Beekeeping has been going on in the United States since the 1800s and in Detroit since the 1930s. In the last two decades, the Motor City has seen a resurgence in beekeeping initiatives, hand-in-hand with the growth of urban agriculture within its borders. Detroit Hives is one such endeavor, founded in 2017 and run by two beekeepers, Nicole Lindsey and Timothy Paule.
Urban agrihoods are an innovative creative movement in green city-development and urban agriculture. Agrihoods are neighborhoods that center on and are strongly connected to a working farm and they have previously been found in rural and suburban areas. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) is changing that by establishing America’s first sustainable urban agrihood in Detroit’s North End.
It’s not easy to combine one’s gifts and passion for agriculture with a need for housing and a salary in an urban environment. Farmer-in-Residence Zaro Bates has been lucky enough to do just that in the courtyard of a Staten Island apartment complex, known as Urby. Bates runs this 4,500-square foot organic city farm and the business Empress Green Inc. with her husband and co-worker/beekeeper, Asher Landes.