All the Buzz
We like our apple, our pear, our big slice of juicy watermelon a day, especially when fresh from our own backyard come summer. With the environment a hot-button issue, know that bees are responsible for pollinating more than 80 per cent of those juicy fruits and veggies, not just honey-making machines. Startlingly, their population has been on the wane over the past half-dozen years, adding to the urgency of the doomsday scenario. Behind the scenes, there’s a cohort of eco-conscious types that have made it their mission to ensure the bee population stays as healthy and strong as the foods they give back to us to keep us, well, healthy and strong.
The Fairmont Hotel & Resorts’ Royal York in Toronto, for example, has had an apiary on its rooftop garden, referred to as a “bee hotel,” above, since 2008. The honey from the apiary is used in the hotel’s kitch- ens and even jarred and presented on the tables in its restaurants and tea service. Now, the hotel is adding special menus that include produce from the apiary and the garden it’s in, from which a portion of proceeds will go to Pollinator Partnership Canada.
So, what’s a “bee hotel”? According to Burt’s Bees, the U.S.-based beauty company known for its natural approach to creating its products,it’s a sustainable nesting space for solitary pollinator bees, which make up more than 90 per cent of the bee population and work independently to spread pollen and nectar from plant to plant, flower to flower. To wit, Burt’s Bees has partnered with Fairmont to order five “bee hotel” installations in buildings and public spaces across Ontario, modelled after the Royal York’s. There are already hives in 20 Fairmont hotel gardens and rooftops worldwide. In 2015, the goal will be to work together to create 100 bee hotel installations across Canada, designed by Toronto’s Sustainable.TO Architecture + Building. Burt’s Bees fans can also buy a limited-edition coconut and pear hydrating lip balm ($5, below), of which some funds will go toward the cause.
More flower – and bee – power comes via another iconic Canadian brand. In May, as part of its 135th anniversary celebration, Birks introduced Birks Bee Chic, Bee Sweet and Busy Bee jewelry collections. The company is supporting the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph, which is the continent’s most comprehensive research and teaching centre when it comes to apiculture. Ten per cent of the sales from the Maison Birks sterling silver honeycomb-shaped pendant ($150, above left) go directly to the university.
Or consider building your own bee kingdom. Read Megan Paska’s The Rooftop Beekeeper: A Scrappy Guide to Keeping Urban Honeybees (Chronicle).
Do urban bees like the new digs? At the Fairmont, 350,000 bees have already checked in. —Vivian Vassos