Experience the awesome wonder of the honey bee
We're creating a happier, healthier planet – one bee & one student at a time!
Message UsCheck out our free Hive Alive Curriculum & Ask a Beekeeper Forum
What We Do
We educate K-5 students on the wonder and need to conserve honeybees.
The Sweet Virginia Foundation educates children about honeybees, inspiring them to cherish nature and become environmental stewards, aiming to create a happier, healthier planet, one bee and one student at a time.
Hive Alive!
Sweet Virginia offers teachers an exciting and interactive Hive Alive Curriculum designed to bring to life the magic of honey bees for elementary school students. Teachers can access our lesson plans for FREE on our website.
Ask A Beekeper
Join our online student-beekeeper forum where beekeepers from around the world answer questions from curious elementary school students through quick, home-made videos.
Bee Liner
In the coming year, we will be launching an interactive Virtual Reality honey bee experience in classrooms across the country! We look forward to driving the Bee Liner to your neighborhood soon.
What's Coming Up
Summer 2025 Artist in Residency Opportunity on Beautiful Lake Manassas!
Just a 40 minute ride from the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., the historic Clover Hill Farm in Nokesville, VA, (home of the Sweet Virginia Foundation) has recently undergone renovations & has turned the hayloft of an old horse barn into a beautiful new musical venue, overlooking an 800 acre lake, that’s waiting for musicians!
For its debut, the farm’s owner is looking for a solo musician (any instrument) or established duo or trio to play for his family & friends occasionally this summer in the barn between June 1st to September 1st. He is open to Jazz, Opera, Blues, Folk, or Classical genres.
- Housing is provided free of charge in your own fully furnished house on the lake that has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and wifi. Please include your preferred dates for your stay & performances when you apply. He's flexible on dates & is happy to work with your schedule (remote workers welcome!). Ideally, stays would be at least four weeks, but all summer is also a possibility.
Transportation
A car will be provided if needed.
Payment: $375/week stipend for each musician.
What to Expect:
The barn has a tuned piano and a sound system installed. You will have full access to the barn and will be able to practice as much as you would like.
He would like to have 30 minute to an hour long concerts for him and his guests when he has visitors at his home.
On the property, a few honeybee hives are maintained and magnificent sunflowers and dahlias are grown at commercial scale. In addition to performing, the owner would like assistance with a few “light duty” farm duties which should take around 2 hours each day, such as feeding hens, watering plants, cutting flowers, and generally keeping the farm beautiful.
Application Deadline by June 1
To apply, please send a video of a recent performance, your resume, bio, and 2 hour-long set lists to christina.hourihan@double.app. Please also include the dates you are able to stay on the property.
Perhaps the most important thing that we can do to help the honey bees is to teach children to understand the role that honey bees play and to care about them.
Allison Gillespie
Hives in the City: Keeping Honey Bees Alive in an Urban World
Education Partner
We partnered with the National Geographic Society to produce a two-minute video that demonstrates the importance of honey bees.
At Sweet Virginia Foundation, our mission is to provide in-classroom instruction and host field trips to our honey bee sanctuary delivering a hands-on experience to students of all ages. Check out the video to learn more about these pollinators.
Learn MoreAt Sweet Virginia Foundation, our mission is to provide in-classroom instruction and host field trips to our honey bee sanctuary delivering a hands-on experience to students of all ages. Check out the video to learn more about these pollinators.
Our Partners
We cannot accomplish our mission alone. A big thank you to our educational partners and donors.
Testimonials
People Say About Us
Community Flowers
"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us."
- Iris Murdoch
If you’d like to volunteer on the farm getting sunflowers ready for delivery or help deliver the freshly cut flowers, just give us a buzz.
Join us at the farm for sanctuary days
Bring the kids to visit Sweet Virginia’s Honey Bee Sanctuary. Get a tour of the farm, including the hives, flower fields, and honey production area.
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