At the Bee Farm

A Video Visit to Our Apiary

Sydney — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 10:15:51 +0000

Chicago's ABC 7 news paid us a visit for a short feature about Chicago Honey Co-op and our products. Thanks to Sharon Hoyer of Dill Pickle Food Co-op.

Back at Market!

Sydney — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:53:54 +0000

We know our customers have been waiting a long time for us to return to the farmers markets. We always want to come sooner but don't like to start markets until we know we have enough honey to stay awhile. The early spring warm weather and the drought have slowed things up a bit but we are now selling at Green City Market in Lincoln Park on Saturdays and Logan Square Market on Sundays. We will have 12, 6 and 3 oz jars of honey, honey mustard, and some new beeswax candles.

Join Us for the Sweet Summer Solstice!

Sydney — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:30:39 +0000

Saturday June 23, 6pm to 9pm

The most affordable fundraiser in Chicago is back again!

Bring a dish to share and come celebrate the Solstice with us at Rancho Verde, the LEED-certified headquarters of Christy Webber Landscapes. Enjoy a tour of the Chicago Honey Co-op hives recently installed on the green roof. Proceeds from the Potluck will benefit the Chicago Honey Co-op and Slow Food Chicago's preSERVE garden in North Lawndale.

Thanks to Slow Food Chicago

Enjoy food and drink donated by some of Chicago's finest local purveyors.

Beer from Revolution Brewing

Cider by Virtue Cider - including a special firkin of unblended cider, not available anywhere else!

Wine from Candid Wines

Bread by Crumb

Salmon donated by Fortune Fish Company and prepared by Chef Jeannine Wise, Slow Food Chicago Board Member

And a Raffle! (Update)

Bottles of wine from Candid Wines, Bottles of Virtue Cider Red Streak (Not available to the public!)

Gift certificates from Goddess and Grocer, Dill Pickle Foo Co-op, Christy Webber Farm and Garden Center,

Restaurant gift certificates to Real Tenochtitlan and Ke' Torta

Winter Beekeeping Class with Chicago Honey Co-op

1 lb jar of brand new 2012 Chicago Honey Co-op honey

Raffle tickets are $5 per ticket or 6 tickets for $20

Bring your chairs or a blanket, and a potluck dish for sharing.

To purchase tickets:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/252610

$10 SFC or CHC members / $15 general admission

Children under 12 are free

Donate an extra $5 to help send a delegate to

Slow Food International's Terra Madre!

Tickets will also be available at the door.

NOTE: Rain date is Sunday, June 24. If weather is an issue, we will call the event on Friday, June 22 at 3:00 p.m. Please check SLow Food Chicago website for updates

Bee Etiquette: Please wear light colored clothing and a hat. Don't wear perfumes, colognes, or scents.

Directions: Rancho Verde is located at 2900 W. Ferdinand Street.

MAP

By Bike: http://www.ridethecity.com/chicago

By Train: Take the Green line to the California and Lake stop. Walk west along Lake to Sacramento, then north on Sacramento 5 blocks to Franklin Boulevard. Rancho Verde is on the east side of Sacramento at Franklin Blvd.

We can't wait to see you there!

Three New Apiaries!

Sydney — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:54:59 +0000

We want to first thank everyone who made suggestions, connections and offers of land. Also thanks to everyone who made a donation or came out to a fundraising event and who spread the word about our need for a new home.

This experience was scary and exciting all at once and we are very grateful to know there is such good will toward us from all over Chicago.

Now that we are all settled in, we have a chance to let everyone know about the 3 new apiaries we have moved to after losing our longtime home in North Lawndale.
Last Hive unloading at Testa Produce
In late March we moved about 24 surviving hives to Testa Produce in Back of the Yards. Many thanks to Peter Testa for the generous offer of space on the East side of their property. The bees are doing great there with access to the river and some great neighborhood trees. There is also quite a bit of white sweet clover growing on the land.

Landscaper Christy Webber also offered us space on the roof of Rancho Verde, her North side location. We installed 12 new hives there in mid April. Those of you who are beekeepers may be happy to know that her retail store now carries beekeeping supplies.

