Saturday, September 24th, was the day of my big talk over at MOFGA’s Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. In the weeks leading up to the fair I’d spent the majority of my time packing, and immediately following the fair I launched into the #greatfarmmove so there really wasn’t time to share the story of that day’s events. However, I know how much you’d appreciate the details of that day’s adventures so we’re going to back-pedal a little bit today.
Talking about bees in central Maine
I’ve been doing these kinds of presentations since 2012, when I first began teaching a basic beekeeping course as president of the Somerset Beekeepers through the University of Maine’s Somerset County Cooperative Extension in Skowhegan. I frequently accept invitations to speak with various groups or in local classrooms to further promote bees and pollinator conservation in the central Maine area. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but the Common Ground Fair was a big step up from my local scene here in central Maine and I fully admit that I was both excited and frightened by the prospect of speaking at the Common Ground Fair.
Friends and co-workers were all supportive and reassuring, so I mustered some courage and plowed onward. I revamped one of my favorite power point presentations, dubbed it “Pollinator Conservation Through Agriculture” and offered up the information to colleagues at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in a dry-run. The presentation was well received, and after some final tweaking I was satisfied with my power point slide show.
One small hitch
Then─just days before my talk─I learned that I would not have access to a projector at the fair, which meant no power point presentation. Keep in mind that public speaking is not a gift that I was born with; it’s a skill that I have had to work at and with every presentation I get a little better at it. To overcome the natural anxiety that comes with opening oneself up in front of a group of strangers I have developed a number of tools to help me through and my power points with their high definition pictures, and their organized and bulleted lists of information are my primary instrument. Imagine the anxiety and the panic that flooded through me when I realized I would not have that resource!
Meanwhile, Amy over at Johnny’s had been busy making copies of a whole sheaf of handouts for me, including resources from the Xerces Society about how to minimize the risk of pesticides to pollinators, how to make nests for native bees, managing roadsides for bees and butterflies, and a full-color chart from the Michigan State University that displayed native plants that offer food and habitat for beneficial insects over the course of the entire growing season. All of these were loaded into a cardboard box that was just large and heavy enough to be awkward.
Yet another bump in the road
My slide show I decided to print onto cardstock─2 slides per page so that I could cut them in half and have large 5×7 cards, with easy-to-read text. Wouldn’t you know it, there I am on Friday afternoon─the day before my big talk─half-way through printing that carefully crafted slide-show and my printer runs out of ink!
I didn’t panic though; since the Call Center and offices are located in Fairfield, which is along the route to the Common Ground Fair, I just decided to stop by Johnny’s to print the rest of the slides. Potential catastrophe averted! Yay!
Once I had my cards with all of my notes and pictures I plugged “the Common Ground Fair” into my phone’s GPS and set out towards Unity with a mixture of anxiety and excitement pumping through my veins.
Meeting Eliot Coleman
I arrived at the fair early to check out the goings-ons, sat in on a talk called “What’s going on in the Maine Woods” given by a representative from the group RESTORE, and then loitered for a bit at the 2 different Johnny’s tents chatting with colleagues. It was during this period that I chanced to meet THE one and only Elliot Coleman of 4 Season Farm here in Maine and renown author of The New Organic Grower which has inspired countless new farmers and gardeners.
Working part-time in the Call Center at Johnny’s Seeds I’ve actually spoken with Eliot a couple of times on the phone and so I impulsively introduced myself and told him so, taking the opportunity to shake the man’s hand. Eliot was at the fair that day to give a talk in tandem with Adam Lemieux, Johnny’s official “tool-dude”, and we launched into a brief conversation─about bees of course─and the impact this beekeeper has had on Johnny’s. I hope next time I chance to catch Eliot on the phone he remembers who I am!
Standing room only!
At long last it was time for my presentation in the Railcar Speakers’ Tent and I trucked over with my notecards, bottles of water, and my box of professional-looking handouts. It was a little disconcerting to find the tent packed! When I’d sat in on the talk offered by the gentleman from the RESTORE group there had been a total of four of us sitting in the little canvas tent. That was not the case for my pollinators talk! Every chair was occupied and more folks stood at the back and off to the side to hear what I had to say!
Don’t get me wrong─I’m not so brazen as to think that all of these people came out to see li’l ol’ me. I know that they saw that I am affiliated with Johnny’s and that lent some credence to this obscure beekeeper from backwoods Maine. Yet, the fact that all of these people took time out of their day to learn more about how they can help pollinators at home, in their gardens, or on their farms tells me that there is a movement underway.
I am a Pollinator Conservationist
As I drove home that afternoon I couldn’t help feeling an immense sense of accomplishment and gratitude to have come so far. I think it’s safe to call myself a “pollinator conservationist“. I’m proud to be on the front lines of an environmental issue that touches almost all other environmental issues, for as a keystone species pollinators have a broad-spectrum impact on just about every ecosystem that exists upon this planet. Without pollinators 80% of flowering plants would not be able to reproduce; our world would be a very different place indeed.
People are becoming more and more aware of the plight facing bees and pollinators and they actually care. Whether out of concern for themselves, worried about the security of our food-systems which depend upon pollination services provided by animals and insects, or whether it’s for the love and beauty of nature─people sincerely want to take action and do what they can to help pollinators and save bees. That people care enough to do something about it is profoundly inspiring, and hugely motivating to me. You can be sure I will continue putting myself out there, sharing what I know in an effort to teach the public how they can help bees and pollinators RIGHT NOW.
Thanks for following along with my journey! Stay tuned, there are more adventures to come!
Well done and thank you for helping get the message out there. People are listening.