Mimi’s is an incredibly well-run food pantry with an attractive grocery space, where those facing food-insecurity can sign up and receive free food and household necessities with an easy, hassle-free, and dignified visit. At their Riverside location there is a four acre food farm, complete with twenty bee hives! The honey we harvest goes right onto the shelves for their patrons.

The neighborhood just off of the Lexington Bridge in North Central KCMO hosts a wonderful orchard, helmed by Whitney Barnardo, who has brought life to what would be just another empty lot. Fruit trees and native plantings will be pollinated by three of our hives, and the honey will go to support the orchard and its community.

A Northeast KC four-acre farm complete with greenhouses, produce and livestock, Drumm Farm sits on land that also serves as foster homes for area children, especially those with siblings (to avoid splitting them up). Farm Manager Anthony Osborne helped place ten hives that will pollinate the farm and give honey to be sold at their market, which operates continuously through the growing and harvesting seasons. Bee KC is overjoyed to be involved with Drumm, whose beautiful mission and community we are honored to support.

KCMO’s Ivanhoe neighborhood is an underserved but thriving area of our city, which the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council has been serving for literal decades. They tackle such problems as housing, crime, issues faced by the youth, and many more. On their food garden we have hives whose honey goes straight to the neighborhood, and kids and adults enjoy hive visits and bee-related activities.

Named after Harold Holliday Sr., whose amazing and pioneering biography can’t be done justice here. The school hosts ten of our hives, and the honey is sold to parents to supply a little extra funds for the science & food garden program, and students put on suits to check out the hives and help with honey harvesting, among other things.

A gorgeous community-run farm & garden in midtown KCMO’s Longfellow neighborhood (near Ruby Jean’s, just off of Troost). Their produce rivals any urban farm’s we’ve seen here or elsewhere, and the honey goes to supporting their great work.

KU Medical Center has partnered with Bee KC to host honey bee hives and native bee homes across their campus, as part of a program starting urban gardens on several of their properties in the immediate area. The green roof seen in the center of the photo above hosts one Layens hive from Horizontal Hives, and we’ve placed Langstroth (vertical) hives over the rest of the campus.

The oldest public cemetery in Missouri, Union Cemetery is an absolute gem of KCMO. Run by a nonprofit board, they preserve history and protect a thriving natural space with old trees, native plantings, and now beehives! It’s been discovered that old cemeteries are great oases for urban wildlife, included little winged and six (or more) legged friends. If you haven’t been you should absolutely talk a walk through, it’s fully open to the public and is beautiful at all times of year. They even have many public events — some especially fun ones in October & spooky season — which now include hive visits and honey harvests!

We are truly proud and humbled to have been involved with the Juniper Gardens New Roots for Refugees farm, where Cultivate KC gives folks who have left their home countries free plots of land to farm, along with connections to local markets and buyers. Our sixteen hives on the farm will pollinate all of the plants, and the honey will be sold by Cultivate and the farmers to help support their great mission.

Truly one of a kind, Adam Jones is a building owner, restauranteur (Clay & Fire), farm operator, restoration specialist and more. Jones has been working in KC for decades to save old buildings from demolition, rehab them and keep alive KC’s vibrant cultural history, notably on the Westside and in the Bottoms. Bee KC has placed hives on three empty lots Jones owns on the Westside, the honey will go to restaurants and of course to his own kitchen!

Former Executive Chef Philip Thompson and owner Kelly Magee graciously gave us the rooftop of their Antioch location for 6 hives! No one needs an introduction for the best BBQ restaurant in KC, and their support means a lot. Keep an eye out for special honey dinners and other items they’ll make with our honey. Huge thanks to Philip, Kelly, Chef Patrick Peluso, Andrew Kneesy and the whole crew for hosting our ladies.

Nicolas Garcia started Treehouse Urban Farm in the Waldo neighborhood of KCMO, as a way to supply area chefs with local sustainably grown produce, and to spread love and knowledge of socially conscious farming practices. Our hives on his nearly one-acre lot will supply pollination and hundreds of pounds of free honey annually for Treehouse, which will be sold to support the farm and the great things Treehouse does in the community.

Chef Vaughn Good and partner Kristine Hull opened Fox & Pearl Restaurant in 2019 to almost immediate acclaim, being named a best new restaurant in the US by Esquire Magazine and nominated for a James Beard award, among other accolades. An empty lot across the street from Fox & Pearl will be converted into an urban garden complete with a BBQ pit, an herb and vegetable garden, native plantings and of course beehives! Honey and pollen will be used in the restaurant, and the ecological benefit will be felt for miles around.

Award-winning distillery Tom’s Town has let us put a few hives on their rooftop downtown, a landmark building with a fantastic bar and really fun and intoxicating tours! (Apologies for the pun.) Owner David Epstein is bringing a lot of pollinators to downtown KC, which sorely needs them. And the bees themselves enjoy a view that rivals even the most expensive loft apartments!

KC chef Craig Howard has been growing food on his property in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood of KC for years now, and we share his passion for fine produce, and ethical animal husbandry & farming practices. His urban farm is host to garden parties and workshops, and our hives there will see many visitors and also give his chickens plenty of bite-sized bee snacks! Their youtube channel is a great place to learn more about them and urban farming in general.

At 11th and Chestnut, in East central KCMO, Jeff and Jessica Helkenberg have transformed a few blighted lots into a thriving urban farm. Native fruit and nut trees share space with chickens, vegetable and herb plantings, berry bushes qnd even a cactus patch. Our bees are now enjoying life in their garden, feasting on the bountiful nectar and pollen, and creating honey to be sold at their stand in the City Market and elsewhere.

Farmer Mike Rollen started Ophelia’s Blue Vine, named after his grandmother, at a gorgeous and fragrant greenhouse tucked away on Vine street. Mike raises herbs and other produce for sale in stores and markets and has a very active facebook page—his videos are the best! Look him up, and help support a great guy with a strong mission in an underserved part of our city.