Pollinator Stories and Love Notes
April, Vermont
Lately, it seems that pollinator gardens are popping up everywhere! In Washington DC my friend is going shopping tomorrow for “flowers loved by butterflies, and hummingbirds” to fill the planters on her little 4th-floor balcony. In my tiny Vermont town, three separate volunteer groups are advertising for help with preparing the soil for pollinator gardens in public spaces. And on the beautiful grounds of All Souls Interfaith Gathering, on Lake Champlain, a very special circle of Earth has been lovingly turned and blessed in anticipation of a Maytime planting. Here a group belonging to the “Order of the Sacred Earth” gathered in late April to hold our pollinator gratitude ceremony.
What is the Order of the Sacred Earth? Here are the words of its founder, Matthew Fox:
...A movement of communities welcoming all the peoples of Earth: our varied belief systems (or non-belief systems), genders, races, classes, abilities, and nations.
...A deeply spiritual movement, free of religious institutions and grounded in the Wisdom traditions of both East and West, in leading-edge science and indigenous tradition.
...A radically inclusive Order of mystic activists, uniting our energy and intention in one sacred vow:
“I promise to be the best lover and defender of the Earth that I can be.”
So members of this Order go ahead and find ways to love and serve the Earth, sometimes through activism, sometimes through varied kinds of stewardship, praise, and ….gardening. The Shelburne Vermont chapter of the OSE meets monthly at the All Souls Interfaith Gathering (as well as by Zoom, of course) to both engage in reverent rituals and to plan actions together.
The most recent action is the making of the pollinator garden. The circle of soil for the garden has taken lots of energy to prepare—from permit-getting to diagramming to researching the best pollinator-loved plants for our native ecosystem, to actual digging. Members of the wider Interfaith community (which also holds meditations, service actions, and many events) bring donations of plants and money.
It’s another couple of weeks before the plants can go safely into the ground, But the pollinators are beginning to arrive. And we welcomed them with ONE’s gratitude ceremony. Incense, flowers, fruit and water, beeswax candles, and sweet words, spoken in appreciation and praise.
Our thoughts reached out to welcome both the flying far-travelers and the burrowers coming out from the underground. The spring sun warmed us and our hearts grew light on the imagined wings of the butterflies.
The encouraging touch of human to human as we held hands to speak a blessing added one more bright thread to the web of connection that welcomes all our fellow beings and nourishes us all. So grateful that all around the world, the pollinators received our gratitude!
Deb, Rockport Maine, USA. Penobscot Territory
Deep gratitude for Ruby-throated hummingbirds who nest in Avena’s healing gardens, delighting us with their beauty, healing energy and playfulness, and for all the flowers they pollinate and the energy they radiate along their migration pathways.
Sharifa, Charlottesville, VA
We have had a huge wildflower pollinator garden for decades. In the past, the garden was filled all summer with hundreds of butterflies, endless varieties of bees, hummingbird moths, luna moths, and hummingbirds. About 10 years ago, the apple orchards a few miles away changed the pesticide cocktail they spray, and that was the end of the vast numbers of pollinators who graced our summer days. This is a small tribute I wrote for them as my heart cries for them year after year:
Love Note for Pollinator Ceremony:
Love is the magic used by the flower who seduces a honey bee to carry pollen to his petalled love. May the many delicate pollinators entice us to love the world in ways we have forgotten. Let’s carry this breath of devotion into the world to become bellows that blow the spark of love and kindle the warmth of kinship for all beings in human hearts.
From A Litany of Wild Graces: Meditations on Sacred Ecology
Sharifa Oppenheimer
Kristina, Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
We breathe Gratitude in our perch of Nature 💚🙇♀️ We live on a cliff in the northern, Quebec Laurentian Mountains which descends down to a beautiful fresh, clear lake just a hop or two away. Every year we add more wild, regional flowers, bushes, and trees. Hummingbird feeders are prepared already for our tired, sweet Ruby Throated hummingbirds who arrive from so far away, often now before we have any blooms. They seem to remember us…they and their offspring spend hours together with us on our balconies, often eye to eye, we are obviously in bliss! The Hermit Thrushes, and Robins are already here as the snows just begin to disappear. Soon bees are everywhere, the bumblebees very tolerant of my early morning strokes upon their soft, fuzzy backs. Pollinators are encouraged and cared for, and spider webs saved along with long strands of hair carefully hung in tree branches for the weaving of nests. We eagerly learn more and more with the gifts of ONE, the wonderful caretakers and caregivers who teach and share their precious Wisdom with us all 🙇♀️ Thank you 🙏
Lisa, Chester County PA
Together, Pollinators weave the fabric of our existence, immersing in the magic of pollen and nectar, in divine reciprocity. Their blessings enable life as I know it. My life is devoted to providing resources and protection to them here on the Brinton Oasis. For me, my gratitude must be expressed through these actions.
