Dear MVGer -
April 16th was a dreary overcast day, but it was a joyful one in our community garden in Takoma Park, as it brought with it the arrival of two hives of honeybees!
 As you know, honeybees are remarkably important creatures, our "hardest working domestic animal," in the words of scientist Mark Moffett of the Pollinator Partnership. Through their ceaseless labor bees pollinate between 1/4 and 1/3 of all the food we eat (Check out the funny and very informative interview of Mark Moffett on the Colbert Report.)
And bees are also in great danger, under attack by the still undiagnosed "Colony Collapse Disorder," with roughly 1/3 of all commercial colonies having died off over the past 4-5 years.
Installing bee hives in your community garden is a wonderful way to respond to this threat, not to mention a great way to get your garden and the surrounding area to burst forth to new levels of floral beauty and vegetative productivity. (And the honey! Between 50 - 100 pounds per hive in the second year!)
Our garden's hives were provided by Jeff Miller of DC Honeybees. And this is what the process looked like on April 16:
 Jeff arrives! We are one of 10 stops that morning to install bee colonies. That mini van he's standing next to has 650,000 honeybees in it. 
A close up of one of a single bee carrying case - there are 13,000 bees in there! 
Some final preparation on the hives, which had been set up several weeks earlier. 
Bringing the bees to the hive... and then... 
... you just dump the bees in! 
How gentle are they? Well, so long as they're not protecting any honey or brood or their queen, pretty darn gentle. So much so, in fact, that you can literally put your hand in and gently scoop them up. A couple of the community gardeners tried it - it's really quite a sensation! 
The bees in their new home, with the frames upon which they will build their honeycomb being installed. (Those are feeding holes at the bottom of the frame. These cavities are filled with sugar syrup to give the bees some food to get started.)
 Ah - the Queen arrives in her special carriage! She is placed in the hive, and the bees literally eat through a food capsule to get to her.
The finished hives, now complete with bees!
We are aware of several of you on the MVG list who are beekeepers yourselves (hello Rich, Matt and Elizabeth!), and for those who want more information about beekeeping you can contact the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association.
And whether you do it yourself or get another beekeeper to do it for you, we highly recommend that you look into getting a bee hive for your garden - there is nothing better you can do for the bees, for your garden, for the environment and for helping to build a more sustainable, self-reliant and local food system here in Montgomery County!
Yours in producing local abundance,
Gordon Clark, Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens
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