Beekeepers Guild of Santa Barbara Announces Harvest Festival Award Winners

Earlier this year, the Journal highlighted the laudable efforts of our local beekeeping society, the Beekeepers Guild of Santa Barbara, to promote the health and welfare of our local pollinators. Aside from promoting best practices for maintaining beehives and providing resources for humane hive removal, the group also urges local residents to maintain bee-friendly gardens, i.e. those without heavy grass or other non-natural ground-covering (which are inhospitable to burrowing bumblebees) and which feature drought-resistant natural plants and flowers.

On November 8, the guild held its annual Harvest Festival and gave awards to contestants with the best bee-friendly gardens in the Santa Barbara area. And the winners all of whom hail from Santa Barbara, Montecito, or Carpinteria, are:

Ann Dusenberry, Megan Burge, Farrokh Ashtiani, Valerie Villa, Donna Grubisic, Richard C. Powell, Kate Eden, Michele Neilson, Anthony Augustin, Dave Sample, Peggy Reagan, Peter Schuyler, Gretchen Ingmanson and Virginia Holihan, Michelle Rainville, Bart Merrill, Laura Wyatt, and Trace Robinson.

Congratulations and keep up the great work; our furry, flying friends thank you!