Keeper brings bees to Seattle gardens

CORKY LUSTER is hard-pressed to explain why his beekeeping idea turned into a full-time business and then some.

"People are interested in pollination and food . . . and honey bees have become the poster child for environmental concerns," he muses.

Luster had a German roommate in college who introduced him to the idea of keeping a few chickens and beehives in the backyard. So when Luster heard about bees dying off and colony collapse disorder a few years ago, he decided to do his bit and set up a few beehives in his garden. Friends were fascinated with the bees — but not so much with all the work involved. The Ballard Bee Company was born, and two years later Luster doesn't have time to remodel houses anymore.

His bee-business model is about cooperation, education and crossing property lines, not unlike Seattle's popular Urban Garden Share program. For a fee, Luster places up to four beehives (the maximum in Seattle) in host gardens in the spring. He comes by once a week during the summer months to add frames and check on the queen bee. Luster harvests the honey in late August and shares some with the hosts, who also get first dibs on the wax for candles or maybe encaustic painting. Luster removes the hives and stores them over the winter, when the bees pile up like penguins to keep each other warm and feed off the honey left in the hive for them.

What's in it for Ballard Bee Company's 28 host households besides a couple of jars of fresh honey? They're not only helping save honeybees, but their gardens come alive with all that pollination going on. Luster has noticed far more flowers, berries, birds and insects in his garden since it has housed an apiary.

Honeybees are the workhorses of the bee world, accomplishing 80 percent of all pollination. How about the role of native mason or orchard bees? "I think of them as sprinters," says Luster. "They come out early, do a great job and are done by June."

Hives take up surprisingly little space in the garden; they're about the size of a small file drawer. Bees require a quiet, sunny spot, preferably a southeastern exposure out of sight from the street. The western or European honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a gentle creature, but Luster says each hive has a personality of its own. Some bees are grumpier than others. Some aren't morning bees and resent being disturbed early in the day. He works barehanded to gauge bee aggressiveness. "I think you're a better beekeeper without gloves on," Luster says.

Each hive houses 50,000 to 60,000 bees. As you can imagine, beehives often prove a catalyst for conversations between neighbors. Luster reminds people that honeybees leave people alone and don't hang around food like wasps do. They're all business, flying straight to a flower and then back home to download nectar. Each hive yields an average of 30 to 40 pounds of honey, although the best hives can produce as much as 120 pounds over the summer. This means Luster gleans enough sweet, lustrous honey to sell to smaller shops and restaurants around town (see www.ballardbeecompany.com).

It works a little differently for commercial clients, like Bastille Restaurant and the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. The hives are up on the roof, and their honey is harvested for serving in the restaurants. The Fairmont is a new client, and Luster has never had beehives up so high. Honeybees usually forage within a mile of home, but they can roam as far as six miles away; Luster figures the Fairmont buzzers will make a beeline for Freeway Park.

Luster sees beekeeping as both art and science. Like gardening, it's all about seasonal rhythms and working in partnership with nature. Spring brings plenty of work spurred on by the excitement of a new season. Summer calms down to mostly maintenance, autumn brings the harvest followed by winter dormancy.

Does Luster look forward to a rest after all the buzziness of summer?

"Every winter I pine for the bees," admits Seattle's ambassador of urban beekeeping.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "The New Low-Maintenance Garden." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com. Ken Lambert is a Seattle Times staff photographer.