What’s going on in sustainability:

Although a week and a half in Vermont can really tempt the sustainable person to pack up and move the homestead to the Green Mountains, I can honestly say that I’m very excited to be back in Philadelphia. I’ve only been back for one day and already I’m overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, all of the different programs that will be developed to make this city the “Greene Country Towne” it was meant to be.

The first issue I’d like to introduce for the New Year is an issue that has been gaining much momentum in activity in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Thanks to a passionate interest on behalf of Mr. Carl Flatow program director of Down to Earth, a science-based agricultural education program, Philadelphia will be the hub of activity to celebrate the life and achievement of L.L. Langstroth. Langstroth was a Philadelphia native and inventor of the modern bee keeping method employed by a majority of apiaries and hobby keepers today. The program Mr. Flatow is developing will be a celebration of Langstroth’s 200th birthday and his amazing contribution to bee keeping.

The kick off event will take place on January 21, 7:00 PM at the Unitarian Society of Germantown. The event will be part celebration, part information session with Barbara Ceiga of the Academy of Natural Sciences and bee keeping researches Marc Hoffman and Matt Redman.

For more information, please visit http://www.scifri.org/dte/pko.

But this event has even greater implications for Philadelphia sustainability than just celebration, history or science. Currently, there is no law “against” keeping bees in the city as there is with chickens or other livestock. But as we’ve discovered as a community with the great bike debate, it is a mistake to remain active off the city’s radar because sooner or later, the issue will be brought uncontrollably into the public sphere. And I don’t think it takes a clairvoyant to predict that as bee keeping increases, even if competent keeping leaves little room for someone to be stung, something will happen to stir negative public opinion.

That’s why our sustainable community must be the first to direct the conversation to show the need for a bee keeping culture in local sustainability. Many conventional people, when first hearing of this project will undoubtedly say, “There are apiaries for honey in the suburbs and rural land, why take the risk of liability of attracting bees to crowded urban environments?”

Aside from the fact that competent bee keeping is extremely safe, it is not just about the honey (although that is a sweet reward). The attraction of these amazing pollinators can benefit surrounding gardens (both vegetable and flower) and orchards dramatically. Even if you as a sustainably minded person would just like to stick to your tomatoes in the summer and not have to deal with the responsibility of bee keeping, having a hive close by will improve your crops beyond your labors of organic cultivation. It is in all of our interests as gardeners or people who just love walking past vibrantly colorful flowers to have bees in the city of Philadelphia.

In later issues as interests peaks, I will post my own experiments and progress of installing bees at one of my community garden sites. But for now, I can only promote the exciting events that are going be taking place in the Philadelphia area as the Langstroth celebration begins to take shape.

This is one great step towards developing another critical aspect of sustainability in Philadelphia and I hope you can get involved. If you live outside of the area, but wish to know more, there are many resources on the subject on the internet and books. If you are doing research, look up Langstroth Box to find out more about how to create and maintain a swarm. And please, keep a look out on this blog for my own adventures in bee keeping.

Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.