Hive Mind: Michael Kiefer’s Bees Make the Best Neighbors
Readying the smoker.
Before GreenDC Realty owner Michael Kiefer sold houses, before he built houses, before he even spent time on dairy farms in Finland and the Peace Corps in Ukraine, he went to school for apiculture—raising bees.
Soon after he moved to the northeast D.C. neighborhood of Langdon, Keifer reclaimed that part of his childhood, setting up a couple of beehives behind his house. Back then, the city wasn’t quite clear on whether beekeeping was allowed.
“Nobody said anything if you had them,” Kiefer says, “but nobody talked about having them.”
Then came the Obamas’ garden, and The Secret Life of Bees, and publicity around the sad fate of honey-producing insects. The Fairmont Hotel started raising bees on its rooftop, and the District offered a class in urban apiculture–it's totally a big deal. Now, Kiefer is helping staff at the nearby National Arboretum bring hives from their research area out into the public view, and offered Housing Complex a tour of his backyard bee farm.
This past Saturday morning, Kiefer was checking in on his three hives–essentially wooden boxes that you can order online. The bee colonies help keep his garden of fruit trees, tomatoes, salad greens, herbs, and all kinds of berries in producing in overdrive, yielding more than enough crops to share with neighbors and friends. His next project is a chicken coop. (Inside the house, he also grows the South American hallucinogen ayahuasca, which he uses in ceremonies conducted by a Peruvian shaman a couple times a year.)
Apiculturists try to deal with their bees in the early morning, as they’re just waking up; the sixty to seventy thousand bees in one three-year old hive buzzed lazily as the sun hit them. Still, to keep them calm while he opens the hive, Kiefer sprays the bees with sugar water, which starts them cleaning the sticky sweetness off of each others’ wings. If that fails, he’ll use a smoker with pine needles burning inside to disorient them.
He’s especially cautious with the “Caucasian” or “Russian” variety, which are more aggressive than their “Italian” cousins. Keifer recalls once dropping a piece of the hive box, and instantly regretting it.
“The whole hive exited, saw me, and I had to run,” he says. “It was like a cartoon.”
The Caucasian bees, in their three-year-old hive, had sealed the wooden pieces of the hive closed so well with propolis produced from tree resin—naturally weatherizing their home—that Kiefer couldn’t even pry off the top without help. But a younger hive was easier to disassemble, and Kiefer scraped some honey off into a bowl.
Housing Complex can testify that it was delicious.
Photos by Lydia DePillis.
Mmmm....bee barf.
Too much propolis!
11:29 am
Since when is it legal to keep chickens in the city? I thought the govt was pretty clear on that one.
12:25 pm
The District policy on chickens at this time is a no go but with everything in life there is a bit of caution and knowing your neighbors is where its all at.
At some point the District will come up with a policy that will address this like the bees which are now acceptable.
1:32 pm
Dear god no chickens but please lets all have more large, crapping, barking dogs in the city.
5:44 pm
I am looking forward to the groundbreaking of a $400,000 rooster park with a central logo proudly announcing Adrian Fenty as the mayor of DC ;-)
9:52 am
greg - yeah, because the large, crapping, yelling humans are so much better...
11:04 am
Um, this guy is running hallucinogenic drug rituals in his home? Hello? I'm sending a link to the DEA and they'll bust this dude. He's growing plants with Schedule I controlled substances. He's gonna go down.
11:58 am
The plants in question come from a registered USDA organic seed grower Horizon Herbs in Williams Oregon. The USDA is aware of the plants and has inspected them :-)I hope this addresses your questions.
9:41 am
I think its great Mike!! As a beekeeper in Norfolk, VA I understand about city restrictions, so glad that keeping bees is now legal in your area. Hopefully our city will experience a similar enlightenment, I won't hold my breath though! We are not allowed to have chickens here either, ironically, we can can have one pig. Go figure!!
7:17 am
I'm sending a link to the dea should link up with his obgyn to get the stick out.