who we are

Chicago Honey Co-op is a registered agricultural cooperative in the State of Illinois with about 19 members. Some are beekeepers, others just want to support what we do.  Along with keeping bees, harvesting honey and taking it to farmers markets, we practice and advocate for sustainable agriculture, and awareness of the natural environment. 

Since we began in 2004, beekeeping has become more and more popular but also more and more challenging. We lose many hives over the Winter and have to replace them each Spring. Despite the challenges, we really love what we do and hope to continue for many years to come.

Three Apiaries

After losing our longtime location in North Lawndale in 2012, we are now located at several apiaries, or bee farms as we like to call them.
The green rooftop of Christy Webber Landscaping hosts several hives, 12 hives are located in Back of the Yards near 51st and Racine and 3 hives are at Patchwork Farms on West Chicago Avenue. In addition, we have a new location for 2020 in Austin on the far West side We have been tending the bees and harvesting raw honey from our beehives since we started and with the help of these businesses, we can continue our work.

Education

With education becoming more and more a part of our work over the years, we made the decision in 2011 to start a 501c3 partner organization called Chicago Honey Co-op Training Center. In August of 2014 our application was approved and we invite you to take a look at Chicago Honey Co-op Training Center

preSERVE Partnership

The preSERVE garden is a partnership between the North Lawndale Greening Committee, NeighborSpace, Slow Food Chicago and Chicago Honey Co-op. Located at 12th Place and Central Park in Chicago, this garden is an example of how much food can be grown in an average Chicago city lot. Volunteers from throughout Chicago help to maintain this garden where fruit trees and strawberries grow alongside back eyed peas, crowder peas, sweet potatoes, collards, peppers, tomatoes, garlic and much more. 

Farmers Markets

During the Summer and Fall we love to meet our customers in person at our two farmers markets in Chicago. You can find us at Chicago's Green City Market and Logan Square Farmers Market. 
You can see our market schedule on our Events page. We are proud to say that in 2010 our honey became Certified Naturally Grown which is a grass roots alternative to organic certification.