Uri inspires a bunch of future beekeepers

As we learn again and again, kids love bees! LA Backwards Beekeeper Uri writes:

The local Waldorf School has graciously been hosting a number of my hives since the summer. The school runs a small biodynamic farm with an orchard, meadow, and vegetable beds. The bees pollinate their farm crops, and in turn, thrive and store up honey made from pollen gathered from the biodynamic crops and other local forage.

I had the pleasure of speaking to the first and second grade students about bees this week. We spoke about why bees are so important, who lives in the hive, and where honey and beeswax come from.

Then we all quietly and respectfully entered the bee yard and watched the magnificent flow of bees up into the air, and down into the hives as they were leaving and returning.

The kids had such great questions and were such a pleasure to talk to. Everyone got to take home a piece of comb, and two students got to take home a pet drone bee (they had been evicted from their respective hives).

—Uri

Finding chemical-free honey, or selling your own

LA locals Meggie and Shane are starting a new site called Indie Honey that aims to pair chemical-free honey producers with customers.

If you're a Backwards Beekeeper with honey to spare, or you're looking for local honey, you can sign up now. They plan to have the whole site running in 2013.

Getting a new beekeeper going

Michael is a new Backwards Beekeeper in LA. He and his wife Vinh have a great urban farm setup in Glassell Park with lots of happy chickens, vegetables, fruit trees, and now a bee hive.

Michael's bees have a nice spot on the hillside where they get plenty of sun. He had been a bit concerned that the hive hadn't expanded in the last few months since it arrived, so we opened it up to take a look.

The queen is laying in a nice pattern and the bees are storing honey, so this hive is ready to grow like crazy once our LA spring arrives in the next couple of months.

If you're ready to become a new beekeeper, make sure to get your gear ready soon. The swarms will be arriving before you know it!

In LA, it's year-round beekeeping

Here's the view this morning at the entrance of our #2 hive, which lay empty until a passing swarm moved in just a few weeks ago.

Bees thrive all year here in LA, which means it's always the right time to learn beekeeping—and your next opportunity is this weekend!

The holidays make it hard to meet on the last Sunday of November and December, so we've scheduled one more meeting for 2012 on Sunday, December 9 at 11am, at Golden Road Brewing. This meeting will be outside on the covered lawn, which should be much quieter than the indoor area was for our last meeting.

Golden Road brews great beer and also has a full menu. Come hungry and thirsty to support our hosts.

Here's all the info about our next meeting.

4-H Backwards Beekeepers win awards

Christopher, Alek, Asa, Sarah, Rachel, and Lucia with their leader, Steven Rosales

LA Backwards Beekeeper Roberta writes:

Steven (a Backwards Beekeeper in Torrance) has started a new year with some young beekeepers in the Palos Verdes Peninsula 4-H Club. They've been doing hive inspections and learning more about feral bees. I hope to join them soon and meet this new group which includes Teen Leader Rachel, Junior Leader Lucia, Sara, Christopher, Alek, Asa and Sarah.

They did a great job last year, and their hard work paid off with Lily being named County Winner and Lucia a Silver Medalist in the 4-H County Awards! Rachel won a "Best in Show" trophy for her Bee Poster. And last April, the Bee Project members collectively won the Club Trophy for their 4-H Club at the San Gabriel Valley 4-H Fair.

The easiest kind of swarm capture.

This hive was empty a week ago.

If you've got all your gear but no bees, be sure to leave an empty hive box (with top & bottom boards and frames) wherever you'd like your hive to be. If you're lucky, a passing swarm may move in.

Here in Southern California (and in any mild climate), bees may find you at any time; I went out to our yard today and was happy to find a new hive all set up and running. Free bees with no work whatsoever!

If your hive box and frames are new, it helps to have some starter strips with wax in the frames; here's a video on how to do this. A bit of lemongrass oil on a cotton ball is a good lure as well.

Next meeting: Sunday, December 9

The holidays make it hard to meet on the last Sunday of November and December, so we've scheduled one more meeting for 2012 on Sunday, December 9 at 11am, at Golden Road Brewing. This meeting will be outside on the covered lawn, which should be much quieter than the indoor area was for our last meeting.

Golden Road brews great beer and also has a full menu. Come hungry and thirsty to support our hosts.

Please follow these basic guidelines to make sure we are welcome back:

• DO park on the street and let their regular patrons use the parking lot. This should be easy at 11am.
• DO NOT not bring any animals - bees or otherwise
• DO NOT bring outside food or drink (and support Golden Road with your business)
• DO NOT bring wax to melt, or anything else that might attract bees
• DO clean up after yourself before you leave

As usual, everyone is welcome to the meetings, especially those who are new to beekeeping. Here's what we plan to talk about:

• Questions from new beekeepers
• Honey harvesting
• Legalization efforts
• Getting ready for spring

Golden Road is located at the southeastern crossing of the 134 and 5 freeways. We'll be at the covered outdoor area (to the left of the building) with picnic tables. 

