My Humble Mission

For those of you who have been generous enough to follow us since our inception this past summer, you know that we started out with a modest goal:  let's get five new beehives in the urban environment of Washington, DC and let's have DC Honeybees be the folks who help these new Beeks.

Our focus did change slightly as the urban environment out of the box was sluggish.  But some good, and old-fashioned outreach to new friends (such as Arcadia, Church of the Pilgrims, Patowmack Farm) and some dumb luck (thank you Craigslist) have bloomed into some real traction.  There is genuine concern and interest in the honeybee and as a little education has shown, that interest has been converted to new Beeks.  And while honey and pollination are of interest, the survival of the honeybee is the true draw.

As some of you know, this little avocation of mine is secondary to my real life role as a real estate development professional.  So the following stats, more exciting than daunting, are daunting:

• We currently have over 40 installations of bees now scheduled for April 2011;
• Of those installations, about 25 percent are in the District in community gardens, rooftop spaces, and backyards;
• Prince Georges County Community College is installing two hives and has asked me to teach a beekeeping business class;
• Our outreach to micro-farms such as Arcadia has been almost universally warmly received;
• I will be driving 500,000 bees from Baltimore to DC in April in my wife's Explorer.

I think I need to reassess my goals for the balance of the year as we have knocked the cover off the ball thanks to all of you and your interest in our mission.  Thank you.

Please tell your friends about us.

Jeff.