Welcome/welcome back to our officers elected at the Annual Meeting on September 26.

Born and reared in Richmond, VA, Lorna is a W&M grad who moved to the Midwest and moved back to VA in 2015. While her professional background is in healthcare benefits consulting, her energy is now focused on the sustainability of the Foundation and furthering our Mission to Connect people to our lands past and present.  

Sarita Marie Herman is a Historic Preservation Project Manager at the University of Virginia. Some of her notable projects include the recent renovation of the iconic Rotunda, and the university’s new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. Sarita’s passion is unearthing hidden histories and educating the public about the value of historic preservation. She received UVA’s Outstanding Faculty Speaker Award from the Office of Engagement in 2020 for her work on the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. Sarita joined the Ivy Creek Foundation Board of Directors in 2019, and has been involved with the Farmhouse Working Group. She is excited about opportunities to preserve the legacy of the Carr-Greer family at River View Farm and looks forward to engaging the community in telling their story.

Nature is incredibly resilient and is moved by instinctive forces. Bees do what bees do regardless of the uncertain world in which we find ourselves. Many of you may have wondered what has become of the Demonstration Bee Hive since the barn closed in March due to Covid restrictions. Normally, our small observation hive spends the winter in my basement in much the same configuration as you witness in the barn; the bees accessing the outside through a tube in a window. In late November, the queen bee ceases to lay eggs as the barn becomes too cold for the small vertically oriented hive with its small cluster of bees. When the barn closes for the winter months I bring the colony home to my warmer basement.

In the early spring of this year when it became apparent that we could not open the barn for tours, the bees did not return to the barn; they remained safely nurtured in my basement. The queen bee, with the warming days, increasing sunlight and nectar sources, began laying ~1500 eggs/day and the colony grew. The small hive quickly had more bees than food stores and without ‘beekeeper management’ the colony would swarm, jeopardizing the existing colony and leading to a less than 25% survival rate for the swarm. The 3 frames from the small viewable hive were moved to a larger demonstration hive and colony-life went on. In less than 3 weeks, the pattern repeated, but this time I was forced to move the bees to a full sized hive. Then I periodically added space until its current size of 30 frames and 30,000+ bees! The rhythm of the colony fulfilled its purpose.

This is nothing new, only management strategies have been different in these times of Covid. Balancing bee numbers, food stores and visibility for educational benefit is always the goal for this ‘demonstration’ hive. Normally I maintain the hive as an observation hive. I don’t let it “outgrow” its observational home; I keep ‘nursery hives’ and ‘production hives’ in my apiary to supply bees, food or a home for those ‘extra’ bees. So much good comes from a close up view of nature in all its intricacy, taking the time to ‘really see’ and understand her rhythms.

During these uncertain times, I hope you can find solace in the trails and take time to observe nature’s rhythms at Ivy Creek.

ICF member Ellen Daniels shared these wonderful photographs, taken at the Ivy Creek Natural Area last month. Thank you, Ellen!