Founded in the autumn of 2020 by Idil Akdos, Local Buzz Andelsbirøkterlag is one of the first initiatives engaging citizens in a community-supported beekeeping model. Andelsbirøkterlag is a Norwegian word coined by Idil & Økologisk Norge to describe the Community Supported Beekeeping model. In 2023, Local Buzz is collaborating with ByBi to offer the Andelsbirøkterlag model once again!

Local Buzz takes into its heart the mission of familiarising citizens with honey bees by involving them in the beekeeping practice through low-threshold activities. In this way, Local Buzz aims to increase participation in sustainable and ethical food production and promote local honey.

Engagement in learning is key in every activity as Local Buzz strives to use the honey bee as the link between humans and food and more broadly, culture and nature.

Finally, Local Buzz’s approach to CSB is ‘co-design’. The Community Supported Beekeeping scheme is novel, therefore Local Buzz wants to evolve as it grows! If you want to contribute to Local Buzz as a member, in any way, just shout out!

Here is how you register yourself in the 2023 cohort!

What is Community Supported Beekeeping?

CSB rests on the same principles as Community Supported Agriculture (Andelslandbruk), please see how we interpret these principles as described below. We have set up only a limited number of memberships to avoid exploiting the model. Members sign up 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.

Sustainable practices: Our practice is responsible to the environment, both for current and future generations, maintaining and promoting the health of ecosystems, and also is responsible to the beekeeper by providing a decent livelihood through a prepayment scheme.

Shared risk / shared abundance: Members reap the bounty but also share the risk, meaning that everyone benefits when it’s a good season. This mutually beneficial relationship between farmers and the community dates back at least to the 1980s in Japan, where the word for the concept, “teikei,” roughly translates into “food with the farmer’s face on it.”

Involvement of shareholders: Local Buzz facilitates the members to be part of the experience by providing the necessary training, mentorship and supervision, thereby acting as a learning arena.

Dialogue: Local Buzz encourages members to ask questions and engage in dialogue about any aspect of the operations and the beekeeping practice of Local Buzz.

Transparent finances: At the end of the season, Local Buzz shares with the members the finances. This way, Local Buzz ensures that what members are paying through their memberships translates into a decent livelihood for the beekeeper.

Honey and Wax

As a hive-shareholder you will be enjoying locally and ethically produced honey.

We will produce several types of honey by harvesting at different times of the season. In 2022, we won two gold medals in the honeydew (honningdugg) category at NM i Honning (the national honey championship).

The wax will be rendered at the end of the year. Both will be distributed evenly amongst shareholders.

As in other community-supported schemes, we share the abundance as well as the risks!

Local Buzz Andelsbirøkterlag 2023

Hands-on experiences

Community supported beekeeping gets its power from its genuine and rich community support. The hands-on membership package is for those who are interested in attending our regular hive inspections! This way you get to see the fascinating hive life, how to act around bees and how to read what is happening inside the hive.

Do not worry – we have all the protective gear for you: suits and gloves in many different sizes. We will also guide you and supervise you while you’re having a hands-on experience.

If you want to be immersed in the experience deeply, this is also possible. Just contact us and we will try to accommodate your wants and needs!

Local Buzz Andelsbirøkterlag 2023

Workshops and activities

There are so many things to do around beekeeping. Let’s explore together!

Harvesting! Honey extraction is a full sensory experience that will engage your sense of smell, taste, sight and touch. If you have not experienced honey fresh from the hive you won’t want to miss this opportunity.

At the end of the year, we will organise a honey tasting activity for all honey that we've harvested!

Local Buzz Andelsbirøkterlag 2023

Basic Membership

2500 NOK

This membership includes a basic hive-share which includes:

