A honeybee farm in the city? Sounds impossible but we recently visited a small backyard honeybee farm right inside Sta. Clara Subdivision owned by Archie Acuña. I’ve met Archie once through fellow blogger Martin of the BacolodFoodHunters. Martin also invited us bloggers to visit Archie’s farm but schedule would not permit. But a friend who is into raw vegan diet approached me for a source of pure natural honey, so I had the chance of finally visiting Archie’s Apiary. It was just plain curiosity for me but for my friend, it could mean a steady source of natural honey so she wanted to make sure it was produced naturally.
Importance of Honeybees
The rock star of the social insect life is the honeybee which lives in highly developed colonies. Honeybees collect nectar from flowers and store them in their honeycombs. When mixed with their enzymes, the nectar turns into honey which now becomes their food which are also much coveted by humans.
Bees have a special role in keeping the balance in our ecosystem. They pollinate the flowers which enable plants to bear fruits for continued seed production. So it’s really important that they don’t become extinct. No bees could mean no food for us.
Urban Beekeeping
Archie has around 7 hives made of wooden boxes in a small portion of their sprawling backyard at Sta. Clara Subdivision. Archie’s bees gather nectar from the flowers of trees and flower gardens in the subdivision. Archie’s mabolo trees bear fruits all year because of the continuous pollination from the bees. They’re one of the sweetest I’ve tasted too.
His bees are western honeybees (Apis mellifera) which is the only one of nine species of honeybees which is not endemic in Asia. Surprisingly, it was very docile unlike our native honeybees. We didn’t need to wear protective gear when getting close. Archie said that as long as we don’t get in their way there’s no need to fear getting stung.
Archie harvests honey every 3 months and a hive usually yields around 11kg of honey. He doesn’t feed his bees with sugar unlike some beekeepers so the nectar was naturally gathered by the bees and turned into honey. He sells the honey with the honeycomb so people will know these are natural honey. Others remove the honey from the honeycomb while others slice the honeycomb and just chew. The honeycomb is actually the beeswax which you can just chew and throw away after you have eaten the honey.
What came as a surprise discovery was Archie’s wine from honey. We simply love its sweet, smooth flavor. Unfortunately, his wine is only for family consumption.
I was surprised to see that the bees only need a small space. Archie’s son wasn’t even scared of the bees because as long as they don’t feel threatened they don’t attack. I was wondering if I can also rear bees in my backyard. Well, I think everything can be learned as long as you have the interest and dedication. In the meantime, I’m just glad to find a source of natural honey right here in Bacolod City.
