HELLO FROM CHICAGO HONEY CO-OP

In the winter of 2004, three passionate urban beekeepers conceived and created Chicago Honey Co-op.

Our goal is to provide job training opportunities for the under-employed while operating a small business model that is dedicated to sustainable agricultural practices and aims for the highest product quality standards. Owned by our members, our Chicago bee farm is home to around 60 hives.

 

OUR APIARY

Our apiary, or bee farm as we like to call it, is located on the west side of Chicago in the North Lawndale neighborhood. We have been tending the bees and making natural honey from chemical free beehives at this spot for the past five years.

Every beekeeper loses a portion of their hives each year and must replace those bees with ones purchased from Southern or Western beekeepers who have a longer beekeeping season. We don't believe it is a sustainable way to continue beekeeping. We want to reduce our dependence on this supply by raising our own honey bee queens. Doing this will enable us to reduce the yearly expense of buying package bees and allow us to derive extra income from sales of queens and nucleus hives to other local beekeepers. The start up costs and labor for this are considerable so we are trying to raise $10,000 to get the program up and running. If everyone who reads this page just gave $5 we would be well on our way to our goal.

 

FARMERS MARKETS

We believe in and practice local, sustainable agriculture and love to meet our customers in person at our three farmers markets in Chicago.

During the Summer and Fall you can find us at Chicago's Green City Market and Logan Square Farmers Market .

You can see our Market Schedule and Events on our calendar page

 

OUR PRODUCTS

In addition to our honey, we make several types of pure beeswax candles and three personal care products. A solid moisturizing bar,  lip balm and a fragrant honey sugar scrub .

 If you would like our honey or other products as corporate gifts or for a special event, we would be happy to work with you. Please email us with your request. We also happily accept wholesale inquiries.