Beekeeper
Grai St. Clair Rice
Grai St. Clair Rice is an organic beekeeper with 19 years' experience, as well as a writer/artist based in NYC. Grai started BeeJoy.org to continue teaching and coaching beekeepers, and consult on landscape plantings for pollinators. She engages the public with visual presentations on bees, beekeeping and gardening for Honey bees, to help broaden the vital knowledge and appreciation of Honey bees and other pollinators.
Grai co-founded HoneybeeLives in 2005, as an organization that was dedicated to encouraging a strong honey bee population by teaching in-depth workshops with an Organic, Biodynamic approach. Grai is also the founding-member of the contemporary Ulster County Beekeepers Association, and became a badge-carrying Citizen Pruner in NYC in 2013.
Speaking Engagements & Presentations
Grai presents at beekeeping & gardening events throughout the year.
Grai tailors a variety of engaging visual talks about honeybees and organic beekeeping for a wide range of audiences. Her presentations on gardening for honeybees and other pollinators are also tailored to each audience, be it a beekeepers group, a gardening club or a public library. A cultural history of beekeeping is also a good subject for audiences with limited interest in gardening or beekeeping. View prepared concepts and past engagements below. Please let her know if you have a specifically tailored talk you wish to have presented to your group.
Honeybees in the Garden: A Dance with Evolution
During the course of evolution, pollinators and plants have been involved in a seductive relationship that has been instrumental in creating the fecund world we live in today. Understand how honeybees forage and how they interact with flowers in their search for nectar and pollen.
Comb and Nest Architecture
This presentation looks at how honeybees construct comb using their unique physiology. It is both an act of community building and a feat of precise, structural integrity that is invaluable for beekeepers to comprehend. Knowing how honeybees transform crystalline beeswax into the dynamic skeletal structure of this super-organism is intriguing, and understanding how contemporary beekeeping can both help and hinder, has the capacity to transform simple habits into complex appreciation.
Gardening for Honeybees
Learn to incorporate simple garden/landscape elements to improve their health. For Garden Clubs and the General Public, which includes some introduction into honeybees for the purpose of the garden talk.
Varroa Vector
Varroa mites spread across the world on Apis mellifera from their original host Apis cerana in Asia. These parasitic mites are a vector for pathogens and diseases within and across colonies. “Varroa Vector” takes a historical peek into the attempts to deal with these devastating pests in the US, with successes and failures along the way, and looks at their consequence to honey bee health.
Foot Fetish
I have found myself turned on by Honeybee feet. These complex, highly functional ends to their amazing “army knife” legs facilitate a plethora of attributes from foraging, pheromone communication, dexterity for perambulating and creating a swarm bivouac. It’s fun to watch what they are doing with their feet.
Let's Do It Together
Everything we do matters. Educate about species identification. Encourage neighborhood education about forage and lawn care products for healthy bees. Explore the potential relationships between beekeepers and the broader agricultural world. Develop cooperative networks for honey and beeswax products, and marketing support.
Eastern Apiculture Society Conference - Maryland, 2024
Long Island Beekeepers Association - 2024
Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Seminar - Malta, NY - 2024
Native Plants and Pollinators Conference - Storrs, CT - 2023
Apimondia International Beekeeping Congress - Santiago, Chile - 2023
Elting Memorial Library - New Paltz, NY - 2023
Locust Grove - Poughkeepsie, NY - 2023
Emerson Resort - Mt Tremper NY - 2022
Dirty Gaia - Rhinebeck - 2022
Travis County Beekeepers - Austin, TX - 2022
Knickebocker Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution - NYC - 2022
Michigan State Bee Fall Conference - 2021
Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers - 2021
Hudson Valley Natural Beekeepers - 2021
Stamford Land Trust Conservancy - 2020
Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association - SABA Seminar 2020 (canceled)
North Dutchess Beekeepers - 2020
Catskill Mountain Beekeepers - 2020
Biodynamic Association Conference - 2019
Apimondia International Beekeeping Congress - Montreal - 2019
Backyard Beekeepers Association - 2019
Stone Ridge Library - 2019
Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers - 2017
Center for Symbolic Studies - 2016
Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association - SABA Seminar - 2016
Country Living Fair Main Stage “Gardening for Honeybees” - Rhinebeck, NY - 2015
Hudson Valley Natural Beekeepers - 2015
Backyard Beekeepers Association - 2014
Staten Island Beekeepers - 2014
Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Winter Conference - 2014
Eastern Apiculture Society Conference - 2013
Cornell Cooperative Ext of Ulster County - Master Gardener Lecture - 2013
Country Living Fair - Green Stage, Rhinebeck, NY “Inviting Honeybees” - 2013
Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association of NJ (NOFA-NJ) Winter Conference - 2012
Pfeiffer Center for Biodynamic Agriculture - (2007 - 2011)
Wave Hill Arts Center “Hive Culture: Captivated by the Honeybee” - NYC – 2011
New Paltz Garden Club - 2011
Festival of Ideas for the New City, New Museum of Contemporary Art - NYC - 2011
Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association of NY (NOFA-NY) Winter Conference - 2010
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens - Centennial Bee-Day 2010
Center for Symbolic Studies - 2010
Woodstock Library
Stone Ridge Library
Wave Hill Arts Center - NYC - Urban Beekeeping Day - 2008
Green Meadow School "The Honeybee in a Coal Mine” - Chestnut Ridge, NY - 2007
Articles & Publications
Grai writes about bees & gardening, honey, and so much more…
Her work has been published in Bee Culture, and numerous other publications. She writes for various beekeeping association newsletters and blogs, including a quarterly blog for the Connecticut Beekeepers Association. Grai writes beekeeping articles and other content upon request. She loves to explore new ideas inspired by nature. Her bi-monthly article in Country Wisdom News covered seasonal subjects for the general public, from the wisdom of a beekeeper deeply connected to nature.
Country Wisdom News (bi-monthly column)
NY House
Upstate House
Living and Being
Connecticut Beekeepers Association (quarterly newsletter)
Recognition & Awards
Grai St Clair Rice received the American Bee Journal Photography Award - 2024
Grai St Clair Rice received the American Bee Journal Photography Award - 2012
HoneybeeLives received the Edible Hudson Valley Local Hero Award - 2012
Photography
Grai's photographs showcase the beauty of nature
Her lens captures the interactions of bees and flowers, and delights in observing the panoply of pollinators that grace our world. There is always an element of curiosity evident in her work, and an inherent sense of intrigue in the interconnectedness of all of nature and the environment. Pollinators may be small, however their impact is vast.