The Birds and the (Backyard) Bees

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

Gabrielle Marcantonio and Pedro Martinez stand on their patio, the table heaped with the produce they’ve spent the morning gathering from their garden, which spans about a third of an acre. As Gabby explains how they’ve discovered and redefined community through a desire to feed friends and family, Pedro moves in the background, visibly sucking in air. “Oh!” Gabby laughs. “He just took a bite of a spicy pepper we grew!”

The pepper is one of around 1,000 different plants growing in the couple’s urban garden, which changes every year. This year, they explain, they planted a lot of medicinal things for pollinators, which is something they’re trying to be more conscious of since welcoming the bees.

“The pandemic showed us that our food systems are very vulnerable; it’s been a stark reminder of just how fragile they are. But people have been doing this (beekeeping and growing food) for a long time,” Pedro says, gesturing toward the towering garden.

Like many of us, Gabby and Pedro adopted a few pandemic pets. Unlike most of us though, their pets are largely self-sustainable, help the garden, and produce delicious honey. “The bees are amazing little creatures. I love them so much it makes me want to cry,” laughs Gabby. “And our garden is on steroids now,” Pedro adds. They’ve also seen cross pollination happening–plants that grow both pepperoncinis and jalapenos, for example.

They’re giving us this beautiful gift, and the least we can do for them is try and keep them safe.

In many ways, the bees are a happy accident. A friend purchased a hive, but had reservations about his space, so early in the pandemic, he passed it on to Gabby and Pedro. “It just fell into our laps, and we had this huge garden the day, if we’re anyway. I didn’t want to focus on the negative, so I just helping in our tiny decided to put my hands in the dirt,” Pedro says.

Soon after, the couple put their hands in more than neighborhood, dirt, filling their inherited hive with bees that had to be it’s mission relocated from a hive in a tree in their yard. When word accomplished.” got out that they were in the business of relocating bees, they began getting calls from people who knew people who needed help. Apparently, it is relatively easy to find secondhand bee boxes, and with a little TLC and artwork by Gabby and her mother, they make a happy home for bee populations. Gabby describes the wild bees (whom they refer to as wildlings) as mild-tempered and beautiful, and says they happily share the garden with all sorts of other bee colonies.

One of the great things about backyard beekeeping is that anybody can do it. Bee boxes are easy to obtain, and don’t require much space, especially if your neighbors embrace them, and they should–bees typically fly up and simply get to work, leaving humans alone. To begin, Pedro explains that you should purchase a bee nucleus, which consists of a queen, three frames with brood of all stages, and two outer frames with honey, pollen, and bees. You can buy one locally or online, and the options are endless.

Of course, if a colony gets too big, they’ll just pack up and leave, which happened to Pedro and Gabby when they didn’t grow the box quickly enough. “But we’re learning as we go,” Pedro says. Pedro and Gabby occasionally harvest honey, but as we move into winter, they’re mostly focused on keeping the bees alive through what may be an extra chilly season. “They’re giving us this beautiful gift, and the least we can do for them is try and keep them safe,” Gabby says.

Right now, their bees vary, and include Italian bees and American bees, which are different in color. Since the bees came to live alongside them, Pedro and Gabby say they’ve delighted in studying their behavior, which they describe as “a well- oiled machine.” As Pedro explains, “It’s a community, and everybody knows their job. They don’t complain, they just support each other.” Gabby, who didn’t love bugs before the bees, says she’s become more tolerant too.

At the end of the day, if we’re helping in our tiny neighborhood, it’s mission accomplished.

“At the end of the day, if we’re helping in our tiny neighborhood, it’s mission accomplished, you know?” Pedro says. “If this is part of the small legacy that we have–to help the earth grow, to help these little creatures survive,” Gabby declares, pausing, “that’s special.”