Our first hot day finally hit Chicago on May 23rd, and wouldn't you know it, it was also the day the Grandmas had planned to tour the Chicago Honey Co-Op's apiary and urban farm. We all donned our sunscreen and bonnets for bee protection {or borrowed them} and had a fun time trying to find the right clothes in our wardrobe to render us bee-free for the tour. The Co-Op had recommended hats, light colors, and long pants and sleeves. None of us got it exactly right.
All of the original Grandma crew was in attendance plus some bonus Grandma action with Denise and Grandpa Jason! After becoming properly fortified by brunch at local favorite FEED, we scampered off the the North Lawndale neighborhood to the Chicago Honey Co-Op.
Housed on land that was once the warehouse for the giant catalog operation of Sears Roebuck, the apiary and farm nestles neatly into its disheveled environment. There are no fancy signs, just a glimpse of bunches of white boxes and various crops behind some chain link fence. We drove past it at first, but a sighting of a woman in light clothing with a wicker basket promoted us to turn around. The Co-Op isn't about being fancy; it's about work and working. Besides, they know to put the "pretty" where it counts in their packaging. Plus, I know I found the trees growing up through the cracks in the asphalt and the rusting train tracks to be quite lovely in their own way. We took a whole bunch of pictures.
Our tour was led by two lovely ladies, Harmony and Shawnecee. Harmony showed us around the farm portion of the Co-Op and let us know a bit of the history of the site and the group. The Chicago Honey Co-Op was started in 2004 by three of Chicago's urban bee keepers. Their goal is to provide jobs to the under-employed and to have a small, sustainable agriculture business raising chemical free honey and related products. People from the community can come in and garden on the plots, the only rule is that you don't use any chemicals. There was even someone working on a plot while we were there.
In addition to the field growth, the Co-Op is also experimenting with raised beds on the asphalt. Heaping mounds of stable cleanings and other compost materials are festooned with garlic, leeks and soon, sweet potatoes. The heat from the asphalt provides a prime growing environment for the potatoes. While there are all kinds of plants growing on the Co-Op farm,Harmony said they don't really plant with the bees in mind. Part of what makes the Chicago Honey Co-Op honey so special and good is that the bees are able to forage on so many different flowers from peoples' gardens, from parks, from window boxes, and from the nearby Garfield Park Conservatory. But enough about plants, we came to see bees!
Shawnecee was our bee keeper for the day and we were amazingly lucky to be shown two different types of hives; the top bar hive and the langstroth hive. After prepping all the equipment and getting the smoke right, we started the tour at the top bar hive. A top bar hive sounds like what it is; a hive consisting of a box with all of wooden bars at the top. The bees then build their comb off of the bars. According to Shawnecee, this mimics what hives look like in the wild.
Around this time, she also mentioned to us that she was, in fact, allergic to bees. Bravo, that woman! I was impressed before this, but that shot it out of the park. She then explained to us what the bees do with the different cells. Some store pollen, some nectar, some honey, and some hold brood, or bee pupae. You can tell if there is brood or honey because the cells are capped.
Then she took us to look at a Langstroth hive. Langstroth hives are so named for their inventor and are based around the concept of a proper "bee space" of 3/8th of an inch and also ease of honey collection for the bee keeper. Instead of having to trim bits off like you would with a top bar hive, the Langstroth has a frame which the keeper can remove in its entirety. Large bee keeping operations tend to use Langstroth hives because they can throw the whole thing into a centrifuge to extract the honey and still be able to reuse the frames.
Shawnecee and Harmony told us that we were the only group to get to see both types of hive at the apiary, and we were certainly happy about it. After that, and a few more random bee fact questions like "How many bees are in a pound?" {The answer is around 10,000}, we went over to the shade for a tasting. We then purchased all the honey they had as well as some candles. Sadly, they didn't have just straight bees wax for sale. Both Kathy and I were looking to buy some to make spoon oil.
We all learned a great deal and had an excellent time. Thanks to everyone at Chicago Honey Co-Op for the work they do and especially to our guides, Harmony and Shawnecee. If you're in Chicago, we definitely recommend the tour, and we recommend the honey if you're anywhere!







