The Follow the Honey bees at 1132 Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square are very, very special.

They were first found as a vulnerable wee swarm barely hanging on from  limb of a tree at the corner of Mass Ave and Tremont Street . . . → Read More: Follow The Honey HOME & Best Bees]]> [From Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D, Founder & Owner "Best Bees" ~ and my new sweet  bee confrere!]

The Follow the Honey bees at 1132 Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square are very, very special.

They were first found as a vulnerable wee swarm barely hanging on from  limb of a tree at the corner of Mass Ave and Tremont Street in the South End of Boston. Their queen was also on the petite size.

One of my friends who lives in the building beside the tree contacted us at Best Bees and said to come over quick. The bees were going to be killed by pest control services soon!

Luckily, we arrived first, and collected the bees in a box by shaking the tree limb.

Here is Part 1 and Part 2 with me and Cambridge master beekeeper/master carpenter, Jeff Murray.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr_jmuydkls&feature=youtube_gdata_player

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8H0QhFtboU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The bees were installed into a backyard hive on Tremont Street for a few months over the summer.

Unfortunately, the landlord there would not allow the resident to keep the hive, even after multiple conversations about the importance of honey bees, how safe they are in urban environments, and the hive’s superb safety record (nobody ever got stung).

So, they were evicted.

We moved them to one of the Best Bees Company research apiaries for the remainder of the summer, in Medfield, MA. They thrived out there, and had no problem finding plenty of pollen and nectar. But for whatever reason, the hive just wasn’t building up the high population needed to survive a cold, New England winter.

Luckily, Mary came along, and Follow the Honey was looking for bees to live in the store. This hive in particular could only survive the winter in a warm place, and their story of survival is a perfect match for the amazing power of bees and humans alike.

Follow the Honey provides an amazing third chance at life for this hive. Enjoy!

Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D.
Best Bees Company, Owner
noah@bestbees.com
(617) 407-8979

Check us out Follow The Honey out on Facebook!

www.facebook.com/pages/Follow-The-Honey-Inc/102156739861820

And here is the link with the evolving National Honey Bee . . . → Read More: Aug 20 National Honey Bee Day at Follow The Honey]]> Please join in the buzz as we celebrate Massachusetts 1st National Honey Bee Day as we Grand Open our Follow The Honey store at 1132 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA with a day into night series of honeybee-centric events.

Check us out Follow The Honey out on Facebook!

www.facebook.com/pages/Follow-The-Honey-Inc/102156739861820

And here is the link with the evolving National Honey Bee Day line up:

www.facebook.com/pages/National-Honey-Bee-Day-Massachussetts/129105057173032

We’ll be screening under the stars in a Harvard Square green space a documentary work-in-progress.

Following gist from the filmmaker herself who will be in attendance at the screening and throughout the day.

FOLLOW THE HONEY

a film by Karen Koch

Inspired by a love of pollinators and a visit from the National Guard to study Permaculture in Northern New Mexico before being deployed to Afghanistan, Ms. Koch has spent a year following the honey. The National Guard’s mission, in the northeastern province of Paktya, was to help restore the bee habitat. Devastated by 30 years of Russian landmines, 10 years of drought and a subsequent generational loss of agricultural knowledge, Afghanistan is an environmental disaster. After following the National Guard’s classes in New Mexico and then the mass pollination of the almond orchards in California’s Central Valley, Ms. Koch and her cameraman became embedded with the Guard to FOLLOW THE HONEY in Afghanistan.

The teachings of Permaculture provide a framework to examine the complex interconnectivity of Colony Collapse Disorder and the signs of American empire collapse. Honey and Money – it’s all connected.

Having returned from Afghanistan 24 hours before Osama Bin Laden was killed, editing is still in its early stages. The filmmaker would like to use this screening as a focus group to help guide the final film.

PLEASE NOTE: What you will see is a rough cut of a work in progress and Karen hopes that the audience will participate in a lively focus group like talk and give creative feedback!

