The Cities Swarm With Bees

Beekeeping is the latest buzz in big cities.

From the rooftops of Manhattan to Chicago’s empty lots, hives are swarming with honey-making bees. Urban beekeeping combines revived interest in locally-produced food, the do-it-yourself movement. Hives may be popping up in response to colony collapse disorder, in which bees are abruptly and mysteriously disappearing from several parts of the world...or it could purely be the allure of sweet, delicious honey.

Whatever the reason, the bug has bitten. Even the White House has a beehive for the very first time. As part of our ongoing Next Green Thing series, we talked to two veteran beekeepers about the trend. Michael Thompson has been keeping bees in Chicago since the 1970s, and today he’s the farm manager of the Chicago Honey Co-Op. Jim Fischer is the beekeeper for the Bronx Zoo in New York, and a founding member of the Gotham City Honey Co-Op.

The New York Times: Beekeepers Keep the Lid On and Hoping to Generate a Bit More Buzz

The Christian Science Monitor: City bees are all the buzz

(Photo courtesy of oceandesetoiles )