Local Buzz Andelsbirøkterlag

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What is Community Supported Beekeeping / Andelsbirøkterlag?

Head on to our blogpost to read all about Community Supported Beekeeping.

What does it mean to be a member?

Members sign up to Local Buzz through one of the two membership packages: hands-on membership & basic membership (see details below).

The membership fee is paid in advance to become a 1/10th shareholder of a beehive. We will keep 3 hives in total, so we will accept 30 memberships in 2023.

The hives are maintained and cared for by an experienced beekeeper, so the primary responsibility lies with the beekeeper. Local Buzz hands-on members are co-beekeepers, who attend hive inspections and learn about the practice through participation. At the end of the season, honey and wax is shared equally among all members.

Prices: Basic membership: 2300 kr & Hands-on membership: 3500 kr

2021 and 2022 members get a 10% discount!

Hive inspections

Hive inspections are carried out (almost) weekly during the season to ensure the wellbeing of our bees. We do not like to open the hives more than necessary therefore there are approximately 24 hive inspections in one season, and thus, a limited number of spots.

We meet on Tuesdays at 16:30 at Greenhouse Oslo, weather permitting (beekeeping is undesirable when it is rainy). We will coordinate for another day if this is the case. Our hives are at the rooftop of the building, and we have a room for storage within the building.

We inspect the hives in a group of 5-6. Hive inspections last around 60 min to 90 min in total depending on the task at hand. After our work with the bees, we sit down in a reflection circle and talk about what we did and why. This is the opportunity to link practice with theory.

Hands-on members have the opportunity to participate once a month in hive inspection. We have to limit the participation, otherwise hive inspections become too crowded for the participants to observe, ask questions, contribute, and in general get the most out of the experience. However, all hive inspection notes will be recorded in the beekeeping diary, which is a part of the Learning Platform, in order to bridge the gap between hive inspections.

Workshops

When the time comes, we harvest frames full of honey from our community hives and bring them inside the building for honey extraction. Quite the short-travelled, low footprint supply chain 🙂 We have a full set-up for honey extraction indoor.

The honey harvests will be held during weekends/weekday evenings, in groups of 4. This is an extremely unique activity, seeing the transfer of this golden liquid from frames into jars. It engages every sense, from the sweet smelling aroma to sticky hands! Not to mention the taste straight from a honey-laden frame! We try to harvest specific to each queen: Queen Annabelle, Queen Flora and Queen Angie will be our resident queens in 2023. At the end, you will have various honey from various harvests, each one distinctive of the season and the colony who produced it.

The wax never goes to waste. Norwegian wax is very precious! We render our wax together in a workshop and share it equally among members. Then members can come together to make beeswax salves or other products!

Last but not the least, we organise a season closing event with a honey tasting activity — try to use our senses to describe the characteristics of each product! This is your first step to becoming a «honey connoisseur».

What to expect?

• This program is English. You can expect a diverse like-minded community from very different backgrounds who share a similar interest as you! Getting to know the bees 🙂 There are 30 seats.
• A LOT of learning moments. Once we open the hive, countless inspiring and fascinating moments of learning will emerge. However, this isn’t a formal educational program, but rather an apprenticeship, so what we learn depends on what happens at the hives at that moment! Your personal engagement is key to your learning! The more involved you are, the more you learn.
• Very clean, very local, unprocessed and hard-earned raw honey + precious Norwegian wax + numerous bee facts up your sleeve
• Hot summer afternoons in the beekeeping suit
• Heavy box lifting, good for muscles; but many hands make light work!
• Fresh liquid honey right from the hive
• The simple delight of seeing the bees at work
• The pure happiness of connecting with a superorganism and getting to understand a little bit of their world
• The novelty of participating a CSB/Andelsbirøkterlag, which is a rarity in Norway as well as Europe!

What does the season look like?

A calendar and a detailed agenda for each activity will be shared with members.

Welcome meeting: 07. March, 18:00-19:00 @Gartneriet – get to know each other, get to know the program better, introduce the Learning Platform

Webinar: 21. March, 18:00-20:00 @Zoom

Hive inspections: From mid-April til September & Varroa treatment in November

Honey harvests: From July to September

Wax rendering: October

End of year celebration & honey tasting: End of September or beginning of October

Newsletter ‘the Local Buzzer’: first Tuesday of the month between April-November