Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Bees in Cohousing?

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi John --  a question 'cause I know nothing about keeping bees  ... why not 
plant bee friendly crops?  You have 30+ acres in your community.   Or is the 
amount of plants needed for nectar for bees an extraordinary amount?  Like 
zillions of acres per hive?

I'm interested in this because of the whole "urban farm" movement and, in 
particular, "spin farming."  http://www.spinfarming.com/buy/

This is a blog post I wrote on the intersection of spin farming, veterans and 
community -- just a possibility: 

http://www.cohousingblog.com/2011/11/11/cohousing-spin-farming-and-vets-2/

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church VA
703-688-2646

On Oct 19, 2013, at 7:57 AM, John Beutler wrote:

> 
> We've found that the bees are just too busy to participate fully in 
> community. They hive their own......seriously though we had a couple of 
> new hives this year under Ann's direction, but the Small Hive Beetle 
> overwhelmed them and they flew the coop. In our region, apparently, 
> there is not enough nectar to give very good production of honey, 
> according to the local beekeepers, so feeding them sugar is important to 
> keep a strong hive.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> JAB (Liberty Village Cohousing, Frederick, MD)
> 
> On 10/18/2013 2:34 PM, Michael Barrett wrote:
>> 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.
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> 
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