The Buzz on Ypsilanti's Honey Bee Festival

by Michael Bianco

_{You might have heard the murmurs about the international crisis concerning honeybees. Since 2005, honeybees around the world have been dying off in unsustainable numbers. Since honey bees are responsible for pollinating 70 out of the top 100 human food crops, supplying about 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, people everywhere are responding to the crisis. From Brooklyn, NY to Donna, TX, positive, grassroots activism is being used to try to change the situation. I recently spoke with Jamie Berlin, a beekeeper and co-founder of the Ypsilanti Festival of the Honey Bee, to find out more about what she’s doing to raise awareness about the crisis.}

_{Current: Jamie, tell me how you got into bees.}

Jamie Berlin: In 2009, I saw a PBS episode of Nature called “The Silence of the Bees.” I was stunned by what was going on with the honey bees. A month or two later, a community member, Lisa Bashert, had been cited for illegally keeping bees and was mounting a campaign to legalize beekeeping in Ypsilanti. I joined her campaign and spoke in favor of bees before city council. The ordinance was passed in November, 2009, and the following spring, the Ypsi Food Co-op (where Lisa Bashert works) started the Local Honey Project (LHP). I learned how to be a beekeeper by participating in the project.

Are there other forms of bee activism you’re involved in?

I spent three years learning in the LHP, and then in the last two years I have formed a bee stewardship project called Ypsi Melissa. The program allows me to mentor new beekeepers and keep bees in partnership with community members throughout Ypsilanti. I’m working with about 12 hives in the city in a number of styles including Top bar, Warre and Langstroth. One of the folks I mentor is a sculptor and that’s how the festival was born.

Who is this sculptor/mentee/collaborator of yours? How did you start working together?

Her name is Elize Jekabson.
She asked me for some old comb because she wanted to make a bronze sculpture of the comb. It’s stunning, dead bees and all! She brought the sculpture to a talk that I did, and I was so struck by the weight and significance of the work. It was like a bronze sculpture to memorialize those who’ve died in battle. It inspired the idea of a bee art show, which quickly expanded into an idea for an entire festival.