“Neighbors helping neighbors plant native pollinator gardens.” This is the theme of Busy Bee Garden Co-op founded by Chelsea Gastelum and Jules DiAmicis in 2023. Their business model — built from a passion for helping local pollinators and beautifying Lemon Grove — educates about native plantings, connects neighbors, and builds a stronger community for people and pollinators.
Chelsea has been passionate about native pollinator-friendly gardening for years by saving seeds, sharing seedlings, and participating in local conservation groups. Her talents didn’t go unnoticed, and before long, friends were asking for plant and design advice for their gardens. One day at a local plant swap with her friend Jules, ideas started buzzing around Chelsea’s head. What if they could build a network of people who needed help with their yards and were willing to help someone else in the process? A pay-it-forward concept that would make the bees and butterflies flutter with excitement!
The concept is simple. A front yard or community space is nominated, volunteers and supplies are gathered, and a few hours of hard work to weed and plant transforms the space into a native pollinator garden. Once you volunteer and work on a yard, you can nominate your own yard, a friend’s yard, or a community space to be the next Busy Bee project, and the cycle continues.
Chelsea says, “We always get a visit from a butterfly, cheering us on at each project.”
Once a space is selected, the process to create a pollinator’s paradise is fairly simple. The Busy Bees fly in, create a plan for the space, educate the homeowner, recruit a team, and pick a date. Seeds and plants used in the gardens are grown by volunteers or donated by local nurseries or environmental groups like Xerces Society or Wild Ones San Diego, and they repurpose plants from the original yard when possible. Much of the process is dedicated to educating the homeowner to ensure the garden will thrive in the following months and years. When the last tool is packed up and the volunteers leave, every garden is left with a list of the plants and their care needs.
Sign up for our newsletter, The Hub, and keep up with the latest uplifting climate action news, sustainable living advice, and Earth-conscious recipes.
Sign Up Now.
“So many of us just don’t know where to start, and the jump-start of a Busy Bee project is just what they needed,” says Chelsea.
Beyond front yards, Busy Bee strives to transform community spaces. One of their first was at the Lemon Grove Bistro, where the Beer Garden is a pollinator’s dream with 80% of the plants grown and donated by Lemon Grove residents. As word has spread, so does their impact. Many Lemon Grove neighborhoods lack sidewalks, and youth use pass-through paths in various public spaces to get to school. Living behind San Altos Elementary, Chelsea and her husband would see kids making their way through overgrown and unsafe paths. Busy Bees volunteered to clean up these passages, plant native plants, and install educational signs, as well as a native seed library to inspire home plantings. With the help of Wild Ones San Diego, they have recently installed and are helping with the upkeep of a pollinator and food garden at San Altos Elementary. Their goal was to create an outdoor space full of learning while also being a wildlife refuge. The school garden is now certified as “Earth Friendly” by the Master Gardener Association of San Diego, a Pollinator Pathway Garden, National Wildlife School Garden Habitat certified, Wild Ones Native Garden certified, Monarch Waystation Certified, and a recognized Xerces Pollinator Habitat. Goal achieved!
To date Busy Bee has accomplished six community spaces and 20 home gardens, with two city park projects planned before the end of the year.
Above left, founder Chelsea Gastelum gives a little lesson to the volunteer crew revamping a front yard. Above right, the homeowner had citrus trees that weren’t doing well because of a weed barrier cloth, so they removed it for better drainage. – Photos by Randi Baird
I had an opportunity to spend a morning with the Busy Bees as they took on a front yard makeover. Volunteers of all ages, including a 3-year-old, were busy pulling weeds, prepping soil, designing the garden layout, and planting natives. All done in roughly two hours, and the homeowner only spent $40! Some were there because they love to garden, and others were banking their time to have their yards done or nominate a community space — one volunteer was donating his time so his visually impaired neighbor could be a Busy Bee recipient. Chelsea also uses every makeover as an opportunity to educate volunteers and share gardening tips. The space was buzzing with energy, and I left inspired.
What a simple concept that could easily be replicated in communities all over the world! In a time when many of us are searching for more personal connection, we might just find the answer in our neighbor’s garden with a butterfly cheering us on.
Comments are closed.