We’ve received almost all of our chosen retail software [Lightspeed] and hardware [Apple] for the store now, meaning next week we begin the process of learning how to operate our POS [point of sale] system. Somehow, all of the gismos and wires and cash drawer and drives and card swipes will fit together seamlessly yet for . . . → Read More: But It’s A Bees-ness!]]>

We’ve received almost all of our chosen retail software [Lightspeed] and hardware [Apple] for the store now, meaning next week we begin the process of learning how to operate our POS [point of sale] system. Somehow, all of the gismos and wires and cash drawer and drives and card swipes will fit together seamlessly yet for now all looks akimbo like the wrapping and cardboard flotsam and jetsam after the frenzy of opening gifts under the Christmas tree. How this is going to allow us to track inventory, create bar codes,  print receipts and more boggles at least my mind, yet many have made a success out of retail business without being rocket scientists so there is comfort in knowing we’ll get through this. Inventory is coming in, antiques, candles, cards, honeys, jewelry samples and so on. We need still get our own FTH labels printed and assign to each item. And we need to order bags that we can stand by. Even the Lululemon and Whole Food bags reusable “green bags” are made in China! My new friend and evolving collaborator, Jerry Fain of OpenHup, is on the case finding a women’s collaborative who can make them for us at a better price while the women get paid a better rate. This is our hope with all our vendors. To as much as possible, tell the story of each source in store. We’re going to host a “soft opening” July 31st with Cambridge Local First small biz allies and members of TheMove who can help us test our systems and get a bit of a handle on what we’re doing before our doors officially open August 20 [National Honey Bee Day]. So, back to the bags qnd the liability insurance, and seeking a liquor license so we can carry mead and — and, getting our counter built! And tomorrow four NUC colonies come so we can establish them in the forest where we are going to try some organic, non-medicating approaches to bee tending after we lost three booming hives over the winter anyway while using all the traditional methods advised; medicating, ventilating, insulating, apistan, terramycin, menthol, lots of honey in store. Well, the bee tender’s motto I hear is: “Next year will be a better year!” So on that note, I’ll leave you with another musing shared from my friend and tender gardener J.g Hayes. Seems to me this meditation is very much how I feel when it comes to bees and this bees-ness!

Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

and sings the tune without the words

and never stops, at all–

And sweetest in the gale is heard

and sore must be the storm

that could abash the little bird

that’s kept so many warm.

I’ve heard him on the chillest land

and on the strangest sea

yet never in extremity

did he ask a crumb of me.

[click here for a 3D fly through!] Follow The Honey Virtual Store Tour

Ingo and I head to Home Depot to buy the red cedar he will deck our back sitting sanctuary with. Minka VanBeuzekom – running for Cambridge City Council, by the way! – having just planted beautiful honeysuckles to learn to crawl along our gold and black railing with riotous multi-colored flowers spilling from . . . → Read More: Follow The Honey Sacred Garden]]>

Displaying sweet offerings!

Ingo and I head to Home Depot to buy the red cedar he will deck our back sitting sanctuary with. Minka VanBeuzekom – running for Cambridge City Council, by the way! – having just planted beautiful honeysuckles to learn to crawl along our gold and black railing with riotous multi-colored flowers spilling from bee boxes out front. A movable palette for the storefront is being customed so we can host a variety of ala carte performances be they lyrical or musical. Every inch of available space on the outside and in being transformed into something sweet, artful and magical. To wit, my new kindred friend J.g. Hayes [Joe] Vision Landscaping the back bringing sacred sanctuary sense and sensibility to each stage over time which fully invokes the secret life of bees and honey in this little piece of urban heaven. Thanks to Renaissance man J.g. Hayes for sharing the following with me and – who as everyone involved in this store  [story] – wears infinitely eclectic coats of personal color; shaman drummer, author, bard and so on; for receiving this from him yesterday softened sticker shock felt when one is investing such money into a dream. We still do live in the material world after all! However I keep supreme faith in “build it and will come” when the intention rises from the heart and soul serving the need in others for a taste of sweetness in their midst to manifest. This is good and right livelihood.