Finally, thanks to Mark Henning and the Island neighborhood we have 21 new hives on abandoned tracks just South of I-290 and Columbus Park.

Again, we are so thankful for the support and kindness shown toward us during this time and we look forward to new experiences and new friends.

Installing Packages on the rooftop of Christy Webber LandscapingHives on the railroad tracks

Goodbye to Fillmore Apiary

Sydney — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:00:22 +0000

In 2004 when we started our co-op, we had no idea how long we might be allowed to keep bees on theBeekeeping Class June 2011 property along West Fillmore St in Chicago, perhaps 2 or 3 years at best. It has been our great pleasure to have had an apiary and community farm there for 8 full years. When we started, we couldn’t have have imagined what a rich experience it would be.

An abandoned industrial remnant reverted to prairie wherever the concrete wasn’t, we found ourselves surrounded by nature in the middle of Chicago. It is easy to describe the place in terms of size and location but much harder to describe the atmosphere. What we made there was much more than honey. We made friends.

With the help of The North Lawndale Greening Committee, we made a community farm for anyone who wanted to join. We made a gathering place. We made a place for learning about bees, about nature and about ourselves.

Sadly, our time there is almost up. The property has been sold and we must move out in late Winter of 2012. We can’t hope to find another place a large as Fillmore Apiary so we are looking for 3 or so smaller locations. We have a few possibilities lined up but nothing is certain. We really want to stay in the North Lawndale community but know this may not be possible.

We will miss the apiary on Fillmore so much but can be happy that the friends we made because of it will still be with us. In looking back on this past year, I made a list of things we did in 2011.

Conducted tours of the apiary for school groups and the public.
Gave beekeeping presentations at the Power House High School, Nature Museum, College of Dupage, University of Chicago Hillel and others.
Continued hosting a community farm at the apiary in partnership with the North Lawndale Greening Committee & others
Tended 50 hives and sold honey and products at 2 Farmer markets from July to the present
Continued to raise Illinois Honeybee queens.

Continued teaching beekeeping to Master Gardeners at the Museum of Science and Industry, Smart Home Exhibit.
Taught beekeeping to 50 people through Winter classes at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum.
Employment in beekeeping skills for neighbors and volunteers over the past 8 years.
Gave advice on beekeeping to members of the public through our website blog and email contacts.
Tended 8 hives on City of Chicago Buildings and one at the Lurie Garden, Millennium Park.
Continued the preSERVE* partnership with Slow Food Chicago, Neighborspace and the North Lawndale Greening Committee, growing Sweet Potatoes, Black-eyed and Crowder Peas on a former vacant lot. (12th Place & Central Park Ave.)
Hosted 2 events at the apiary open to the public; Sweet Summer Solstice and TomatoFest

As a community based organization, we have always operated on the slimmest of shoestrings so paying for the costs of moving and relocation will be difficult to handle. Our “rent” for the past 8 years has been 12 dollars a year thanks to the generosity of the developer, Mark Ross. We have always supported our work with sales of our honey and other products but we find ourselves needing to raise money to cover moving expenses both expected and unexpected. We will probably have to pay for fencing any property without it. That could run into thousands of dollars. So we have to raise money now. Our timeline is short.

If you have an interest in helping out financially, tax-deductible contributions to their pooled fund can be made to the Crossroads Fund, online through this link: https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=530 or by check to Crossroads Fund, 3411 W. Diversey, #20, Chicago, IL 60647. Just make sure to note that your gift supports the Honey Co-Op in the notes section of the webpage or on your check.

If you would like to share your memories of Fillmore Apiary, leave them in the comments section of this post.

If you have pictures to share visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/fillmoreapiary/ and add your pictures or video.

TomatoFest Time at the Bee Farm

Sydney — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:10:15 +0000

3 years ago our friend Damien Casten of Candid Wines thought up the idea of TomatoFest. With Slow Food Chicago as a sponsor, heirloom tomato seedlings are sold to the public to raise money for urban agriculture projects in Chicago. Once the tomatoes are all grown up, those who bought seedlings are invited to show off their tomatoes at Tomatofest.