Amy Louise, Brooklyn, NY. At the time of the ceremony, Rome, Italy.
I love them! I have a small garden and am always thrilled to see pollinators there and am fascinated by them and grateful to them. Also, when I'm in the country, or wherever they are to be found, I am happy to see them and feel they are a touchstone to life.
Julie, Clearlake, California, USA
Words cannot express the magic that lights in my soul, in just watching our friends who grace us with their presence.
Eileen, Chalfant Valley, CA in Mono County
We love our pollinators here in the Owen's Valley. We are grateful for the honey bees, native pollinators, ants, butterflies and birds who pollinate our 60 fruit and nut trees where we live. They are the stewards we rely on! We try our best to provide water, food and shelter for these guys. We would have nothing without them and we are grateful for them!
Heather, Maine
I am passionate about pollinators. I am constantly adding native plants to my yard. There is nothing better than sitting in the yard listening to my happy bumble bee friends buzzing about.
Dona, Hackettstown, NJ
I am grateful for my hummingbirds who visit my feeders every year, the diversity of the butterflies, the bees and hummingbird moths. They give me such pleasure and give life to my garden
Yvette, Andover, NJ
Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and butterfly-moths feast on the flowers I grow for them from spring till fall: Roses, Echinaceas, Lavender, Hibiscus, Zinnias, Dahlias, Cosmos, Jasmin, Bee Balm, Asters and much more…They come as spirits. I’m sure of it. I feel it in the flutter of their wings as they brush past me. For a fleeting moment, I am once again reunited with them and for that I’m most thankful and grateful. 🦋
Bev, Queanbeyan, NSW, AUSTRALIA (land of the Ngunnawal people)
It's mid-Autumn here now -- beautiful days -- perfect for sitting outside in the garden. I am grateful for the many pollinators that ensured a magical crop of strawberries every few days through our summer for my grandchildren to pick, eat and enjoy. Come - be comfortable and warm through winter in the new pollinator house in my courtyard.
Sarah, Sutherland, VA
The beautiful, interconnected relationships between species. Pollinators and their plants model the give-and-take of interactions with others and harmony and balance in relationships.
MelissaMiddletown SpringsGrateful for the bumblebees, the honey bees (that we replenish every year through Better Bee in New York, thankful for their work!), the family of hummers who come every year, and all the little guys whose names I don't know who make the vegetables and the fruits happen.
Eva, British Columbia
I love pollinators so deeply! I have a very special relationship with the bees, and also butterflies and hummingbirds. They are precious, sacred allies to me, and I pray and sing to them often. I always aim to create a habitat of flowers and shelter for them in my garden.
Mobi, San Antonio, TX
I take a daily walk through my backyard, neighborhood, and local park to observe, greet, and express gratitude to pollinators (and all other beings I encounter). I am particularly enchanted by bees -- blue-green mason bees collecting tender cactus pulp to use in making mortar to seal their nests, chimney-cactus bees napping in white prickly poppies, leaf-cutter bees feasting on nectar and collecting pollen at upright prairie coneflowers, pebble bees visiting purple Texas thistles. And butterflies! I have recently been counting Monarch larvae on Zizotes milkweed. Hummingbird moths, hoverflies, flower beetles! So much wonder and beauty in so many small, essential creatures.
Mary, Wallingford Vermont
I love planting and caring for plants and am joyful to watch various pollinators on the flowers of our fruits and vegetables and ornamental plants. I am grateful as I welcome them into our beautiful garden.
Lisa, Leo IN
I am grateful I have land to plant flowers and watch all the flying creatures enjoy them.
