Get a buzz out of sponsoring bees

The next time I zipped up a hood was on Monday, in St Mary's Secret Garden in Hackney, where The Golden Company installed three hives last summer. The colonies had been delayed in transit and the Post Office had wrapped the boxes in heavy plastic, which had suffocated hundreds of bees.

As a consequence, no honey was extracted last autumn. Gustavo operated the smoker and lifted off the lid, exposing the small, buzzing colony beneath. We took out one frame, its cells neatly sealed to protect the honey inside, and tucked in. Delicious — London honey has won awards in international competitions as the variety of flowers in the capital and longer flowering season lead to complex, subtle flavours.

The Golden Company was founded last year by Zoe Palmer and Aisha Forbes. Zoe was in Albania filming for National Geographic and became fascinated by a group of elderly men who casually blew their cigarette smoke at their hives before lifting out the honey, all without gloves, hats or any form of protection. Local kids, also without fear, were fascinated, and Zoe thought this would be a great way to engage inner-city youngsters with nature, at the same time improving their confidence, self-esteem and personal aspirations. Gustavo had been helped to extract the frame by two local children, Lakshmi and King, who had overcome their initial fear of bees and now stood right by the hive, unconcerned by the insects that landed on their gloved hands.

"So different from last summer when they first arrived," said Zoe.

Bees, as the children are taught, are amazing insects. It is estimated that pollination is worth £200 million to the UK economy but in 2008 London lost 33 per cent of its beehive populations through Colony Collapse Disorder.

Figures from the British Beekeepers' Association show that in 2007, a third of hives failed to make it through the winter, and in 2008 nearly 20 per cent of the UK's honeybee colonies died. According to the Grocer magazine, sales of honey were down 5.4 per cent last year, while prices have now risen by 18 per cent.

Zoe will be selling the Golden Company honey at the Secret Garden. Paula Gent, who runs St Mary's, sells her vegetables to locals (you can buy a lettuce for just 50p at the moment, plus kale and herbs. As summer advances, veg sales increase and net around £60 a week). Zoe puts the hives to other uses, too, encouraging local teenagers to turn honey and wax, scented with garden herbs, into scrubs, creams and, new for summer, lip balms. They had held a course on this last Saturday and on Monday I tried one of their honey, almond oil and herb scrubs (£4): it works a treat and smells fabulous.

On a nearby Tree germander, covered in small blue flowers, the bees were feeding furiously. If we don't build up our bee populations urgently, we face a crisis in food production. That's why Zoe and Gustavo, aided by funds from the Plunkett Foundation's Making Local Food Work initiative, are seeking 100 city-based companies to sponsor individual hives either on their roofs or around their premises. The Golden Company will maintain them and plant bee-friendly plants, such as the germander, near the hive, and local children will be brought in to help. Watching Lakshmi and King was impressive: most kids, and certainly urban ones, have a natural fear of bees. Learning to overcome that and to handle them is a brilliant way to boost fragile confidence.
thegoldenco-op.com