Member Event

All spring, Dr. Elizabeth Hilborn watched as her family fruit farm of many years became increasingly diminished, suffering from a lack of bees.​ The plentiful wildlife, so abundant just weeks before, was gone. Everything was still, silent. As an environmental scientist trained to investigate disease outbreaks, she rose to the challenge. Step by step, day by day, despite facing headwinds from skeptical neighbors, environmental experts, and agricultural consultants, she’d assembled information. Her observations provided a framework, a timeline to explain the evidence she’d collected. The chemicals found in her water samples showed beyond any doubt that not only her farm, but her greater farming community, was at risk from toxic chemicals that travelled with rain water over the land, into water, and deep within the soil. Hilborn was given a front row seat to the insect apocalypse. Even as a scientist, she’d been unaware of the risks to life from some common agricultural chemicals. Her goal was to protect her farm and the animals who lived there. But first she had to convince her rural neighbors of the risk to their way of life, too. Elizabeth Hilborn, DVM is a veterinarian who specializes in honey bee medicine. An avid gardener and fruit grower, for decades she’s fed family and friends with fresh produce from her family’s farm in central North Carolina. Her new book: Restoring Eden, which will be published in August 2023, is her true story of loss, discovery, and recovery in her rural North Carolina community. Part detective story, part lyrical celebration of nature, Restoring Eden reveals hidden risks for a secure food future and for our well-being. Mari Trosclair, GRI, ABR, ePro and master gardener is a champion of sustainable agriculture and building. She has helped clients find rural or urban property for organic vegetable/flower farms, pasture […]