Taste the sweetness of Oregon Honey and Mead!  Festival guests should prepare to be delighted by the beauty of one of Southern Oregon's oldest and most historic wineries.  Located in the rolling hills of Medford, near Phoenix, Oregon and minutes from highway 99 and Rogue Valley International Airport (MFR), Edenvale is family friendly with plenty of space to walk the grounds around the mansion, enjoy music and sample honey while 21+ may sample mead (click HERE for map and directions). Guests will park and enter at Edenvale's south entrance.   Food will be available for purchase.
     Attendees will sample honey and learn about pollinators, botanical aspects of honey production, native plants, native bees, honey bee health, soil, seed, healthy flower forage and other components of habitat health.
      Guests will enjoy Oregon Mead producers.  Flights may be purchased from Siskiyou Meadery, Oran Mór Artisan Mead and Lazy Z Ranch, artists, native plant education, talks, honey sampling, honey for purchase, kids' activities and more.  Edenvale chefs will prepare foods for purchase and the Edenvale Tasting Room will be open.
     The Cascade Girl Organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit the mission of which is to educate people about food system pollinators of the Cascade region and their impact on planetary survival via science, culture and the arts.  The Festival is a fundraiser for the Cascade Girl Organization's projects for kids and for veterans.
     At it's heart, the Oregon Honey & Mead Festival is a celebration of apiculture and agriculture, toasting the work of all farmers and agricultural pollinators. Both native and managed bees require pollen and nectar to reproduce and to provide valuable pollination which makes food for people and animals.  To make delicious honey, honey bees rely upon being able to find food in the form of nectar from flowers and forbs.  They require pollen for reproduction and energy - and all pollinators need water unspoiled by toxins and chemicals.    
     There is no better place for such a celebration than Jackson County, Oregon which became GMO free in 2014.   Mead, the drink of the ancient Vikings is the product of fermented honey.  The invited mead and honey producers bring their talents to the table along with principles of earth science, biology, botany, food science and history.  Kids 12 and under attend free with parent.  Veterans enter at no cost with proof of service.  First Nations people with tribal ID also invited as guests of the Festival.