Honey: Estimated amount is 2.5 kg of honey, depending on the season.
Wax: Depends on the season, estimated amount is 30 gr.
Webinar: ‘Introduction to beekeeping’. In this 2 hour seminar, you will be immersed in a wide range of information from the biology of bees to using materials and tools properly. As a result, you will get acquainted with the hive community and how to get started with your hive. After this webinar, you will feel more confident about being hands-on around a beehive.
- Topics covered:
  - The community inside the hive
  - Beekeeping equipment, tools and protocols
  - Seasons and changes of life inside the hive
  - Learning platform: Resources and support tools for new beekeepers.
Workshop: ‘Honey Harvest’: Extracting honey from frames into jars is a full sensory experience that will engage your sense of smell, taste, sight and touch.
- This will be a series of workshops and will last around 3-4 hours throughout the summer into the autumn.
- We will harvest honey-full frames from the hives and bring them to our extraction room. As local as possible!
- You will get sticky! But as a reward, you will experience honey fresh from the hive. You won’t want to miss this opportunity!
Workshop: ‘Wax Rendering’: We will render the leftover wax that we have collected throughout the harvests! We also share recipes for making salves and beeswax food wraps and encourage members to get together to make use of their wax collectively.
Newsletters: The season is short in Norway and the growth in the hives happens exponentionally. From one visit to another, you may be surprised at the differences you will witness. Therefore, we send out ‘The Local Buzzer’ newsletters during the height of the season to inform the members what is happening at the hives, so they do not miss out on anything.
Access to our Learning Platform: Learning about bees and honey production is enhanced when you dive into real experience and utilise various types of media from podcasts to videos to blogs and books and discussion forums. As Local Buzz, we have developed a Learning Platform where the most essential information will be available to you at all times plus a Resource section to share. We believe this platform will become a dynamic, busy space where members share news and resources with each other.
Access to the beekeeping diary: We keep a beekeeping diary to record the status of the hives and document our actions, for each queen at each visit. We share this with you so you can follow the hives remotely. This is another way to learn what is important to look for during a hive visit.
Access to suits and gloves: Local Buzz owns suits and gloves of various sizes and styles, and you do not have to worry about what you wear when you show up.
Access to our community FB group: We chat, coordinate, share news with eachother informally in our chat group.
Access to our collective photo album: Taking photos at the hives is not the most convenient thing. For one, you are focused on what you are doing and don’t wanna get stung. Yet you also want to document these moment. No worries – we usually take turns, and our beekeeper tries to take many photos during the hive visits. Later, we all upload our photos in a collective album so everyone has access to all the photos

Hands-on Membership:

3500 NOK

This membership includes one hive-share with monthly hands-on experiences for one person, which includes:

Honey: Estimated amount is 2.5 kg of honey, depending on the season.
Wax: Depends on the season, estimated amount is 30 gr.
Webinar: ‘Introduction to beekeeping’. In this 1.5 hour seminar, you will be immersed in a wide range of information from the biology of bees to using materials and tools properly. As a result, you will get acquainted with the hive community and how to get started with your hive. After this webinar, you will feel more confident about being hands-on around a beehive.
- Topics covered:
  - The community inside the hive
  - Beekeeping equipment, tools and protocols
  - Seasons and changes of life inside the hive
  - Learning platform: Resources and support tools for new beekeepers!
Monthly hands-on experiences between April-October around beekeeping and learning as we practice together. This will be done in small groups.
- Each experience is on average 1.5 hours, in which we will get dressed, open the hives and inspect according to the season’s needs and tend to the hives under the guidance and supervision of your beekeeper. As we open the hives, numerous learning moments will emerge.
- Hive inspections will take place on Tuesdays, as long as the weather permits.
- For first-time beekeepers, it is very important that you attend the webinar. This way, you will be feeling comfortable opening a hive and performing inspections.
- A beehive inspection protocol document (beekeeping diary) will be shared with you to familiarise yourself with the routine!
- An attendance sheet will be shared where you can sign-up for available spots.
Workshop: ‘Honey Harvest’: Extracting honey from frames into jars is a full sensory experience that will engage your sense of smell, taste, sight and touch.
- This will be a series of events and will last around 3-4 hours throughout the summer into the autumn.
- We will harvest honey-full frames at the rooftop and bring them to our extraction room. As local as possible!
- You will get sticky! But as a reward, you will experience honey fresh from the hive. You won’t want to miss this opportunity!
Workshop: ‘Wax Rendering’: We will render the leftover wax that we have collected throughout the harvests. We also share recipes for making salves and beeswax food wraps and encourage members to get together to make use of their wax collectively.
Newsletters: The season is short in Norway and the growth in the hives happens exponentially. From one visit to another, you may be surprised at the differences you will witness! Therefore, we send out ‘The Local Buzzer’ newsletters during the height of the season to inform the members what is happening at the hives, so they do not miss out on anything.
Access to our Learning Platform: Learning about bees and honey production is enhanced when you dive into real experience and utilise various types of media from podcasts to videos to blogs and books and discussion forums. As Local Buzz, we have developed a Learning Platform where the most essential information will be available to you at all times plus a Resource section to share. We believe this platform will become a dynamic, busy space where members share news and resources with each other.
Access to the beekeeping diary: We keep a beekeeping diary to record the status of the hives and document our actions, for each queen at each visit. We share this with you so you can follow the hives remotely. This is another way to learn what is important to look for during a hive visit.
Access to suits and gloves: Local Buzz owns suits and gloves of various sizes and styles, and you do not have to worry about what you wear when you show up.
Access to our community FB group: We chat, coordinate, share news with each other informally in our chat group.
Access to our collective photo album: Taking photos at the hives is not the most convenient thing. For one, you are focused on what you are doing and don’t wanna get stung. Yet you also want to document these moments. No worries – we usually take turns, and our beekeeper tries to take many photos during the hive visits. Later, we all upload our photos in a collective album so everyone has access to all the photos.