Couple Advocates Urban Beekeeping in Culver City

HoneyLove founders Rob and Chelsea McFarland explained the value of urban beekeeping at a meeting in Culver City in Wednesday. Attendees also learned about honeybees' decreasing numbers in the United States.

“Some crops like almonds cannot be grown without the help of the honeybees,” Rob McFarland told the group. Eighty percent of plants are pollinated by the honeybee and thus need their help to grow. 

“Our purpose of HoneyLove is to support the bees, it’s not for honey. It’s for the bees,” said Chelsea McFarland, HoneyLove CEO.

The couple has been making the rounds in West Los Angeles, using the Mar Vista Farmers Market as their hub this summer. As reported , Mar Vista Farmers' Market Green Committee co-chair Sherri Akers said that on a single day at the market, more than 500 people signed the HoneyLove.org petition to legalize backyard beekeeping in the city of Los Angeles.

These petition drives were the initial steps in an effort to add Los Angeles to a list of cities that have already legalized beekeeping, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Santa Monica.

In Culver City, Deputy Community Development Director Thomas Gorham said that "the city codes currently do not have any provisions for such activity," when asked about whether or not beekeeping is legal within city boundaries. 

According to Rob, the U.S. is experiencing something called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), with more than 1 in 3 bee colonies collapsing throughout the nation. CCD is caused by a number of issues, including pesticides, poor nutrition, stress and parasites, he said.

Urban beekeeping is the solution to protecting the bees from CCD, Rob said, calling backyards the “last refuge of the honeybee.” Another factor in the disappearance of honeybees is that many people have misconceptions about them, Chelsea said, which leads them to try to exterminate the insects.

One of the main misconceptions about honeybees is that they're going to harm people, Rob said. Honeybees sting only when threatened and they die when they sting, he said. It's wasps that sting repeatedly. 

“More people are killed by eating eggs than by all stinging insects combined,” he said.

The audience seemed to enjoy the presentation, with attendee Wendy Averill saying she was excited to have the couple come speak. Renee Tymn agreed.

“I’m glad to see them come to my neighborhood,” Tymn said. “It’s a long way from Los Angeles.” Correction: Tymn said, "I'm so glad to see them [HoneyLove] come to my neighborhood since Atwater Village was a long way from Culver City."

For those interested in getting started as an urban beekeeper, Rob said a beekeeping suit, gloves, boots or thick socks are necessary. Be sure to buy a smoker because it calms the bees down and a hive tool to help to pry open the hive, he said. Chelsea said another way to help the bees is to put a clean water source on your property.

“You can adopt bees on your property or you can sponsor bees on someone else’s property,” Chelsea said. “We want to take people from 'I want to help but I don’t want them on my property' all the way up to 'I want to put on the suit' and everyone in between. Anyone who wants to help, we want to let help.”

To sign HoneyLove.org’s online petition to legalize backyard beekeeping in Los Angeles, click here