I never thought I’d be a beekeeper. To be honest, beekeeping had never crossed my mind…until my wife took me and our then 7-year old daughter Anna to the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild’s HoneyFest. I was instantly captivated by the otherworldly scents of the hive - the cool white smoke, the floral honey, the sweet wax, and the nearby blooms - and the calming sounds of the gentle buzzing of the bees, the puff of the smoker, an early autumn breeze and the sparrows flitting through the trees. I was, “outdoors,” there in the middle of the city - having just rushed from work, having searched 20 minutes for a parking spot and dodging the heat of the day reflecting off the asphalt.  There in a grassy, clover filled yard, under the shade of tulip poplars and black locusts, I was mesmerized by this sudden show of nature, just a few blocks from City Hall. 

 

And that’s how it all started. Today, I have over a dozen hives at a 4-acre community garden in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of South Philly, home to over 13,000 square feet of garden beds, surrounded by a dense residential neighborhood. Philadelphia is home to the world’s largest park system and almost 40,000 vacant lots abundant with a diversity of seasonal blooms - a hospitable and welcoming environment for honeybees, birds and other pollinators. The city’s landscape is generally pesticide-free, and my honeybees are minimally treated with organic miticide to ensure they thrive through the winter. Enjoy all that Anna Bee’s Honey has to offer.