We are an urban beekeeping co-op on Chicago's West Side. We teach beekeeping, sell our honey and products at Farmers markets and host a community farm in the North Lawndale neighborhood.
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At The Bee Farm Urban Beekeeping by Chicago Honey Co-op
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In 2004 when we started our co-op, we had no idea how long we might be allowed to keep bees on theBeekeeping Class June 2011 property along West Fillmore St in Chicago, perhaps 2 or 3 years at best. It has been our great pleasure to have had an apiary and community farm there for 8 full years.
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3 years ago our friend Damien Casten of Candid Wines thought up the idea of TomatoFest. With Slow Food Chicago as a sponsor, heirloom tomato seedlings are sold to the public to raise money for urban agriculture projects in Chicago. Once the tomatoes are all grown up, those who bough
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Come on out and visit us on Friday June 24th for the most affordable fundraiser in Chicago. For $15 and a potluck dish to share, you get to party outdoors on one of the longest evenings of the year at our apiary on Fillmore St.
If you have never visited our apiary, this year is the year to
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5 Queens delivered from Southern Illinois today. Priority small flat rate boxes are perfect for this. The black cap on the end of the queen cage holds sugar candy for the bees to eat.
The Queen is on the right. She is marked with
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After the hive is set up a beekeeper will need a few tools and bits of clothing in order to manage the hive.
1. Hive Tool: It would be impossible to inspect a beehive without a hive tool. That is the beekeeper name for a pry bar. It is used to open and inspect hives, and scrape wax and propolis ou
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Hives with medium boxes and tops raised for ventilationThis is the time of year when beekeepers order new equipment and supplies for the coming beekeeping season. If you are just starting beekeeping this year the numbers and variety of equipment available can get pretty confusing. So here is a
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Courtesy of Google, a satellite shot of our apiary. Notice the extent of the community farm to the left of the concrete. We opened the space up to neighbors and friends for growing food. Our Friends at the North Lawndale Greening Committee help to manage the growing space . For reference - the
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Every beekeeper runs into a testy hive once in awhile. Bees can get defensive for a lot of reasons. Most often, it is the beekeepers fault, dropping something, bumping the hive, moving too quickly, disturbing a frame of bees.
The weather can make bees cranky too. If the weather
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A big storm went through Chicago today and the Solstice event we had planned for this evening has been postponed until Sunday June 20 at 4 PM. Keep updated by checking here on Sunday, following us on Twitter or Facebook. If you want to attend and haven't signed up yet visit Slow Food Chicago to get
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