This year proceeds from TomatoFest will go to the preSERVE garden at 12th place and Central Park Ave in Chicago. The preSERVE garden is planted with crowder peas, black eyed peas and sweet potatoes. Chicago Honey Co-op is happy to be a partner in this effort along with the North Lawndale Greening Committee, Slow Food Chicago and NeighborSpace.

So come on out and celebrate tomatoes with us on September 24th at 5PM. Bring along a potluck dish and a chair to sit on. Beer, wine and soft drinks will be provided. Tickets are only $15. To buy tickets, get more details and directions, visit Slow Food Chicago.

Record Keeping at the Bee Farm

Sydney — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:20:14 +0000

Sweet Summer Solstice 2011

Sydney — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:30:36 +0000

Come on out and visit us on Friday June 24th for the most affordable fundraiser in Chicago. For $15 and a potluck dish to share, you get to party outdoors on one of the longest evenings of the year at our apiary on Fillmore St.

If you have never visited our apiary, this year is the year to come out to the Solstice potluck. The food is always excellent, there is plenty of beer and wine and the apiary is pretty spectacular.

Slow Food Chicago has sponsored and coordinated this event for us for the last 3 years and everyone who comes has a great time. You can buy tickets and get details on the Slow Food Chicago website.

If you take a look at the satellite map, you can see how large the space is. Plenty of room for a big party!

We will be giving tours of the beehives and community farm and will have honey, candles and more for sale.

Hope to see you there!

Live Bees Rush!

Sydney — Fri, 20 May 2011 00:44:59 +0000

5 Queens delivered from Southern Illinois today. Priority small flat rate boxes are perfect for this. The black cap on the end of the queen cage holds sugar candy for the bees to eat.

The Queen is on the right. She is marked with a white dot and shipped with four attendants who take care of her during the trip. The dot will make it a little easier to find her inside the hive.

Live bees attract attention.

Essential Equipment for New Beekeepers Part Two

Sydney — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:18:55 +0000

After the hive is set up a beekeeper will need a few tools and bits of clothing in order to manage the hive.

1. Hive Tool: It would be impossible to inspect a beehive without a hive tool. That is the beekeeper name for a pry bar. It is used to open and inspect hives, and scrape wax and propolis out of the hive. It can be an emergency hammer, scrape bee stingers off skin and pull nails. You can’t keep bees without one.

2. Smoker: It is a misnomer to say that using smoke “calms” the bees. That isn’t what happens. The smoke distracts the bees, allowing the beekeeper to make an inspection or harvest frames of honey. It is basically a metal can with a bellows and a spout attached to it. Beekeepers get to start a fire inside it, close the lid and then use the smoke to manage the bees.

3. Gloves: Not all beekeepers use gloves but since that is where a beekeeper is most likely to get stung, it might pay to wear some. There are different kinds made with different materials but any good fitting sturdy pair of gloves will work.

4. Hat and Veil: More important than gloves is a hat and veil. A veil is just a mesh screen that keeps the bees away from your head. You may be tempted on a sunny day when the bees are busy, to work your hive without a veil. That is the day a guard bee will go right for your face.

5. Frame spacer: This tool makes it easy to properly space the frames of honey or brood inside the hive. Proper spacing is very important because if frames are placed to close together or far apart, the bees will either close the gap or build more comb in between the frames. While this is perfectly logical from a bee’s perspective, it makes working a hive more time consuming and messy for the beekeeper.

6. Bee brush: This brush has long soft bristles and is used when a beekeeper is harvesting frames of honey. A frame of honey is pulled up out of the hive and the bees are gently brushed off, back into the hive, Then the beekeeper quickly hides the frame of honey in a separate box with a lid so the bees can’t get at it again.

7. Feeder: When a new package of bees is installed, they go into an empty hive with no food. A feeder is used to supply sugar syrup until there is enough natural forage for the bees to bring back to the hive to make into honey.

8. Beekeeping book or Beekeeper: Everyone starting out in beekeeping needs a good source of information. Beekeeping is fascinating but can be very confusing almost all the time.
A good book or experienced beekeeper are invaluable.