New Homie, March or April, 2016

pic of Beehive Values poster with magnets, 2014

Hey everyone!

The Beehive Collective House is currently looking for a new housemate / collective member for March or April, 2016.

We welcome interest from queer folk, elders, youth, people of all colours and cultures, radicals.

Due to the physical two-floor nature of our home, our space is regrettably not accessible for all types of bodies.

WHO ARE WE?

The Beehive is an established collective house located just off Commercial Drive.  We believe that mutual support in the domestic realm fosters stronger individuals and stronger communities.  Collective living is a powerful form of activism, allowing us to exercise our values of social and environmental justice right in the home.   Together, we aim to hold safe space for individual and collective growth.  As a new housemate you will join 5 other adults, one baby (1 year) and 2 cats. There is a guest room for friends and visitors.

WE VALUE:

• Shared meals (we have a big kitchen and eat dinners together)
• Environmental consciousness and practice
• Open communication and supporting each other
• Vegetarian/vegan/freegan/local food; cooking from scratch
• Kids
• Animals
• Community-building and skill sharing
• Laughter, games, music, stories, creativity
• Growing food (we have a garden), and foraging.

COST:

varies depending on income, but it is very very very affordable.  Inquire if you need specifics.

STABILITY:

we ideally seek someone who plans to live here for longer, rather than shorter; we have been a low transition house for the last 4 years, and this adds to the warm sense of connection in the house.

IN JOINING US SOME OF THE THINGS YOU WILL BE INVOLVED IN ARE:

• Eating together is one of the great joys of collective living, and since the Beehive's inception it has been a central priority of the house.   We share sit-down dinners almost every night of the week, and we expect that people are home for dinner at least half the time.  We each cook dinner one night a week for everyone.  We eat ethically sourced food (local, home-grown, CSA, organic, dumpstered, unprocessed and/or minimally packaged).
• Regular, organized housework to maintain our community, we live with a lot of structure.
• An almost weekly house meeting lasting 1.5 hours based on consensus.
• Having friends and guests over for dinners and overnight visits.
• Occasional larger social events such as potlucks, meetings, workshops, storytelling nights, food-processing parties.
• Weekly 30-minute meditation session if interested.
• Processing food – fermenting, canning, dehydrating, etc.
• A happily bike-based home.
• Overall, we exercise simple, economical and environmentally friendly living.  We are social but not a party home, and the house is usually quiet and calm in the evenings, with a clean kitchen.

HOW TO PROCEED WITH INTEREST:

If think you might be interested to consider joining our home, please send us an email and answer the questions below: at thebeehivehouse@gmail.com


Why do you want to live at the Beehive?
What do you do?
Do you have experiences living collectively? Or with other Collectives?
What skills do you bring with you?
What are you passionate about, or how do you spend your time?
Any questions or concerns?
Please include your phone number, as the next step is a conversation.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

~the bees: Sara, Ben, Caitlan, John, Michael and baby, plus Donut and Java.

Speaking of Bees

This lovely little note has been in our bathroom for a while now, courtesy of Michael's students at SFU, who did a project on the plight of bees.


LOCAL RESOURCES:
Our friend Clelie is part of the BackYard Bounty Collective. She helps people learn how to keep bees in an urban setting.


Save the Bees Petition- click here
It's URGENT! If you need convincing read this:
Quietly, globally, billions of bees are being killed off threatening our crops and food. But a global ban of one group of pesticides could save bees from extinction.

Four European countries have begun banning the poisons and bee populations are recovering. But chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep all killer pesticides on the market. A global outcry now for a ban in the US and EU, where debate is raging, could provoke a total ban and a ripple effect around the world.

Let’s build a giant global buzz calling for these dangerous chemicals to be outlawed in the US and EU until and unless they are proved to be safe. Sign the petition to save bees!