Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife has two million more residents, all them equipped with wings, stingers and a whole lot of honey.

Twelve-year-old Christina Johnston embarked on a mission to bring honey bees to Yellowknife earlier this year after watching a film documenting the worldwide decline in these important plant food pollinators.

The youngster, with help from her father, visited her grandparents in Kelowna, B.C., to learn a little bit about raising honey bees.

"We wanted to know about bees, so we went to my grandparents' house in Kelowna and they actually have a bee farms in Kelowna," said Johnston.

"So we got to know all about the bees and my dad was asking the people about whether he could bring them up North and he was curious about if he could and what he could do to keep them alive during the winter."

The bees - contained in four hives, each with their own queen - were brought up to Yellowknife from northern Alberta in May and given a home at garden supplier Arctic Farmer. No permits are required to import bees to the Northwest Territories, said the girl's father, Chris Johnston.

The bees appear to be doing well but it remains to be seen how they will cope with Yellowknife's harsh winters. The key to keeping two million honey bees alive in the winter is proper insulation and a healthy amount of food.

"You need to feed them sugar water and before the snow is all gone you need to get them to move around so they aren't lazy," said Christina.

There are perks, of course. The free honey is hard to turn away but the idea of getting stung didn't sit well with her.

"They asked me if I wanted to help and I said, 'yes, but I didn't want to get stung,'" said Christina.

"The first time I went to go see them, I had to wear a painter's suit and I looked like a big marshmallow. Because I liked it my dad got me a bee suit and it was a heavy duty one."

She helps out "whenever she can" but is realistic about the bees' chances.

"Some will (live), some won't," she said.

It was an easy decision for Arctic Farmer owner Darwin Rudkevitch to play host to the two million new inhabitants.

"They're good for the plants, gardens and the flowers," said Rudkevitch.

"We've had an interest in them, especially because of the failure of the hives in Alberta and throughout Canada."

There were concerns from the northern Alberta breeders when they sold them to the Johnston family, about the amount of food - pollen - available for the honey bees around Yellowknife, but according to Rudkevitch that hasn't been a problem.

"The crops of our flowers and garden, all of it was from the bees, the crops were incredible," he said.

Plans to sell Northern honey products are in the works, providing Yellowknife's newest insect residents emerge healthy after the winter.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.