Raimonda, Quebec , Canada
I am following a Shamanic Bee European tradition course, grateful to dream with the Earth and Hive. Blessed bee 🐝
Marta, La Veta, Colorado
I wish Mice were Pollinators too (I guess they are in a different sense). If Mice were Pollinators, my greenhouse would be a hotbed of activity. The bees on the rosemary bush and the Mice in the baby sunflowers - each one MOVING A PIECE OF THE WORLD AROUND.
Peggy, Floyd County, Virginia
I live my life with the pollinators and offer so much gratitude for our existence. This Spring day reveals wings and early emerging flowers and exuberant life! Always a new beginning. Joy, joy, joy!
Moria, hEast Wallingford, Vermont
Expressing gratitude to the tiny seedlings that have just sprouted for our community pollinator garden. I’m grateful for the caterpillars, birds, butterflies, and bees that continue to pollinate our food crops. I hope to act in reciprocity by providing them with safe habitat so they can continue to grow and thrive. There is nothing like watching the metamorphosis of a Monarch, knowing the journey they will take. Beauty is all around us.
Kate, United Kingdom
I love the tiny winged ones! Their buzzing and busying and showing their love to the flowers. I feel so grateful to them for all they do for the planet! How such fleeting yet beautiful lives can make such a difference is an inspiration. As a bee guardian I am learning how to simple bee 🐝
Elsie, Jacksonville, FL
I am grateful for their role in our ecosystem and the ways they help to keep us all alive. Deeply humbled by the wisdom exhibited in their ways. They have been vital sources of homeostasis in my garden and I love to witness their play. So much to say so I will say it directly to them.
Renie, Rocky River
Since my childhood always loved watching the bees at work and listening to their musical chorus. Personally, my goal was in educating all who fear being stung if they understand respect and appreciation of the bees there is nothing to fear. I am also grateful for their healing gift of honey which has soothed many sore throats for me and my family. Though I am now in my mid-seventies my Love and Gratitude for the bees and all they do for us all has only grown.
WendyDansville, NY US
Their very existence. They are one of the many symbiotic interdependencies on which all life, including human, depends.
Mirriam, Kenya
I am grateful for the presence of bees in our backyard. Their buzzing sound just brings a soothing feeling to my life and watching them fly from one flower to the other in search of nectar and pollen is amazing.
Their presence in our yard is amazing and my family and I are grateful. They make honey which is a source of food and medicine and we are grateful.
Carol, South Somerset, England
The beautiful dance that is the relationship between the green beings and the insects and other pollinators that enables such a rich diverse life to continue on our planet.
Cheryll, Williamsburg, VA
The bumblebees and butterflies helping to spread beauty and food.
Stephanie, Shelter Cove , Ca USA
I am a gardener, I am greatful for The beauty, food, medicine and sweetness they bring to life
Regina, Stuart, Florida
I’m grateful for the energy & blessing they bring to garden & that I feel & appreciate their presence.
Diana, NY
I’m grateful that pollinators simply do their job in spite of the fact that people keep interfering with the natural system.
Cindy, San Diego
Delight
Abundance
Cooperate spirit
Wisdom
I see you, you see me
Here we are.
Nina, St Petersburg Florida
When I imagine the beautiful hummingbird pollinators in all their majestic form, color and movement I feel so much love and gratitude. How wondrous it is to feel the blessing of their majesty as they carry out the unique message and engagement to share the nectar and beauty of life.
Lisa, Monrovia CA
Thank you bees, for visiting my trees
Especially the miss avocado.
With love and gratitude, I made you a little bee bath.
To nourish and drink and a place to relax.
Love, Lisa
Rama, Jacksonville Florida
Drinking the delirium of nectar from flowers you feed yourself going from one pool of color and fragrance of spirits delight and soft petals to another and then helping the flowers become fruits just by virtue of visiting and gathering flower stardust rubbing off on your furry back.
You make it possible for me to live and eat delight far shared with far more than myself
Transforming the nectar into flowers distillations of honey and pollen and royal jelly for your Queen who keeps you all together.
Bees I thank you for your gifts of life.
And of butterflies and hummingbirds who simply drink nectar and fly with all their hearts and wings I thank you for showing me how to gather as much nectar as I am able from the flowers of this day.
