond & Phil Gould. They have dedicated their time to protect the honey bee and trees to support all life on this planet.

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