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 A play on the linguistic phenomena "the habitual be" that is present in African American English and other African diasporic languages/ dialects to mark habitual or extended actions, The Habitual Bee is equal parts ancestral veneration, land stewardship practices, and communal wellness.

 

The Habitual Bee was born out of the desire to not merely hope for a better tomorrow, but to assist in creating one.

My name is Marcelle Vielot, and I am a certified beekeeper with the North Carolina Beekeepers Association. My vision is clear: To assist members of my community with rekindling their relationship with nature through land stewardship, ecological balance, conservation, historical frameworks, and body/ earth connections. As a Black beekeeper and urban gardener, my goals are not limited to protecting and advocating for Apis Mellifera, better known as the Western Honeybee. I also work within my community to emphasize the importance of all pollinators, the necessity of maintaining healthy ecosystems, and the essential role history has in our collective relationships with the land.

 

Fundamentally, The Habitual Bee centers on building healthy relationships between people and the land.

Shifting paradigms from consumer to steward is a process that includes taking people outside of their comfort zones and providing opportunities for folks to participate in cultivation, beekeeping, plant walks in local nature preserves, and more. For me, there are few experiences that retain their “shine” like introducing someone to a plant that they have looked over, helping someone set up their first garden, giving an elder a plant that they haven’t seen or tasted in decades, or showing someone the interior of a beehive. Those small moments make this work that much sweeter.

My life experiences with community organizing and being a lifelong student have shaped how I envision a multiplicity of possibilities for The Habitual Bee. Yes, I provide standard beekeeping services. But I also offer re-wilding consultations, native plant support, skill shares, organic home gardening services, edible gardening services, plant walks, mushroom cultivation, historical/traditional foodways research, and much more.

As shown in the past few years, we all must reevaluate what type of future we would like to create for ourselves and those who come after us.

 

My vision of the future and the work I am doing to support that future is in the outdoors.

 

I invite everyone to come and join me and the bees.

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Yours in Land Stewardship,

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Marcelle Vielot

The Habitual Bee

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Certified Beekeeper

Urban Gardener

Public Historian

Land Steward