The Journey
About
Walking through a dense patch of partridge pea I had planted in a small area meant to be wild, I was enveloped by the life force of so many foraging bumblebees. The space hummed with a vibration I physically felt all around me, and it stopped me in my tracks. I closed my eyes and the hum was transporting and transformational. It was not only the vitality of the living things flying nearby, the whole of the space felt unified and alive, and I was one part of it.
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That moment was 11 years ago. It was the spark that has become Wilde Bee.
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More and more after that day, when I was in outdoor spaces, I stopped to feel the space, to hear it, to go beyond what I saw. I became addicted to the buzz. I realized that many spaces are quiet, some visually very beautiful--a fancy gown hanging on a mannequin, lovely but inanimate. I started seeing those spaces differently. The more I became drawn to the wilder spaces with their multitude of life, the more I became interested in that life. I began looking closely with wonder and curiosity. I became a student to the bees.
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Wilde Bee seeks to support this wonderful, complex life that supports us, and to share knowledge about it and from it.
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Thank you for your interest in this journey.
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"It will be a marvellous thing – the true personality of man – when we see it. . . . It will not be always meddling with others, or asking them to be like itself. It will love them because they will be different. And yet while it will not meddle with others, it will help all, as a beautiful thing helps us, by being what it is. The personality of man will be very wonderful. It will be as wonderful as the personality of a child." Oscar Wilde​
Bio
Stephanie Reger
I began propagating plants from seed in 2012 and donating plants and other materials to socially purposed gardens in 2017. I received horticulture training through a variety of sources including courses at the New York Botanical Garden and biodynamic farming courses at the Pfeiffer Center in New York (but it's mostly been a lot of trial and error!). I now grow over 300 different varieties from seed each year. I also have completed a six-month permaculture design course with Geoff Lawton, and a two year advanced biodynamic beekeeping course with Gunter Hawk of Spikenard Farm and Honeybee Sanctuary in Virginia. Since 2021 I have been propagating open-pollinated dahlias and focusing primarily on pollinator habitats.