WHO WE ARE
Christina currently manages an non-migratory apiary of 60-80 hives of her own (apoidea apiary http://apoidea-apiary.com ) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her apiary is Certified Naturally Grown ( https://www.cngfarming.org/apiary ) and she is committed to keeping honey bees healthy without reliance on antibiotics, synthetic chemicals, or high fructose corn syrup feed. Since 2005, she has been naturally breeding Northern honeybee stock and also raises mason bees (Osmia lignaria) and leafcutter bees (Megachile rotundata) at her urban apiary. Several honeys crafted at her apiary have won a Good Food Award ( https://goodfoodfdn.org) and she was the 2019 Good Food Awards Honey Category co-chairperson. As a co-founder of Burgh Bees in 2008, Christina played a guiding role in developing landscaping strategy for the pollinator gardens surrounding the Homewood Cooperative Apiary. In addition to managing her own bees at urban and suburban outyards around the City of Pittsburgh, she is the apiary consultant for Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Chatham Eden Hall Farm and Rivendale Farm. Christina gives presentations and conducts design charettes specifically on landscape strategies for increased pollinator forage, particularly incorporating high nectar-yielding tree species. Believing first and foremost that beekeeping should be about practicing awareness, she conducts guided meditations through observation and drawing to refocus the mind and body on the task of caring for the needs of these delicate and ecologically-sensitive creatures.