Golden Road Brewing

5410 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles CA 90039 213-373-4677

View Larger Map

Susan talks bees for Mandarin TV

LA Backwards Beekeeper Susan writes:

These stills from an interview I did last month for a Mandarin Chinese TV station, Ch 18. They filmed me and the reporter talking about our model for beekeeping, general questions about the state of the bee world, tasting some of my honeys from different sources and opening the hive.

Very nice people and it was the reporter's first encounter with bees—she was a bit worried, but found it fine. I don't remember the reporter's name, but she would listen to me in English and then translate for the camera footage in Mandarin, while Armando filmed us.

—Susan

Stay tuned; the segment is scheduled to run this week, and we'll post the YouTube clip once it does.

Mentoring schedule

Kirk does regular mentoring sessions on Sundays - usually every week that we don't have group meetings. They're an opportunity to learn how to get comfortable around bees and observe a hive inspection. Kirk is a great teacher and lessons are a lot of fun.

These sessions are also a great way for you to show that you know your way around bees if you want to be an approved rescuer for the group.

The schedule is posted here and there's now a handy link called "Mentoring" at the top of the site. We'll keep it updated!

Be sure to reserve your spot ahead of time for mentoring - space is limited.

Next Meeting (at Golden Road Brewing): Sunday, October 28!

Our next meeting is Sunday, October 28 at 11am, and Golden Road Brewing has kindly offered to host us on the patio at their pub. Golden Road brews great beer and also has a full menu. Come hungry and thirsty to support our new hosts.

Please follow these basic guidelines to make sure we are welcome back:

• DO park on the street and let their regular patrons use the parking lot. This should be easy at 11am.
• DO NOT not bring any animals - bees or otherwise
• DO NOT bring outside food or drink (and support Golden Road with your business)
• DO NOT bring wax to melt, or anything else that might attract bees
• DO clean up after yourself before you leave

As usual, everyone is welcome to the meetings, especially those who are new to beekeeping. Here's what we plan to talk about:

• Questions from new beekeepers
• How to take honey in the fall
• Escape boards and other useful tips
• Spring hive inspections

Golden Road is located at the southeastern crossing of the 134 and 5 freeways. We'll be at the covered outdoor area (to the left of the building) with picnic tables. 

Golden Road Brewing

5410 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles CA 90039 213-373-4677

View Larger Map

Who are the "Best People to Call During a Bee Invasion"?

We are, of course. Check out BB in the new LA Weekly "Best of LA" issue.

Next meeting: Sunday, September 30

Thinking about becoming a beekeeper but have no idea how to start?

Want to meet a bunch of friendly beekeepers ready to share their knowledge?

Come to the next meeting of the Backwards Beekeepers!

Backwards Beekeepers meetings take place on the last Sunday of every month.

The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, September 30 at 11am. As always, we'll be at the Atwater Crossing arts complex.

Please note: it's Carmageddon II! Information here.

Here's what we have planned for the meeting:

–Kirk takes questions from new & aspiring beekeepers

–Update on the Michael Bush speaking event happening in October

–Lots of experienced beekeepers answer your questions about all things bee!

Location:
Atwater Crossing
3265-3191 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039-2205

There is ample free parking in the complex parking lot  - PLEASE park in the lot so the residents of the neighborhood can park near their homes.

The Atwater Crossing Cafe now serves a full breakfast! Come early and make a morning of it.

Map link

Closest freeway exit is Fletcher off the 2 freeway
Casitas is between Minneapolis St & Silver Lake Blvd…
1 long block SW of N. San Fernando Road (across the railroad tracks)
1 ½ blocks NW of Fletcher Drive
2 ½ blocks SE of Glendale Blvd

Upcoming meetings (mark your calendar!):

•October 28

See you there!
Anne & Gwen

Saving a hive and making a new beekeeper

We love stories about making new beekeepers! Here's the latest one.

LA Backwards Beekeeper Tyson writes:

Mark V. attended his first Backwards Beekeepers meeting in August. He had bees that had made a home inside the front wall of his family’s house. He wanted them removed, but not killed—he was ready to become a beekeeper!

After talking to him for a while I decided that I’d help him get those bees out and into a new home. He was enthusiastic and insisted on helping and I was grateful for an extra hand.

The hive had been building for several months, and had lots of
healthy brood and several pounds of capped honey as well.

