Give Bees a Chance

Today brought another reminder of what a great thing it is to live in an unincorporated area of Marin County.  Yes, thanks to the Marin IJ story on beekeeping in Marin, I now know for sure that the County of Marin has no laws on its books regulating the keeping of bees. Phew!  Not so lucky are citizens of towns like Corte Madera or San Rafael, where either it’s plain illegal or subject to a use permit at a steep cost.

As a beekeeper in the wilds of Santa Venetia where pretty much anything goes, I suppose I dimly knew that beekeeping out here was ok.  After all, there have been chickens, and roosters, in my neighborhood for years.  Goats even, for a brief period, about two blocks away.  But honestly, it would no more have occurred to me to seek out a permit for keeping bees than for growing tomatoes or any other non-native annual in my garden.

In this day and age when the news is full of stories about the tragic decline of the honeybee and the very serious ramifications on humankind of the loss of this critical pollinator in our food chain, when there are at least two films playing in theaters across the country about threats to bees and how we can help them, it is remarkable that there is any municipality that would create obstacles to home beekeeping.  And these are real obstacles, permits costing $800 or more in San Rafael and Tiburon, for example.

When we were learning about beekeeping, before setting up our hives, we mentioned it to our neighbors on both sides.  The response, even from one bee-allergic neighbor, was enthusiastic, since the benefits of a hive in one yard are felt for miles around, as the bees travel to source nectar and pollen and along the way pollinate all manner of plants and trees. Bees benefit us all. 

I do not at all minimize the hazards of a bee sting to those who are allergic.  Just in case, we have an epi-pen at home, as should every person with a bee sting allergy.  But there are bees everywhere, they don’t respect fence lines, whether your neighbor has a hive or not.  They could be coming from a wild hive as far as five miles away.   

In the time we’ve been keeping bees, sure, I’ve been stung.  At one point, we had three hives in our garden, one we’d purchased and another two that we’d caught as wild swarms.  In working with these hives, opening them up weekly throughout the summer to ensure that the colony was thriving, I have, in a moment of inattention or over-reaction, caused a sting, always my own fault.  Many many people have been in our garden over the past years, lunch, dinner or party guests, and not one person has ever been stung, except us, when we’re messing about in their house, checking things out. 

As for swarms, which are, I think, what people are really afraid of, they don’t chase you cartoon-style.  They’re utterly uninterested in anything but finding a suitable new home. They’re heavy with the honey they’ve ingested to fuel a journey of unknown length, concerned only with keeping the queen safe until scouts can find a secure spot for the colony.

Or until the trained beekeeper next door rushes over, hive box in hand, to capture that mass of bees long before they choose a home that might otherwise be a nuisance, like inside a wall of your house or under your deck. 

A well-managed beehive next door boosts the health and harvest of your garden.  And your neighbor the beekeeper is certain to share with you, to give back to you, the bounty of that hive at fall harvest, with a jar or two of delicious golden honey, thick with the taste of your own yard.

What we need is education.  So much of the unreasonable fear many people have of honeybees is the product, pure and simple, of a lack of information, of not knowing the difference, for example, between a bee and a yellow jacket.  Any beekeeper is more than happy to talk about bees, to show off hives, to share what she or he has learned about these remarkable animals. 

What we need is for cities to take a position that is supportive of beekeeping, reducing if not eliminating the use permit or the prohibition and helping to promote beekeeping as an essential part of a thriving, healthy community.

Like composting and vegetable gardening, activities which are healthy not just for the individual, but for our neighborhoods and the planet as a whole, beekeeping rewards everyone for blocks and miles around. 

 More bees, please.

Title courtesy of a bumpersticker from Beekind, beekeeping supply store in Sebastopol, CA.