For the past three years, a dedicated group of honey bee enthusiasts have been quietly involved in an urban beekeeping project.
The Halifax Honey Bee Society buzzed into being three years ago. The society’s co-founder and organizer Katherine Marsters said it started as a small reading group. The group’s members had a fascination or connection with beekeeping, and their shared interest blossomed.
“Around the world we are seeing a decline in bees and they contribute to a vast amount of the food we eat,” Marsters said. “Without them we wouldn’t have a lot of our crops because there’d be no pollinators.”
The local honey bee society has expanded to include a support network, linking 15 beekeepers in HRM and surrounding areas who often check on each others hives and deal with problems as they arise.
“We started initially with five hives in the city. One in the north end, one in the south end, one in Spryfield, and two in St. Margaret’s Bay,” she said. “We decided to get members to help fund the project.”
In addition to the helping oversee the five HRM-based hives, Marsters recently purchased rural land where she has an additional five hives.
So far this year, the honey bee society has 50 paying members. Annual dues help pay for beekeeping equipment. Marsters is also compiling a library to provide members with access to beekeeping related material.
She said one of the main benefits of membership included hive visits, but this year the society has expanded its focus.
For the 2011 season, members are hosting a series of workshops facilitated by six area beekeepers. Topics include bee products for body care, honey extraction, rooftop beekeeping, organic methods for disease and pest control, and preparing for winter.
The workshops run from now until October, although Marsters is hoping to have a candle-making workshop in December.
“We want to get more people involved and get the word out,” she explained. “We want to get the general public learning more about bees and organic beekeeping, which is different from conventional beekeeping.”
Marsters explained that conventional beekeeping often involves transporting bees thousands of kilometres. Their honey is taken, they are provided with a diet of corn syrup, and are often given a vast field of a single crop to pollinate.
Chemicals used to control mites and crops also have a negative affect on bees.
“We are trying to show a different model. Have a beehive in a backyard (and bees) will pollinate. We’re not moving them or stressing them and we’re giving them a (varied) food source,” she said. “We’re taking some honey but making sure they have enough for winter, and we feed them their own honey in the spring if they need it.”
Halifax Honey Bee Society members would eventually like to see HRM pass legislation to allow urban beekeeping. Marsters said one of the reasons hive visits are restricted to members only is that beekeeping within HRM is technically not permitted.
While some people outside the group are aware of their beekeeping activities, no one has complained.
“New York City just passed a law to allow bees and I have seen many projects in different cities with rooftop beekeeping,” Marsters said. “I would like to eventually see that passed here.”
More information about the Halifax Honey Bee Society, including membership and upcoming workshop topics, can be found at http://halifaxhoneybees.wordpress.com/.
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca
