Look who's buzzing up the DVP

Alison Broverman, National Post
Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008

"Bees pollinate 80% of the food we eat," says Ravenna Barker, coordinator of the urban honeybee program run by Foodshare, a Toronto group devoted to urban agriculture. "Without them, we'd have to survive on wheat, corn and beets and not much more." They also make everyone's favourite healthy sweetener and, when tending to them, give you an excuse to dress up like one of the scientists from E.T.

But the news has carried reports that, all over North America, bees are dying in alarming numbers from mysterious causes. The extinction of the insect could mean a serious famine. One way to combat that is urban beekeeping.

Unfortunately, the Ontario Bees Act stipulates that hives must be kept at least 30 meters away from any private residence, public meeting place or thoroughfare -- basically, anywhere people might be on a regular basis.

This means no hives in your backyard. (Though if you have a high enough roof or stupendously huge backyard you might be able to work something out, as long as you clear it with the Provincial Apiarist. And you must register beehives with the provincial government.)

So what's a honey-loving city-dweller with a postage-stamp sized yard to do? Well, there's always the Toronto Beekeeping Co-op. The group, whose bees now live at the Toronto Brickworks in the Don Valley, has been in operation since 2002 and operates in conjunction with Foodshare.

"In 2001, Foodshare received some funding to set up an urban beekeeping program," explains Barker. They purchased six hives and hired an experienced apiculturalist to teach them the ropes, and invited members of the community to learn about the bees, too. "The TBC formed out of a group of people who wanted to learn and wanted to invest the time. We gave the hives to them to care for, and they share the honey with us." (The honey is for sale through Foodshare.)

Until 2006, the bees lived at 200 Eastern Ave., where they thrived. Unfortunately, in 2006, that property was sold to developers and the bees had to be moved to Guelph, Ont. This was not ideal: "Bees seem to do better in urban settings than in rural ones because the forage is so diverse," says Barker.

And so it was with pleasure that the TBC joined forces with Evergreen, the organization that recently took over the Brickworks. "Bees are such a vital ecosystem component," says Evergreen's Seana Irvine.

The bees were moved to the Brick-works at the end of April, so it's still too early to tell if they're happy to be back in their old valley. (With bees, the only way to know is if they prosper and make plenty of honey.)

Unfortunately, the winter and the recent move appears to have been stressful for the bugs. "The bees had a rough winter," says beekeeper and TBC member Fred. "We've lost a couple of hives." This is probably due to both environmental factors and "human error," as Fred explains sadly. "We may have misjudged how much honey they needed to survive the winter."

Still, the TBC has several thriving hives, and one of them might be large enough to split: Half of the hive will be lured away to join a new queen.

Evergreen has a mandate to bring nature back into cities, so it's no surprise that they work so well with Foodshare and the TBC. In exchange for the space at the Brickworks, the members of the TBC will provide educational outreach programs, offering workshops about beekeeping and teaching people about the importance of the honeymakers in an urban environment.

-For more information about the Toronto Beekeepers Co-op, visit foodshare.net or contact Ravenna Barker at 416-363-6441.