Learning Opportunities
Explore. Discover. Connect.
Inclusionary Educational Programming
Bee Safaris
Do you hear a buzZzing in the air?
Welcome to the magical gardens at Elk Root Conservation where kiddos have the opportunity to meet new little fuzzy friends: bees! The bees at Elk Root Conservation love spending the day making new friends and teaching them about the role they play in our food security and pollinating our flower beds. Children will have a chance to interact with both native bees and honey bees while on safari (but it might be difficult to remember all the bee’s names since there are hundreds of thousands of wild bees and honey bees in our one-of-a-kind pollinator gardens). Participants will also get a chance to put on a bee suit to get an up close look inside our bee hives and the Elk Root Conservation Bee Barn.
Introduce your kiddos club or classroom to the fascinating lives of bees during an interactive, supervised exploration of our Apiary!
Hands-on Community Growing
This exciting offering invites community organizations supporting at-risk members to apply for dedicated garden plots in our Regenerative Educational Community Food Garden. Our team will assist participants with choosing crops, starting seeds, caring for plants, and harvesting produce. To ensure convenience and flexibility, we collaborate with each organization to set dedicated days and times for garden visits. Even when you can’t be present, our team will be there to tend to your plots, ensuring that your hard work doesn’t go to waste. Food from these plots will support ERC’s Community Food Box Program, benefiting at-risk community members and dedicated volunteers.
The best part about growing your own food is being able to share it with your community and loved ones. From plant pots on a windowsill to acres of farmland, helping plants grow not only feeds the body, it nourishes souls.
Stay tuned for updates on this exciting initiative! Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at elkrootconservation@gmail.com
Consultation by Donation
Do you have questions about stewarding your land? Interested in planting native species but not sure which are best suited to your property? We’ve been getting so many questions and more complex inquiries that we cannot answer with a simple email or phone call. So in order to give more in-depth questions the time and support they deserve, we have created ERC’s Consultation by Donation service! This service is highly flexible and is tailored to each individual’s vision for their property. We are all about “outside-the-box” thinking and welcome your suggestions so that you can get the most out of your experience.
If you have any inquiries or are looking for support on a project, reach out to us at elkrootconservation@gmail.com
Internships & Volunteering
Youth Paid Internships
Elk Root Conservation offers internships for those 30 & under to contribute to our vision through getting your hands dirty (literally) or remotely assisting with various projects. Internships are a great place to learn about environmental conservation AND build skills for the future. Interns learn alongside experts in the gardens receiving daily mentorship and learning cutting edge beyond-organic techniques.
During the week, interns work on various projects and every Friday (or Fun Friday as we like to call them), our interns take a break and spend the morning learning all about regenerative, beyond organic farming and environmental land stewardship topics of their choice!
So, do you love being in nature and working on your green thumb all the while positively impacting the environment? Or maybe you’re interested in learning the inner-workings of a not-for-profit and working alongside our Directors developing new projects? Click here for more information about our internships!
Consider signing up for the Elk Root mailing list to be automatically notified about new internship opportunities.
“I was able to apply theories that I learned in university into a practical context while learning from highly experienced mentors. My internship was tailored to meet my learning goals, and I was able to spend lots of time getting hands-on experience with beekeeping. Since I had such a positive experience, I am returning in 2022 to continue working with Elk Root!”
-Mya, Summer 2021 Intern
Senior’s Gardening Days!
Do you enjoy working outdoors, gardening and all the while helping to preserve nature and maintaining a food source for bees? Maybe you are daunted by the physical aspect of gardening. Consider participating in Senior’s Gardening Days at Elk Root Conservation Farm!
Senior’s Gardening Days cater to seniors who are looking to be out in the garden but have concerns about some of the physical aspects of gardening. No worries! Members of our team live with brain injury, spinal degeneration and are full of tips and tricks to make gardening accessible to all and easier on the body.
This is a great opportunity where you can both contribute your skills and pick up new ones while working alongside our experienced mentors and interns to help preserve and restore habitats. If you have something specific in mind, let us know! We always love extra volunteer hands maintaining the gardens and working on projects, especially during the busy summer months.
If you have time to spare, a passion for the outdoors and a desire to help preserve the environment , don’t hesitate to contact us by email.
Webinar & Programs
Planting For Pollinators Course at Selkirk College
SPRING & SUMMER 2024
Want to plant a pollinator-friendly flower garden that bees and butterflies will love OR create a honey bee forage buffet on your farm or apiary? Not sure where to start? Whether you are looking to start a garden from scratch or supplement your existing gardens with bee friendly blooms, this course is for you.
INSTRUCTOR
Kate Mizenka is the founder of Elk Root Conservation Farm Society, creator of the Sustainable Apiary Model and designer of Elk Root’s pollinator demonstration orchard and gardens. Kate will be both your instructor and host during this webinar and field day series at Elk Root Conservation Farm.
Webinar
During this webinar portion, Kate will guide you through how to plan, prepare, select, design and plant a sustainable flower habitat that you will love and the bees will thank you for! Topics covered during the Webinar portion will then be applied during the field days.
*Note – We highly recommend attending this introductory webinar if you plan on attending the Planting for Pollinators field days.
Field Days
Planning on being in the West Kootenays this summer? Consider attending one or more field days to get the most out of this course!
The field day series will literally walk you through a full season of blooms and help you apply the concepts taught in the Planting for Pollinator Webinar. Onsite demonstration and discussion of how to start a garden from scratch, supplement your existing gardens with bee-friendly blooms and plant a wildflower meadow. You will learn how to replace your lawn with bee-friendly turf and ‘re-wild’ your acreage, apiary or farm using native plants that attract pollinators and support honey bee health.
Course Schedule
Webinar – Thursday, April 25, 2024 / 6:00pm-8:30pm via Zoom
Field Days:
Field Day 1 (May 4th) – How to Create a Beautiful Bee & Butterfly Garden
Field Day 2 (June 15th) – Establishing A Wildflower Meadow & Filling the June Bloom Gap
Field Day 3 (July 27th) – Gardening With Native Plants @ Elk Root Conservation’s Native Plant Educational Demonstration Gardens
Field Day 4 (September 14th) – Fall/Winter Preparations, Meadow Preparation & Fall Seeding of 2024 Pollinator Habitats
For more information about each Field Day click here.During this webinar portion, Kate will guide you through how to plan, prepare, select, design and plant a sustainable flower habitat that you will love and the bees will thank you for! Topics covered during the Webinar portion will then be applied during the field days.
*Note – We highly recommend attending this introductory webinar if you plan on attending the Planting for Pollinators field days.
REGISTRATION
Register for the course by either signing up for the “Full Series Package” course which includes the introductory webinar and five field days or you have the option to to sign up for specific field days of your choosing*
* We highly recommend attending the introductory webinar if you plan on attending the Planting for Pollinators field days.
We look forward to seeing everyone both virtually and in the gardens!