Creating a Culture of Local Sourcing on Campus With the Help of Bees
Urban beekeeping is all the buzz, it’s an interactive experience that inspires people to be more sustainable, and the result is a super local, sweet, golden honey.
For many years, Alvéole’s beekeeping program had been part of the on-going educational curriculum at an independent school, where partnering with Sodexo’s on-site chef, they would extract the harvested honey for various food programming, from incorporating the honey into special featured menus for catering, and as gifts prepared for special sponsors and guests of the school. The student’s beekeeping experience solidifies learning and supports important academic concepts. It also recognizes the importance of learning through stimulating learning experiences over the years with student’s increased engagement.
Sodexo officially partnered with Alvéole, a B-corp certified partner for installing beehives, in 2021.
Today, our team of experts work with our clients to bring the honeybees to your site: a business, school campus or any organization. Alvéole will install the honeybee hives and care for the honeybees, taking care of all required certifications, accreditations and insurances. This easy to implement, sustainable solution provides meaningful engagement for your students, facility and staff. It teaches people and organizations to do better and more for the environment and creates powerful connections. Not to mention, delicious honey.
The proof is in the honey
The team at West Point Grey Academy, the private independent school mentioned above, received their Alvéole honeybees in 2018. The goal was to create a local sourcing culture in the school community: honey is produced by the bees in their hives, the honey is harvested by Alvéole, and then the honey is used in our kitchens in various recipes such as Honey Glazed Donuts, Honey Glazed Salmon and Honey Muffins. The muffins were prepared with grade six students involved in the beekeeping club.
The school’s latest harvest provided them with 200 jars (140 grams each) of the local honey, which was used in the kitchen, but also given as gifts to students, employees and other community partners. Urban beekeeping is a great example of local and sustainable sourcing, it has a positive impact on our environment, but is also great engagement for the school community and benefits student’s health and wellness.
Bring on the honeybees
In July 2021, Trinity Western University, in collaboration with Alvéole, a student, professor, and their student life office, installed a home for their bees in the campus garden. This collaboration is a part of their Applied Ecology course - BIOL 484, an exploration of the various practical applications of biology in environmental management. This is the first of many urban beekeeping programs our partnership with Alvéole will bring to campuses across the country, and we cannot wait to taste the results.
If you are interested in implementing Alvéole’s urban beekeeping at your campus, contact one of our experts.
See how together, we can create a Better Tomorrow > Better Tomorrow Report