Pollinator Steward Certified
Suereea Mathews · Pollinator Partnership
Certified November 2, 2023
Pollinator stewardship is part of how we farm.
In November 2023, Suereea Mathews earned Pollinator Steward Certification through Pollinator Partnership’s North American program. The credential reflects something that has long been part of life at Valhalla Hall: growing with an awareness that a farm is not simply cultivated land, but a living habitat shared with countless other species.
What the certification encompasses
Pollinator Steward training brings together six areas of study: pollinator fundamentals, Indigenous perspectives, selecting plants for pollinators, habitat enhancement, pollinator identification and monitoring, and outreach and education.
Together, they offer more than a list of pollinator-friendly practices. They encourage a way of looking at the landscape as a whole — understanding what is growing, what is visiting, what is thriving, and what may be missing.
How it lives at Valhalla Hall
Across our ten acres, that knowledge informs how we grow and how we care for the wild spaces between what we cultivate. We preserve and expand Florida wildflower habitat, observe the bees, butterflies, and other pollinators that arrive throughout the seasons, and allow what we see to guide what comes next.
There is a difference between planting something simply because it is beautiful and planting it because something living depends upon it.
Both can be beautiful.
That philosophy extends beyond the garden. Education and outreach are an important part of pollinator stewardship, which is why we share what we learn here on the farm — from growing guidance to the small choices that can turn a garden, field, or forgotten corner of a yard into meaningful habitat.
At Valhalla Hall, pollinator stewardship isn’t a separate project. It is simply part of the way we grow.