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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>It's
a great time to be a honeybee in the city<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=byline><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:mmay@sfchronicle.com">Meredith May, Chronicle Staff
Writer</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=date><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Friday,
April 22, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL&o=0&type=printable"><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="_x0000_i1027"
src="cid:image001.gif@01CC032F.2DC01110" vspace=1
alt="Chronicle Home and Garden Editor Deb Wandell (left) and r..."></span></a><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL&o=1&type=printable"><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="_x0000_i1028"
src="cid:image002.gif@01CC032F.2DC01110" vspace=1 alt="Bees with fresh comb."></span></a><a
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style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=64 height=64 id="_x0000_i1030"
src="cid:image004.gif@01CC032F.2DC01110" vspace=1
alt="Reporter Meredith May (left) and Chronicle Home and Garde..."></span></a><a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL&o=4&type=printable">More...</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><span
id=articlebody>As the rest of the country tumbled into recession, Ray
Olivarez's business took wing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Olivarez
sells honeybees, not to large commercial beekeepers who rent their hives to
pollinate agricultural crops, but to the growing group of backyard hobbyists
worried about the disappearing honeybee. Increasing demand, diminishing supply
and a thriving locavore movement means Olivarez Honey Bees Inc. in Orland (<st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Glenn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>)
has tripled its customer base in the past decade.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"More
people are growing their own fruit and vegetables and trying to be more
self-sufficient now, and they want to make sure their garden is
pollinated," said Olivarez, who shipped 22,000 packages of bees nationwide
this season, including two that made their way to the rooftop garden at The
Chronicle, where staffers have taken up beekeeping. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Started
ahead of Earth Day, the experiment, the first by a major <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> newspaper,
aims to provide sanctuary for the honeybee, pollinate the rooftop garden and
educate readers about the world's most important pollinator, responsible for 40
percent of the food we eat.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Urban
beekeeping is so popular, breeders are selling out by May and using waiting
lists to manage the demand. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"You
can't even buy the equipment, the suppliers are in such short supply,"
said Laurie Davies Adams, executive director of Pollinator Partnership in San
Francisco, an international network of 130 environmental groups, government
representatives and scientists.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>More
keepers<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There are
nearly 200 members of the San Francisco Beekeepers' Association, and an untold
number who prefer to go uncounted.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
number of backyard beekeepers nationally has increased 20 to 25 percent in the
past three years, said Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, and author
of "The Backyard Beekeeper."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Among
those, Flottum said, rooftop beekeepers are the fastest growing group, in part
because <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:City>
health officials in March 2010 removed a ban on urban beekeeping. First lady
Michelle <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/barack-obama/">Obama</a> inspired more
people to try the hobby when she had hives installed on the White House lawn as
part of her healthy foods drive. <st1:City w:st="on">Paris</st1:City> has bees
atop the Opera House; <st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City> <st1:State
w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State> has hives on the U.S. Department of Agriculture roof
on the mall; and here in <st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>, there
are bees buzzing above the Fairmont Hotel, Bi-Rite Market, Wine.com downtown on
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Sansome Street</st1:address></st1:Street>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Glide</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Memorial</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
Google's <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mountain View</st1:place></st1:City>
campus also has hives.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
actually better to be a bee in an urban setting than in the country,"
Flottum said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cities
have more plant diversity that blooms year-round, a constant water sources from
sprinklers, fewer bees per acre to cut down on competition and less exposure to
agricultural pesticides, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>City
living<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>San Francisco</span></font></st1:place></st1:City>
is perfectly suited to the small-time hobbyist, with its microclimates and
buffet of plants. Drought-resistant natives are the most beneficial, Davies
Adams said. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Bees
seem to be able to forage wherever you put them," said Paul Koski, a <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> beekeeper
for 20 years. "Out by the ocean, in the sunny <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Mission</st1:place></st1:City> or in SoMa, they seem to be able to
find enough to forage on to thrive." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The plant
mix creates a sturdier bee more able to resist mites and fungi thought to bring
on colony collapse disorder, which has been decimating hives since 2006. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
contrast to commercial beekeepers, who rent their hives for $150 apiece to
pollinate agricultural fields, mainly in the almond groves of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>, backyard bees get a varied diet. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Commercial