Mark is ready to go!

This cut out was ideal in that it was at chest height, in the shade and made up of beautiful long thin combs for easy measurement.

After some practice Mark worked like a pro, carefully sizing and aligning
the comb upright without damaging the nurse bees with the rubber bands.

Over half done!

Urban beekeeping is expanding fast

Sebastian and Kirk with Michael (center) from Green Tree Landscaping.

Kirk and Sebastian have been hired by a local landscaping company whose clients love having bees in their yards. Money quote from Kirk:

I just keep getting amazed at how many people want to have bees in their yards…you can be an urban beekeeper in Los Angeles and maybe start making a living at it!

Sebastian checks a healthy hive.

Hear more from Kirk below:

Silver Lake compound is bee paradise

Primary colors hive, Silver Lake.

Kirk writes:

I went to Walker's house to drop off some honey for an art project she and her husband are doing. She lives on a hilltop in Silver Lake. She and five of her neighboors have joined their places into a community.

She has twenty hives up there and her neighbors have some hives also.

She has hives she calls "Home Depot hives" that she and her husband make. She has some Warre hives. There's a hive in a cabinet. And Japanese hives!

Hives on the roof!

Outdoor kitchen.

It's a beekeeper's Paradise up there. You can keep bees in the city, have good neighboors and build a community also.

—kirkobeeo

But wait! You've got to hear how fired up Kirk is as he tells the story. Plenty more details follow:

The honey keeps coming

Kirk writes:

It's been a good year for honey. Best one in a long time.

Today I went to two hives and took two buckets. I have harvested five 5-gallon buckets so far this year and have five or six more stops to make.

—Kirkobeeo

Next meeting: Sunday, August 26

Thinking about becoming a beekeeper but have no idea how to start?

Want to meet a bunch of friendly beekeepers ready to share their knowledge?

Come to the next meeting of the Backwards Beekeepers!

Backwards Beekeepers meetings take place on the last Sunday of every month.

The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, August 26 at 11am. As always, we'll be at the Atwater Crossing arts complex.

Here's what we have planned:

–Kirk takes questions from new & aspiring beekeepers

–Ruth discusses trap-outs, which are a great way of removing bees from somewhere they're not wanted and giving them a new home

–Susan and Laura share their experiences from attending the Northeast Treatment-Free Beekeeping Conference in Leominster, Massachusetts

–Update on the Michael Bush speaking event happening in October

–Lots of experienced beekeepers answer your questions about all things bee!

Location:
Atwater Crossing
3265-3191 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039-2205

There is ample free parking in the complex parking lot  - PLEASE park in the lot so the residents of the neighborhood can park near their homes.

The Atwater Crossing Cafe now serves a full breakfast! Come early and make a morning of it.

Map link

Closest freeway exit is Fletcher off the 2 freeway
Casitas is between Minneapolis St & Silver Lake Blvd…
1 long block SW of N. San Fernando Road (across the railroad tracks)
1 ½ blocks NW of Fletcher Drive
2 ½ blocks SE of Glendale Blvd

Upcoming meetings (mark your calendar!):

•September 30

•October 28

See you there!
Anne & Gwen

Viewer mail: Bees in a Paris park

A reader writes:

Hey Beekeepers:

Friends traveling in Europe sent the attached from the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. I agree with them that these hives are stylish, and a closer look at the photo above is worth the time. Here's a detail:

Kirk, next time you’re in Paris ask them if those basket-like things are skeps—and what are the tin things in the fire pit?

Cheers,
George B.

The Jardin du Luxembourg (aka Luxembourg Gardens) is the second largest public park in Paris. Amy and I got to wander through it last October, and we came across this very apiary. The public walking path leads right up to it, and there appears to be a very peaceful coexistence between people and bees.

This weekend: National Honey Bee Awareness Day

Rob and Chelsea of HoneyLove.org have a big event in West Los Angeles this Saturday. George Langworthy (co-director of Vanishing of the Bees), Kirk Anderson (co-founder of Backwards Beekeepers), and David King (of West LA's Learning Garden) will all be speaking.

Organizations representing bee-related interests, urban farming, and community affairs will all be attending.

There's even a party afterward!

More information is on the HoneyLove.org events page.

Looking for a speaker for your group or class?

James and Ruth, bee educators.

LA Backwards Beekeeper (and bee educator) Ruth writes:

Backwards Beekeepers has a small but committed group of individuals who go out and make presentations to schools and other venues. We provide this free service as part of our mission, which is to help the bees survive—their survival is literally ours as well.

