Marion Pierson: I love honey, and as a honey lover when I heard
that the bees were a threatened species
and the honeybees in particular,
and colony collapse disorder,
all that.
I’m like, I’m going into beekeeping.
Cameron James: I work with the bees.
I’m a beekeeper. I have my own hive actually,
and I work with the bees,
make sure they are OK, make sure they are fed,
make sure there are no infestations of other bugs around.
I think it is great how we got this far in three years.
Marion: So, we do a lot here at MO Hives.
So, first of all, these were six vacant lots.
So, the first thing we did was try to come in and clear off the lots.
Shannon Hesterberg: In 2020 when Marion came to us
and said she had a use for these lots, we
thought it was a great use for them as well.
So, we own the building across the street,
which is a commercial building
and it is leased and occupied.
It also has a bunch of community garden plots
on it that are being utilized every year.
So, it seemed like a great fit for the bees
and the gardens to be next to each other.
Marion: This is the Blue Hills neighborhood,
and the Blue Hills neighborhood is one of the
most historic neighborhoods with one of the strongest home associations,
because the people here love here.
It’s a neighborhood that is rich in culture,
rich in community, and rich in their love for Kansas City.
Eddie Ellison: I have been over here, I’d say about 25 years.
I’m excited because, you know, we need it.
As a matter of fact you know, since they tore down the houses
and all the land was vacant, and what could be better than,
nature! Man, excited, I love it.
Marion: We are here to learn about honeybees
and other native bee species,
so we teach about that and we learn about that together.
Beautification is important for the environmental
and environmental justice factors.
Nobody should have to look at blight and trash,
so we clean up.
And then, we like to teach people about the economy of beekeeping.
There is a whole billion dollar economy around beekeeping
and it doesn’t just involve honey,
so we teach people about that,
the entrepreneur aspects of what it means
to be a beekeeper or what it means to operate an urban greenspace.
Cameron Milton: So today we had to remove our medication strips.
We put those on about every week.
And we went and checked on a couple of the frames,
checked on the brood,
made sure the queen is there and that they are doing good.
Last year, I decided to change my major to Ag.
I’m also seeing what else interests me.
If I could get something going in beekeeping,
that would be real good.
Marion: I was honored to be selected as a woman of achievement
in the Lt. Governors first award recognition
for women across the state of Missouri.
And when we came down for the ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion,
the First Lady said, this is a great story.
She said that she had always thought about having bees
at the people’s house as she calls it, the Governor’s Mansion.
And she said, would you guys be interested
in helping us convert the Governor’s Mansion
into an apiary and of course we jumped at the opportunity.
The Governor and First Lady have been amazing
in helping us to carry our message to an audience
that we just didn’t have access to before.
And we really do want to make this statewide because again,
the conservation conversation is going to take all of us,
throughout the state of Missouri
to really impact in a great way.
So, we are doing our tiny part with the honeybees.
Certainly, honeybees are not the only bees.
There are thousands of different bees,
lots of native species, some threatened.
So, we open the door to bee conservation with the honeybees,
but certainly we recognize it is so much bigger than that.
Bill White: So, we are out with the MO Hives Nature Action Crew,
teaching them how to conduct a bumblebee atlas survey.
And the survey is spreading nationwide actually,
and so we will be using it to try to get an idea of what kind of bumblebees
we have left in Missouri and what their habitat needs are,
what they go to for nectar and pollen.
But it’s to give us a better idea so we can recommend flowers
and or wildflower mixes to landowners , to landscapers,
and try to help the bumblebees out as much as possible.
In turn, helping other pollinators out.
Marion: MDC is helping us to carry that message
to Missouri residents that honeybees are phenomenal at what they do,
but there are lots of other bees and pollinators
that really contribute to the health of our ecosystems
all over the state and all over the world, all over the globe.
Conservation has to be an inclusive conversation
and we have to invite more voices into the conservation conversation.
Yep, it’s just been an amazing fun ride.
And that has been the best part of it,
has been meeting people, making the connections and becoming part of the neighborhood.