The goals of the Ypsilanti Food Co-op’s Local Honey Project are to manage urban honeybee colonies in the Honeybee Alley at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op; to propagate Michigan-adapted survivor honeybees; to use natural, organic management practices; to learn and practice beekeeping skills; and to produce local "Co-op Urban Honey!" Follow along with our activities by checking our Facebook page: Local Honey Project page.

Our Local Honey Project also strives to educate about the threats to honeybees and other insect pollinators. To that end, LHP volunteers have been active in our city helping to make Ypsilanti a Bee City USA, as well as restoring habitat and making Ypsi neighborhoods BEE SAFE, starting with Normal Park on the west side.  

Our mission is to educate customers about the critical role honeybees play in our food system and support volunteer beekeepers as they learn new skills in natural beekeeping. Additional benefits are to support entrepreneurship by encouraging more and more small urban holdings of hives. Several of our LHP volunteers have reached out to help pollinators with new local initiatives: 

1. Ypsi Melissa bee stewardship program with Jamie Berlin
2. Ypsi Township teaching apiary led by Jamie Berlin
3. New Bee Apiary and lavender farm led by Germaine Smith
4. Warré & top bar hives locally built by carpenter Barb Brown
5. Beekeeping mentorship (Belleville area) led by Brennah Cavanaugh

Spring in the Honeybee Alley at Ypsi Food Co-op.

Have you spotted a swarm of honeybees? Stay back, protect those bees, and let us know! Email the Local Honey Project and we can find those bees a good home!

Learn more about what to plant in your own back yard to support honeybees, as well as more information about yard chemicals: Tips for Your Back Yard. Also see the Bee Safe Ypsi Facebook Page for many more good tips and resources! 

Are there honeybees in your wall? SE Michigan Beekeepers Association can help. Read about Bees in a Wall on this page first! There are many tips there to help you resolve this problem.

Need more information?

Email Connor, the Local Honey Projects resident beekeeper, for further help. 

Download: 

Honey by Anna.pdf