07. The Alchemy of Honeybees
This is a special interview with my friend and fellow lover of honeybees, Karla Michelle Capacetti Quintana.
Karla is a magical woman who weaves between the earthly plane and spiritual realms. Karla Michelle Capacetti-Quintana is a medicine maker, sacred beekeeper, and Earth steward. She is a student of sustainable agriculture, community food systems, yoga & Ayurveda, western herbalism, poetry, feminine-form frame drumming, dreaming, anti-racism and decolonization, alternative economies, bee mysticism, permaculture, and priestess arts. Karla’s roots rise from the island of Boriké, colonially known as Puerto Rico. She currently resides in central Florida on stolen and occupied Timacua and Seminole territory with her parents, grandparents and younger brother on their 5-acre intergenerational land project, Apis Atabey. Apis Atabey is an ancestral food forest, bee sanctuary, and apothecary garden dedicated to birthing a healed Earth for all beeings. In less than a year her and her family have incorporated 50+ varieties of edible and medicinal fruits trees, vegetable crops, herbs, and flowers. Karla envisions Apis Atabey growing to include volunteer workdays and residential work-exchange, produce and herb subscriptions, community dinners and educational workshops.
In this conversation, we explore:
A relationship based on reciprocity with the earth and honeybees
Being born into the dark of the hive
The messages the bees are sending us at this time
How bees are psychopomps
Love and rage
Cultivating a deeper relationship with the land
Being held in community
The importance of making space to grieve
Ancestral energy
Plantcestors
Connect with Karla on Instagram
Podcast music by Charles Kurtz