Bier i Byen (Bees in the City)

On Sunday, the Røde Roses Kaffebar hosted a local honey tasting and autumn apple pressing event. The Røde Roses (Red Roses) coffee bar is an institution in the Mythological Quarter (our neighborhood). It was formerly a børnehaven (kindergarten) and is now, in addition to being a coffee bar, the drop off point for an udflytterbørnehaven (kindergarten out in the country). Every weekday morning a big purple bus pulls up in front of the coffee bar and children from age 3 to 6 years take the bus out to the countryside. Parents stand outside the bus and wave at their children until the bus has driven away.

The coffee bar owners, Tue and Anne, are great neighbors. They  filled planters with herbs that sit outside on the square and they hosts events like Sunday’s, Bier i Byen (bees in the city).

The event celebrated local agriculture in the form of Danish apples and local honey. Bybi, the urban beekeeping initiative we have written about before here, came with hives and samples of honey from Nørrebro and Valby, other Copenhagen neighborhoods. They also had fresh honey from the udflytterbørnehaven’s hive! That børnehaven, named Røde Rose II, has a learning hive for the children.

I spoke with Christian, who runs the hive. He helps the kids learn about bees and the honey making process. They draw pictures of bees and help harvest the honey. Christian said that the hive generated around 8 liters of honey this year. I was impressed until he said that that wasn’t a lot, because the city hives generate around 15 liters per hive. City hives generate more honey than country hives.

Besides the honey tasting and info kiosk, the event including an apple pressing. A giant green, old-fashioned apple press was set up on the square and our neighbor, Jacob took turns with the children pressing the apples into apple juice.

Crisp and slightly tart, it tasted like autumn. The press took a lot of physical exertion and was a great social experience. Interacting with food production in such a social was so much more exciting than going to the store to buy a bottle of apple juice.

Note: Thanks to Caroline Fortune and Røde Rose Kaffe Bar for sharing their photos of this neighborhood event.