It’s ughten and I’m up not because my mind is racing with worry, but rather that the mile high club of tasks that must be expedited for Follow The Honey store -which at its heart is about “story” and a . . . → Read More: Countdown to August 20 Grand Opening]]> If at first an idea doesn’t seem crazy, then there is no hope for it.” — Albert Einstein.

It’s ughten and I’m up not because my mind is racing with worry, but rather that the mile high club of tasks that must be expedited for Follow The Honey store -which at its heart is about “story” and a state of mind-  to open with a magical, substantively satisfying and legal [yes indeed, the ramifications of everything from signage to sewage] when it comes to being sure all “i”s are dotted and “t”s are crossed when it comes to licensing and insurance along with a well run day and night of events for National Honey Bee Day which is blessed by a roster of local luminaries who have signed on to share their story. Likewise, we are collaborating with an amazing artist/photographer to self-publish a photo book of women beekeepers from Massachusetts; twelve Melissae all whom have a story to capture in snapshot and blurb involving an actual photo shoot and writing. It will be beautiful and it will get done. And then there are the hard facts on the ground needed to have a physical store along with the mystical gems of that which it evokes and stands for. A store needs bloody inventory! A hard and software POS <point of sale> system! Staff! Bags and boxes for products sold. Landscaping. Lighting. Licensing. I promised myself that I would blog daily as to the practicalities of this countdown and the people, the magical minion, helping weave the corporeal from the mystic. Each and every one of these line items lends itself to yet another check list of “to dos”, emails and call backs, phone tag and invoices and well, you get the picture. Thing is, it’s all very much a lovely blessing to know that each and every one of these tasks has no other rubric but that they are tended to with the best of intention and integrity. So, forget about perfection here. We are counting down to open for real now and it will all be sticky and sweet, like honey. But unfiltered, raw honey. And because of that it will be rich and riddled with that which is redolent with seeming imperfection as it ain’t filtered or processed. Minka planted the honeysuckles out front today with riotous flowers in a few old bee boxes. Joe begins to weave sacred sanctuary in the back patio space to reclaim urban midden. Caneen by online inquiry and SUV ferrets furniture lost to repurpose artistically for shelving our salon of discovery. Ingo fancies that he’ll build our humble backyard deck rather than the carpenter. Yet all of this leads to sticker shock, regardless of how close to the hip one hopes to keep costs down. And it’s a challenge to get old sideboards through a basement passage without nicking wood or paint. Colette sets up Google docs to track our best sources from all 50 states and around the world; the artists we’ve begin to muster. And then, there is marketing. A list of our local press contacts to be connected with. And the ongoing reveal of local and global like minded organizations to partner with. More emails and outreach to insure we get the word out. And it’s all good because it is alive. We will never arrive, we will never be complete. We will always be a work in progress breathing in the inspirational input of that we are informed by, while laying down the framework we need to hold it with. And so, I’ll go back to bed now and get a few hours of shut eye before Chrisanne delivers to the house the plus hundred handmade honey soaps she made. Then, a dash to the store to meet UPS trying yet again to deliver our solar made beeswax candles.  5am, official birdsong in the city too. Another day will go by in a flash with so much undone and yet to do, old and new. And THAT is where the unending possibility, and adventure, begins.

Tori reflects on The Beekeeper album with, “The passion that this woman has…and the bee shaman…working with a tradition that forces you to look at those places that may need to be stung…and in order for you or for I to gain the sweetness…wisdom does not come without the sting…” Back to blog tomorrow to reflect . . . → Read More: Bees and Tori Amos]]> Dear Friends,

Tori reflects on The Beekeeper album with, “The passion that this woman has…and the bee shaman…working with a tradition that forces you to look at those places that may need to be stung…and in order for you or for I to gain the sweetness…wisdom does not come without the sting…” Back to blog tomorrow to reflect on this and the next five interviews she is mined to make meaning of pain and healing as it pertains to bees. To see the first one, click on:   www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoV6sEukd8Q

I am still learning rudimentary skill of posting attached video and image in Word Press website admin, but in future will get it!

[if anyone knows a Word Press savvy wizard for the bee-cause who might like to mentor me on a few things, please introduce!]

Yours in discovery,

Wallis Winzer

Bee Tender