Bees
I had read Sue Hubble’s “A Book of Bees” and became fascinated with the world of bees. Taking a course in beekeeping that was beginning at the Garfield Park Conservatory convinced me to give beekeeping a try. There was no law preventing a person from having them in Chicago and the teachers even encouraged the students to put a hive in their backyards. Unfortunately I had no yard. The front of the apartment overlooked Milwaukee ave. and the rear was the Damen stop for the El (elevated train that becomes the subway) that shook the building. You literally had to stop speaking on the phone when the train came past. Figuring that there was a small 8 acre park (Wicker Park) less than a block away and the lakefront was probably within apian flying distance, a hive was secretly placed on the roof. I couldn’t let to many people know because I thought if some idiot commodities trader got stung on the lip a mile away he’d try to sue me.
(This is not a far fetched as it seems. A drunken halfwit climbed over a six-foot fence to trample the garden next to the bookstore and tore his pants. After screaming in the bookstore for us to pay for his increasingly expensive pants he left. Returning days later having spoken to a lawyer, he said he was going to give me one last chance to pay or I would become very familiar with the word “lawsuit”. I asked if he was familiar with the word “trespassing”. “It’s not trespassing if there is no sign!” he screamed. “I don’t need a sign. I got a six foot fence!” I yelled. He said he was going to tell everyone in the neighborhood about this and close me down, and he left. For days people would come in who knew him. Everyone repeated how when he told the story they had laughed, and he stormed off.)
We sell honey at the farmers market and from home.
The honey from the hive in Chicago was great. It was the light spring honey except it was that color all year. I even brought it down to the farm. It was the first produce that I ever sold. People still ask for it at the bookstore and the farm. There are now hives on the roof of city hall in Chicago. The hive from Chicago is here on the farm but obviously none of the original bees are in it. We were able to get more and had one fall over while we were moving it in the truck. Those bees were very, very, angry. Originally the bees were set up behind the house with three fences separating them from the national forest and the bears. This was never going to stop a bear. After seeing what a bear did to a friends hive, I also didn’t want it near the house. We have moved some of the bees to the orchard and plan to move the ones by the house in the spring. We split some hives last year and had significantly less honey. More to do with poor beekeeping than anything else.
We have given beekeeping demonstrations at some of the local schools. The observation hive helps.
