Cohousing-L Mailing List: Bees in Cohousing?

[Michael Barrett (mbarrett]

In that many cohousing communities have words in their founding documents 
aligned to a " protect nature, tread lightly, save the planet" axis, I'm 
wondering how many communities keep managed honey bee colonies (hives) as a 
community or private enterprise.

At Shadowlake Village at present we have 8 hives (and 3 beekeepers) and are 
approaching our third winter with bees. Before starting, with two bee 
keepers and three hives in 2011, some of us were dismayed to face 
significant opposition from a few concerned community members. However this 
was peacefully resolved, and since then everyone has come to appreciate, or 
at least tolerate, our tiny furry workers as they go about their business.
And the "very local" honey seems to be hugely appreciated.

Michael Barrett - at Shadowlake village, Blacksburg, Virginia, where the 
bees are almost done packing away their winter larders.