We've talked about my bee-thing before. Not only are they fascinating creatures, I love honey. Last Winter I read The Honey Trail
It's become a "goal in life" akin to the chickens these days--at some point, I will be a beekeeper. But there's much groundwork and learning to be done before I take the plunge, and happily I got to do a little of that this past weekend in Philadelphia.
Almost every urban garden we went to had a hive or more....
....from a hive with a view in the rooftop garden at the Four Seasons Hotel....
....to more traditional urban and community gardens. (Greensgrow Farm and Marathon Farm, respectively. More about both tomorrow.)
I honestly hadn't had an opportunity to get very close to a hive before, and I had wondered if my beekeeping dream would survive that first approach. I'm happy to say it did, even with a friendly warning "dive-bomb" from one of the Marathon bees!
In addition to meeting some bees, I got to meet a very enthusiastic beekeeper, Annie, who owns Milk and Honey Market in West Philadelphia.
Last summer, Annie and her business partner Trey (of Two Gander Farm) temporarily brought fifteen hives to different locations in Philadelphia to make "Summer in the City" honey. At the end of the summer they realized that, far from being depleted from their urban stay, the city bees had actually grown stronger than their country counterparts. (I've heard it theorized, and Annie seemed to agree, that this happens because there's more forage for the bees--home flower gardens, parks, etc.--in the city.)
The city bees did so well, in fact, that Annie was able to bottle the honey they produced separately by zip code. This year the city bees have been installed permanently and their honey is being bottled--still oh-so-coolly with a zip code label on top--as "Urban Apiaries".
Today's giveaway is an adorable little jar of Urban Apiaries honey (zip code 19143). It actually breaks my heart a wee bit to part with it, but since I made it home with four other jars I'll probably survive somehow. ;)
To win, leave a comment below answering the question: Bees--love 'em or hate 'em?
I'll randomly pick a winner Thursday morning.
And the winner is Sarah!
Love em :)
Posted by: Kenda | 06/07/2011 at 11:02 PM
Love them as well and really wish I had some!
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1372156660 | 06/07/2011 at 11:09 PM
love bees they are great for the environment :)
Posted by: Emily E | 06/08/2011 at 09:30 AM
Love them as long as they're not agitated. No one likes an angry bee.
Posted by: MeganTugman | 06/08/2011 at 10:24 AM
terrified of bees, love honey. Who knew!?
Posted by: Sarah | 06/08/2011 at 07:28 PM
Hoping you haven't picked a winner quite yet!
I live in UCity and LOVE all the local ingredients we have t choose from! Especially the honey! Although, I could do with not seeing the bees!
Posted by: Melissa | 06/09/2011 at 11:02 AM
Very true!
Posted by: Meryl | 06/09/2011 at 08:34 PM