Beekeeping class April 26 at Rock Steady Farm

Hana’ Maaiah, who has always been “entranced by bees,” will lead a workshop.
Maya Hector
Hana’ Maaiah, who has always been “entranced by bees,” will lead a workshop.
MILLERTON — On Friday, April 26 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., facilitators Hana’ Maaiah and Brittany Levers will lead a workshop on beekeeping at Rock Steady Farm, a queer owned and operated vegetable farm at 41 Kaye Road in Millerton. Through games, demonstrations, interactive activities, and discussions, participants will gain hands-on experience and knowledge while exploring decolonizing practices and reimagining the relationship with nature.
Hana’ Maaiah, the Food Systems Manager at Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg, New York, brings a decade of farming experience and a passion for advocating for farmers and educating youth.
Prior to her work at Soul Fire Farm, she was the assistant farm manager at a small urban farm in Birmingham, Alabama, called Jones Valley Teaching Farm where she was paid to take a master beekeeping class.
“I’ve always been entranced by bees,” she shared. “I think they’re fascinating, and we know their power within the food system. They prop us up, right? More than half of our food system wouldn’t even exist without bees.”
The class was comprised almost entirely of older, white men, despite Birmingham’s majority black population, highlighting systemic barriers faced by BIPOC individuals in accessing agricultural resources and knowledge. She reflected, “I kept telling myself ‘You’re here for the bees, you’re here for the bees.’”
Pep talk aside, Maaiah eventually left the class but the experience has informed her teaching style. She shared, “You have to be in a space where you can feel supported, you can learn, you can ask questions, and that the information feels like it’s something you want to continue to pass forward.”
Maaiah found a new class, a bee mentor, and after four years of beekeeping at Jones Valley, she kept bees in her own backyard “because they’re just so hypnotic,” she mused.
Maaiah’s perseverance and commitment to beekeeping not only speak to her passion for the craft but also underscore the importance of creating inclusive spaces within agriculture where diverse voices are valued and supported. She is also thrilled to share that bees will be arriving at Soul Fire farm next month.
Maaiah met Brittany Levers at a mushroom workshop in Troy, New York. When Ainhoa Woodley, a farmer and Farm Education Manager at Rock Steady put out a call for skill sharing in the community, Maaiah and Levers decided to pair up and share their knowledge.
Brittany Levers will also facilitate the April 26 workshop.Noelia Salinetti of Woven Roots Farm
“We’re really trying not to do a crash course in a business sense. It’s not going to be a ‘How to Harvest Honey’ class or something,” Maaiah laughed. “But if you’ve ever been curious to kind of just test the waters, then let’s explore.” Levers added, “Even if they don’t decide to beekeep themselves, they serve a pertinent purpose in our ecosystem. I’m looking forward to spreading the joy and wonder that bees give me.”
In this beginner’s workshop, simplicity is key. “We want it to feel as possible as possible to be a beekeeper,” said Maaiah. She also posed the important question, “How can we reshape our practices to align with the needs of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities and future generations of farmers?” She went on to describe that part of the work is to center the decolonization of language around the practice of beekeeping. “What would it look like to rename colony, worker bee, drone bee, and queen bee?” as examples, Maaiah asked.
So, this workshop will be a far cry from the first class Maaiah experienced back in Birmingham.
There will instead be an emphasis on letting people know that they belong, and that beekeeping is ancient wisdom BIPOC people have been practicing for centuries. “We’re gonna just have a lot of fun,” she continued. “We actually have a surplus of information; we just need to share it. And the bees will do the rest.”
For more information and to sign up for the workshop, visit www.rocksteadyfarm.com
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
AMENIA — After gathering comments from the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as it considers adding alternate members to those boards, the Town Board discussed possible changes to local laws governing those boards at its meeting on Friday, Oct. 3. The meeting date, usually on a Thursday, had been changed to accommodate a holiday.
In recent weeks Town Board attorney Ian Lindars has been compiling comments from the affected boards along with comments from the Town Board. The new laws may bring the appointment of two alternate members to each board. Alternate members are likely to be required to attend all meetings and be prepared to be seated if needed and be familiar with the applications being discussed. They would also need to take training required of all board members.
Lindars will prepare a draft of the new local laws to be reviewed by the Town Board and the affected boards.
As the Town Board begins work on the town’s annual budget negotiation process and anticipating an increase in some budget lines to accommodate major projects, the board unanimously approved three resolutions. The first will override the tax levy limit imposed on municipalities by the state of New York, a limit generally tied to the rate of inflation.
A public hearing on the proposal to override the levy limit was set for Thursday, November 6, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.