The supply for local raw honey in the city was scarce until two people teamed up to create Detroit Hives since the D is the place to ‘bee’.
Timothy Paul Jackson and Nicole Lindsey, the co-founders of Detroit Hives, started learning more about the honey business after Jackson struggled to get rid of a cold. They realized local raw honey improved his health tremendously. Since the closest bee farm was hours away, Jackson and Lindsey decided to bring a bee farm to Detroit and found out that many of the vacant lots in the city make it a great place for pollinators. As the couple says “weeds are the bee’s needs!”. But it’s not all about the bees, Detroit Hives is impacting the city as well. The bee farms contribute to creating cleaner and safer neighborhoods, adding value to the community. Having bees as neighbors also means more pollinating increasing fresh vegetable harvests for residents.
Detroit Hives is the first and only bee farm in the city of Detroit. Jackson and Lindsey started the business with 32 hives occupying 7 vacant lots but their goal is to have over 200 hives by 2022. Detroit Hives provides 50 pounds of honey each year and they plan to continue expanding.
Update: Detroit Hives now has multiple partners in the community that have a national footprint. This includes Walmart Foundation, Detroit Tigers Foundation, Gleaners, The Bee Conservancy, and many more.
They have also worked to support frontline workers during the pandemic by raising funds and distributing care packages.
Watch the video to see what’s the buzz with Detroit Hives!