We will model a revolution in beehives, beekeeping and the production of honey that will encourage other beekeepers to expand their hives and potential beekeepers to enter the field of beekeeping.
Leader
william vaughan
Location
2547 McAdoo Ave. Memphis, TN 38112
Beekeepers in Australia have designed a revolutionary new beehive that will eliminate 85% of the work of beekeeping - namely, extracting honey from the hive! These hives will make extracting honey and maintaining hives more productive, more efficient, educational and more attractive for both existing and new beekeepers.
1) We will order, then add the "Full Flow top box" to the existing brood box/hive in our community gardens.
2) We will then, most likely in the summer of 2016, set up the second "Complete Full Flow box" and split the first hive to form a second hive.
3) Throughout this process we will be working with youth in the surrounding neighborhood that work in our community gardens from mid April through late September. These youth are from a wide variety of backgrounds, many of them from refugee families who have settled in the Binghampton neighborhood.
4) We will also be working with and teaching beekeeping practices to adults from our two partner churches.
5) Finally, we will invite existing beekeepers in the Memphis area to observe the process of production and extraction and will share our story both orally and in writing through our "Grow Memphis" network and the local beekeepers association that meets monthly at The Agricultural Center in Shelby Farms.
Bees are essential for our ecology. They are the primary pollinators of a great many of our plants and foods. Given the crisis in bee colonies it is becoming more important to provide models of beekeeping that will encourage a critical mass of urban and local beekeepers, supporting urban gardening and the health of our local ecology and food production.
And...the honey is local and delicious!