bees pollinate almonds for a month. Then apples for a month, then blueberries
for a month," Flottum said. "Imagine you or I eating a cheeseburger
every day for a month. It's not good for you."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Nor are
the pesticides sprayed on the fruit and nut crops, which the bees ingest and
then recycle into the architecture of their hive, contaminating the honey,
propolis, wax and royal jelly.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"It's
like outgassing in sick building syndrome, or paint fumes, it's constant
low-level exposure to environmental pollutants and pesticides," said
Arizona entomologist Stephen Buchmann, international coordinator of Pollinator
Partnership and author of "Letters From the Hive."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A
taste of honey<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Robert
MacKimmie, who tends 45 hives in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> and sells honey at farmers' markets under
the City Bees label, says the city's biodiversity gives each neighborhood a
different honey taste. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>McLaren</span></font></st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Park</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> honey is darker,
with notes of wild fennel and manzanita. <st1:place w:st="on">Mission</st1:place>
honey is more floral, buoyed by the warm sun on flowers in and around Dolores
Park. The Inner Sunset is light and creamy, thanks to eucalyptus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
have some of the most remarkable city honey in the world because we have a
Mediterranean climate with plants from everywhere, so something is blooming
year-round," MacKimmie said. "People are very aware of what's going
on with the honeybees now, and with (author) Michael Pollan and the whole local
food renaissance, plus they are learning bees are not that difficult to raise,
at least not at the start.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"My
question is, how many of these people are continuing beekeepers into the second
and third year?" he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
average newcomer abandons beekeeping after three years, discouraged by hive
losses because of mites or viruses, or fatigued by the amount of work required
to ensure the hive is healthy and has enough room to expand, Davies Adams said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Good
intentions<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>David
White, one of three principal owners of the popular Mission District restaurant
Flour + Water, intends to stick with it. He's importing a holistic hive with a
wax paper cover from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>
called a bien, which can be opened with less intrusion to the colony. The hive
will go on the restaurant's roof as a way to educate customers and friends
about pollination. Honey is an afterthought.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Sure
we'll use the honey in our restaurant, but we're doing this to first and
foremost to care for the bees," White said. "When you look at the
long list of all the foods that wouldn't be here without bees, and hear that in
some places people are pollinating by hand because the bees are gone, then we
feel we have a responsibility to educate ourselves and our customers." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><strong><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Honeybee
Chronicles </span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></h3>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Follow
the hives atop The San Francisco Chronicle in the new column, Honeybee
Chronicles, that premieres Sunday in the Home & Garden section. Staff
writer Meredith May will file monthly dispatches, detailing developments in The
Chronicle's foray into rooftop beekeeping.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tip:
</span></font></b></strong>Wondering which natives to plant for bees? Find out
by typing your ZIP code into the Pollinator Partnership's website at <a
href="http://www.pollinator.org"></a><a href="http://www.pollinator.org">www.pollinator.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Urban
bees by the numbers <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>2
million</span></font></b></strong> The number of flowers that bees need to
visit to make 1 pound of honey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>50,000</span></font></b></strong>
Approximate number of bees in a hive when colony reaches full strength.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>5,000</span></font></b></strong>
Approximate number of bees in a 3-pound package.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>2,000</span></font></b></strong>
Number of eggs a queen lays per day<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>15</span></font></b></strong>
Speed (in mph) a honeybee can fly<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>5</span></font></b></strong>
Number of eyes per honeybee<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>3
miles</span></font></b></strong> Maximum radius in which honeybees forage from
the hive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>3/8
inch</span></font></b></strong> the amount of "bee space" between
frames bees need to move about freely in the hive. Anything under will be
sealed in propolis, anything over will be covered with comb.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>1/12
teaspoon</span></font></b></strong> Amount of honey one bee will produce in her
lifetime.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Sources:
"The Beekeepers Bible," (Stewart, Tabori & Chang; 2011), Marin
Bee Co. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=dtlcomment><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>E-mail Meredith May at <a href="mailto:mmay@sfchronicle.com">mmay@sfchronicle.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</span>
<p id=url><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/22/MN6P1IRE2S.DTL<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p id=pageno><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
article appeared on page <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman">A - 1</font></b></strong>
of the San Francisco Chronicle<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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