My friends and ones who came before me you make it possible for me to live and drink joy as I fly into each golden moment of time I have with my Mother Earth
Timothy, San Antonio, TX USA
The beauty and wonderous splendor of our pollinator friends is an invitation to meditation. A "conscious" being cannot go for any length of time without being deeply awed by the simple experience of sitting in a garden, meadow or forest and breathing in the life all around. Pollinators are life-sustaining, co-inhabitors of our magnificent eco-sphere. Peace.
Evelyn, Potomac, Montana USA
Springtime has arrived in the Rockies, and the pollinators bring us immense joy after a long winter of cold and snow. Every tender shoot and bud is a sight to behold. We can hear the buzzing of bees and the fluttering of butterfly wings. I am truly thankful for the gift of pollination that they bring. It is a festival of earthly delight that nourishes all creatures who dwell on Earth.
Suze, LONDON, UK
I am grateful for the abundance of flowers, plants, fruits, seeds, beauty, and healing the sacred pollinators share in my tiny urban garden and across the local urban landscape. I'm am grateful to be able to create safe and nourishing homes for my plant and pollinator friends and look forward to building a deeper relationship with both for many years to come.
Kareemah, Durham, NC
How happy my yard grows as well as happy passers-by. The Sage is in bloom and the milkweed is bursting forth. Pollinators are busy gathering nectar from all the plants. In eight raised beds I have Rose Madder, milk thistle, thyme, and nine other herbs that keep the pollinators happy throughout the year since I don’t deadhead and live in a temperate zone.
Kim, Thompsonville, MI
I’m so thankful for all the little pollinators. Hummingbird’s energy is so joyful. I’m always so honored when they come to visit. Butterflies always make me smile. I’m pretty sure all the plants they touch smile too. The bees and all the other little helpers I want to say thank you. I see you. I hear you. Thank you ❤️
Kris, Auckland, New Zealand
I love the symbiotic relationship I have with the pollinators in my garden. I try to provide them with flowering plants all year round. I'm rewarded with more bountiful vegetable and herb harvests in return
Angela, Alexandria, VA
This spring, I let my bok choy go to seed and produce beautiful yellow flowers that perfumed the air, and I sat down and watched six bees buzz around thrilled!
Alison, Big Island Hawaii
The pollinators for me are the whales. The humpbacked whales travel to the Big Island from Alaska from December to April. They dive deep and bring the depths of the ocean to the surface bringing vital nutrients as well as allowing the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide . They remind us to keep our waters clean and to be thankful for the oxygen that we freely breathe every day.
Clare & Melody , Wallingford & Goshen , Vermont
Ceremonies, separate and together, simply and deeply celebrating the beautiful perfection of interlacing partnerships and ease full dancing diligence, we are in awe!
DeeDee, Santa Barbara
I am grateful for their labors that seem small to large humans that are absolutely critical to our survival. I am grateful for the bees’ magical humming in flowering plants and for the beauteous and wondrous forms that they all take.
Maureen, Yellow Springs, OH
Relating to pollinators is opening to the center of my being. Gratitude expressed to them is gratitude to life. They often work so silently. I do not see them on my strawberry flowers, but the strawberries form and I know they have been visited. How wondrous they are!
Jean-PierreUster, Switzerland
They are doing a great job for Nature and they only ask to be let in peace and quiet.
Lora Winona, MN
I am a lifelong gardener and have worked in apple orchards for many years. The food we eat is dependent on these beautiful beings. It is the perfect reciprocity relationship. If we care for them, provide quality plants for them to enjoy they will allow us to share in their joy with abundant food. They constantly teach me, no one, no thing is too small. We all make a difference. I am grateful for their hard work so we can feed ourselves.
Dimitar, Bulgaria EU
Kind of -"Entire life of mine! Quasi- The Earth and its Biosphere stay unique spot on horizons of Universum." And - " Golly- What a harmonic ties amidst the 5th living kingdoms!" - anyone would exclaim after profound observations!
Ginger, Florida
Thank you God for the miracle of the pollinators and the relationship they have with our plants and flowers. My backyard garden contains a nesting box full of baby bluebirds. The seed trays and bird baths feed the backyard birds and welcome the migratory birds passing through this Spring. Mother’s memorial garden contains a multitude of flowers for the pollinators. The backyard trees and bushes shelter you at night and during the day. And finally the dedicated pollinator garden. It is full of the Scarlett’s sage so loved by the hummingbirds and the abundance of host and nectar plants are there to attract butterflies to reproduce in a magical and safe place.
