urban farming: beekeeping

On Tuesday, August 25, I went to a Burgh Bees "Beekeeper Meet-up" on the North Side. I originally discovered Burgh Bees at the Phipps Garlic and Tomato Festival, which is a special event during the regularly scheduled farmers market that happens on the lawn at Phipps Conservatory every Wednesday. Based on the quick conversation I had with the Burgh Bees people at Phipps that day, it seems like they're trying to get as many people as possible involved in urban beekeeping to protect the hobby. I guess the idea is that the more urban hives there are, the less likely the city government is to restrict people's right to have a hive.

The lady who hosted the meet-up has a bunch of hives on her roof, and we all got to see the honeycomb and try some honey. Well--I didn't get to try any honey, but in theory I think we were all supposed to have a taste. It was really interesting to see this small but productive operation (just a few boxes of bees produce 360-400 pounds of honey!) in a regular person's urban backyard.

Naturally, I struck up a conversation with another attendee who turned out to be in the catering business, and we ended up discussing the food industry in Pittsburgh. Laura always teases me about this: wherever we go, I run into someone that I've worked with or find people who are involved in the food industry. Occupational hazard!