People have kept bees for thousands of years, mostly for honey, but also to support the health of their crops, as bees are thought to be responsible for 80% of pollination worldwide. But the popularity of urban backyard beekeeping has soared around the world in recent years as city-dwellers look to raise awareness of food security and ecological sustainability.
John and Dione Chisholm of Calgary have joined the community of urban beekeepers with two hives they tend on a small deck outside their second-floor window in the inner-city neighbourhood of Kensington. This spring will mark the beginning of their fourth year of beekeeping.
They just happen to live a few doors down from Monica Kidd, who visited their home-based honey operation over the course of a year.
Here is her documentary, “A Season of Bees,” with music from the Creative Commons from bensound.com and from Nick Rivera.
It aired on VOBB.org on Mar 26, 2018.