Building connections + knowledge around the importance of bees with Sarah Red-Laird + Ginelle Dekker

Join J Bar L 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.