Here are some of the groups we have hosted presentations for:

—Whole Foods Pollinator Awareness Month in-store presentations
—Boeing Corp. Pollinator Festival booth
—Unitarian Church of Rancho Palos Verdes
—Chabad Preschool Santa Monica
—Westwood Charter School
—Billy Mitchell Elementary School, Lawndale
—Canfield Elementary School
—Goethe International Charter School
—Topanga Canyon Earth Day
—Mission Viejo Earth Day
—Ballona Wetlands Earth Day
—Zoo Magnet School
—Park La Brea Earth Day
—Lunada Bay Earth Day
—Compton Sustainable Cities Event
—GROW Festival at the Los Angeles Arboretum
—Beach Cities Moving Planet event

We gear our presentations age-appropriately if working with youngsters. We bring along a collection of posters that help tell the story of the life cycle of the bee, and show pictures enlarged of the different members of the hive.

We also bring a glass-walled frame of live bees, which is endlessly fascinating, as well as honey which we distribute on ice cream sticks for the participants to taste.

A half-hour is about the minimum required, although often there are many questions that can take it well beyond an hour if allowed.

—Ruth

Want a Backwards Beekeeper to speak to your group or class? Here's how to make it happen.

Viewer mail: Bees on display in Taipei

A reader writes:

Hello,

I live here in Los Angeles with one hive and lots of enthusiasm for organic beekeeping!

I recently took a trip to Taiwan, and came across an interesting stand in a Taipei flower market. They were selling local honey, but they also featured the ever popular pyrex bee box. The language barrier made it difficult to figure out much about their beekeeping practices.

They do have an interesting drink they sell that is essentially just honey and water and completely divine. Anyway, I thought it might be fun for backwards beekeepers to see something from Taipei!

Zach

I sure hope they give the bees a chance to leave that box at the end of the day.

Backwards Beekeeping in the LA Times

Here's a great article in the LA Times food section (appearing in print August 4th) about Backwards Beekeeping and what a great year we're having:

Kirk Anderson, who along with Seidenwurm and Bates founded the progressive apiculture group Backwards Beekeepers, recently dropped off nearly 100 jars of his honey at Lindy & Grundy, the organic butcher shop on Fairfax Avenue. Anderson tends bees all over Los Angeles, and this is the latest haul of Kirk's Local Honey from hives in Studio City.

"I can taste the difference between Bel-Air, Altadena and Los Feliz," says Lindy & Grundy co-owner Amelia Posada. "This is the first time we've had Studio City honey."

Overall, it's been a bumper season for urban honey in L.A., and summer is when worker bees are at their busiest. Corey Brill has three hives on a rooftop downtown and sells his Old Bank Honey to stores including Coffee Commissary on Fairfax. He says he harvested at least 50% more honey this year than last year.

"We'd like to take the credit" for the bonanza of honey, says Seidenwurm of Feral Honey & Bee, standing in a three-layer protective suit and pulling a frame bulging with honeycomb from one of the quintuple-level hives as hundreds of bees buzz around her. "But they do all the work. We just steal from them."

It's a sweet season for honey (LA Times)

Your bee rescue hotline at work: North Hollywood

Bob called the Bee Rescue Hotline today about a swarm that had landed at a North Hollywood construction site where he and a crew are installing solar panels. Bob needed the bees gone, but he didn't want them to get killed.

These bees were about 20 feet off the ground, but fortunately there were plenty of scissor lifts available. Up I went, and there I met the calmest bees I think I've ever seen. I sprayed them with some sugar water and brushed them into a box with no trouble at all.

Liana Aghajanian of the LA Weekly came along for the ride; she needed photos for an upcoming "Best of LA" feature. She was also fearless about holding the nuc box while I scooped straggler bees into it from overhead. Thanks Liana!

After the trip home to Silver Lake, the bees were eager to get out and start exploring.

July meeting recap

We had a great turnout at yesterday's meeting of the LA Backwards Beekeepers!

If you're new to our group, here are some of the key links that I talked about during the meeting:

Our Yahoo discussion group is a great place to introduce yourself, meet other members online, learn about chemical-free beekeeping and ask questions.

Give us a Like on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Kirk runs mentoring sessions most Sundays. If you're interested in getting some hands-on experience with bees from a real expert, send a message here.

HoneyLove.org has a number of great events coming up. This is Rob and Chelsea's group, and they are making amazing progress toward getting beekeeping legalized in the city of Los Angeles and beyond.

Chemical-free beekeeping pioneer Michael Bush will be speaking at a hands-on workshop here in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 7th. Watch the blog and our Yahoo group for more information on this and how to sign up.

And be sure to check out all the information right here on the blog—the links at the top of the page are a good way to start.