The Heart of the West: Beetreat

Building connections + knowledge around the importance of bees

with Sarah Red-Laird

July 17 - 20, 2026

Join us for an immersive four-day retreat in the pristine landscape of the Centennial Valley, Montana, where art, science, and conservation converge. The Heart of the West Beetreat offers a unique opportunity to deepen your connection to pollinators, land, and community through hands-on learning, creative expression, and meaningful conversation. 

Set at the beautiful J-L Ranch in the Centennial Valley, this retreat brings together women from diverse backgrounds to explore the critical role of native bees and honey bees in our ecosystems. Through guided pollinator habitat walks, hands-on beekeeping experiences, yoga and mindfulness practices, nature journaling, and a cyanotype art workshop, you will gain both knowledge and creative tools to carry this work forward in your own communities. 

You will receive a plant press to collect wildflowers and botanical specimens from the ranch landscape. These collections become the raw material for your final creative project: a cyanotype artwork that captures the beauty and interconnection of pollinators and their habitat. No prior artistic, beekeeping, or scientific experience is required—just curiosity, openness, and a desire to see the natural world through new eyes. 

This retreat emphasizes spaciousness and connection, with ample free time to explore the ranch, rest, reflect, and build relationships with other participants. Whether you are a land steward, artist, educator, conservationist, beekeeper, or simply someone who cares deeply about the living world, you will find community here. 

A special thank you to Hindu Hillbilly Honey for working with us to provide an on-site apiary.

*Anyone who identifies as a woman is welcome!

MORE INFO & REGISTRATION

A transformative day built around bees, land, flowers, and women in agriculture.

Applications are now open for Bee Regenerative's Beetreat supported by Women in Ranching — an intimate full-day retreat for women who work on the land — farmers, ranchers, winemakers, growers, and stewards of all kinds.

We'll explore mindfulness and self-awareness alongside honey bees and native pollinators, enjoy a farm-to-table lunch, ground our bodies and minds through bee-centered yoga practice, take a native bee and botany hike, and toast the day with wine from our Bee Friendly Vineyard partners.

This hands-on experience moves from the classroom to the apiary, the meadow to the yoga mat — weaving together bee science, gentle honey bee handling, nervous system regulation, embodied movement, and the kind of community that only forms when women gather together outside.

You'll leave with a strengthened sense of self, renewed connections, and a deepened appreciation for the extraordinary world of bees.

The Details

  • Date: May 9, 2025

  • Time: 8:30 am – 6:30 pm

  • Location: Sampson Creek Preserve, Ashland, Oregon

  • Participation Fee: $200

  • For: Women and women-identifying individuals working in agriculture

  • Capacity: 10 participants

  • No beekeeping experience required — all levels welcome.

  • Included in the day: Coffee, tea, light refreshments in the a.m., farm-to-table lunch catered by Jefferson Farm Kitchen in the afternoon, Bee Friendly Vineyard partner wine bar and snacks at the close of the day.

  • Gift tote including a few gifts from Bee Regenerative partners, including a Magic of I journal.

  • Beekeeping suit, gloves, and yoga mat available to borrow for the day (if you don’t have your own)

Space is limited to 10 women.

Each application is read with care, and we hand-pick the cohort to build a strong group dynamic, diversity of experience, and readiness to engage. You'll hear back within two weeks of applying.

APPLY HERE

Meet the Facilitators

Sarah Red-Laird Lead Facilitator & Host · Founder & Director, Bee Regenerative

Sarah Red-Laird is the founder of Bee Regenerative, whose mission is to inspire and advance bee conservation on agricultural landscapes. A graduate of the University of Montana's College of Forestry and Conservation, she has built her career at the intersection of ecological science, agricultural practice, and community collaboration — serving as director of the American Beekeeping Federation's Kids and Bees program, president of the Northwest Farmers Union and Western Apicultural Society, and as a board member of the National Farmers Union.

Since founding Bee Regenerative in 2010, Sarah has reached more than 89,500 adults and 16,000 children through over 200 presentations across 29 U.S. states and five countries. Her research partnerships now span 77,000+ acres, documenting 100+ native bee species — including 37 that are threatened or vulnerable. Her TEDx talk, "We Can Save the Bees, Together," has garnered more than 49,000 views.

Krista Holland, RYT 500 Yoga & Movement Facilitator

Krista Holland is a multifaceted teacher, musician, and lifelong student of the natural and contemplative arts. With over 20 years of teaching yoga — and a foundation that spans frame drumming, permaculture, and gardening — Krista brings an unusually rich breadth to everything she offers. Her yoga journey began at twelve at an ashram in India, growing into five Yoga Teacher Trainings across multiple branches of the yogic tradition. Her classes blend biomechanical alignment, breath awareness, creative flow, and mindfulness into a practice that is both grounding and transformative. As faculty at The Shift Network and founder of the Frame Drumming Academy, Krista is known for her wisdom, warmth, and ability to meet students exactly where they are.


 

Bridget Burns Retreat Assistant · Board Member, Bee Regenerative

Bridget Burns brings over a decade of conservation experience to the Beetreat team — including 7.5 years as a zookeeper with 4.5 of those years as a keeper and then Lead Keeper at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. A beekeeper herself, Bridget has apprenticed with beekeepers, managed her own hives, and volunteered in community gardens where her love of pollinators first took root.

Her conservation career has taken her from wildlife refuges and nature centers in Oregon to zoos in New York, and back again — along the way co-founding the Wildlife Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring North American flora and fauna. Now based in New Hampshire, she brings that same passion for biodiversity to her work with native caterpillars and conservation education.

Bridget holds a Bachelor's degree in Captive Wildlife Care and Education from Unity College in Maine and serves on the Bee Regenerative Board of Directors. On retreat day, she's the one making sure everything runs beautifully behind the scenes.

Learn more about our headline sponsor: Women in Ranching

Contact sarah (at) beeregenerative (dot) org

with questions, comments, or anything that’s on your mind!