What Pop-Up Dinners Have in Common with... Bees?

You may be wondering, what do Pop-Up Dinners have to do with bees? Or maybe you're even asking, what exactly is a "Pop-Up Dinner" anyways?

Up to this point, the "Bees & Our Story" blog has been mainly focused on publishing posts that follow the wild story of our 20 bee hives in Clovis, Ca. While sharing about our bees is still the focus of this blog, we are adding a new category of posts to occasionally highlight the Pop-Up Dinners that the bee hives help support.

In fact, currently, the Pop-Up Dinners that Gathering Table hosts is the main purpose of us having our bee hives. (I boldened "currently" and "main purpose" to make a couple points about what these dinners have to do with our bees.)

Photo: One of our Pop-Up Dinners last spring in the breezeway of Old Town Clovis (top). Another dinner we held recently at a restaurant after hours (bottom).

First, let me explain what these dinners are all about in case you are not familiar with them. Every other month, my wife Kristy and I load up my 1978 Chevy flatbed truck with a custom four-section table, 15-20 mismatching dining table chairs, and six crates filled with table supplies to set up the table at a fun, unique location in our community. We have a lot of amazing people who help us with these dinners that bring local food, local people and local culture to the table. The purpose is to bring people together who are different from one another around one common table to share a meal and hear one another's stories.

Currently, the Pop-Up Dinners are the main ministry of Gathering Table. You can read more in a recent post about Why We Do What We Do. I say "currently" because this may change down the line, meaning we have a bigger picture dream of someday having a working farm ministry. (I have a feeling we will be sharing more and more about that in the coming months.) But as of now, the Pop-Up Dinners is why Gathering Table exists as a ministry, and the bee hives help support the ministry. How? By doing what bees do best - produce honey.

Photo: Our slogan last year was "Honey with a Purpose", because the bees help fund the Pop-Up Dinners.

The main purpose of our bee hives is to support the Pop-Up Dinners by selling the honey that our amazing bees produce to help cover the food and venue costs so that these dinners can be free for our community. You can find our honey at The Collective 103 shop on Fifth/Pollasky in Old Town Clovis, open 7 days a week from 11am-5pm. All proceeds from the honey sales support the Pop-Up Dinners.

This is why we feel it would be good to sometimes share with you about the Pop-Up Dinners that our bees help support. In fact, better yet, you can come to one of the dinners to experience it for yourself first-hand! Click this link to see upcoming dinners and reserve a seat today!

Stay tuned for more posts about Bees & Our Story, along with sharing some highlights about the Pop-Up Dinners that our bees help support.

Blessings,

Jeff