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.