Hi, and thanks so much for visiting my Urban Farm and Beehives website!
My name is Mil Apostol, and I have been cooking professionally for over 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area in restaurants such as Bay Wolf in Oakland, China Moon in San Francisco, and Cesar in Berkeley. Food is my LIFE. I navigate by food (“Oh, just turn left after you see the Natural Grocery store”), my dreams are about food, my metaphors are food driven, and I just plain think about food all the time (especially in a yoga class!!). Cookbooks are all over my house!
I was not a born gourmet. I grew up eating food most of us ate such as Hamburger Helper, pork and beans from a can, and Velveeta cheese. Although I was born in the United States, my immigrant parents exposed me to their old country ways of procuring food. I remember playing in gardens that my parents started with other immigrant Filipino families. I remember my father scraping coconuts in order to make a fresh coconut milk. I remember my parents pulling shellfish off the rocks and picking up seaweed at the beach. Being involved with the immediacy of food is in my blood.
We put in our own edible backyard garden and got our first beehive in the summer of 2008. I didn’t know anything about gardening or beekeeping, although I had many questions about these subjects. I tried to learn from my many mistakes and I hope to chronicle the answers to my burning questions here for your benefit and education.
How To Connect With Me (It’s easy!!)
It is my sincere hope that you find the information on my site useful, and I look forward to your comments and questions through my contact page.
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Hi Ray,
Thanks so much. It is gratifying to hear from readers. I hope I will be able to RSS feed subscribe to your blog too so I can keep track of all your hives goings on.
Best,
Mil
Hi Mil! I love your blog – glad to see beekeeping is alive and well in the Bay Area. I was able to add your feed to my Google home page, so now I can stay in touch.
Thank you!
-Ray Hopper
Hello there, love the blog. My friend deeply desires to keep bees, and me goats. She will surely adore this as well.
Joli
PS thanks for checking out my blog
Corporealcuisine.blogspot.com
Hi Carrie,
Thank you for writing. My partner noticed a bee struggling on the sidewalk and took her home to try and revive. Only a beekeeper would notice a little bee on the sidewalk, and I realized I was so GEEKED out on beekeeping that I thought I would share my true experinces!
Love the list – rings so true with me!
Here wishing you lots of luck! I’m not sure where in S. Cal you are, but if haven’t already, check out Backwards Beekeepers. They do a lot of classes and outreach and Kirk loves bees! Please let me know if I can help you further.
Happy to have found you. I’m in southern CA and hope to get into bee keeping real soon. Wish me luck!
HI Mil -
Yes, UC Davis isn’t too far and an excellent School. Wish I would have gone their.
Not sure how many hives I want to start with, but as I am easing back into the knowledge needed, I am planning right now on 3, and will go from there. If it works out well, I may place some on neighboring orchards – free to the Rancher, and I would have the honey. With CCD they are having more and more problems getting enough pollinators in the Spring Season, as I am sure you know.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the email and compliments. Likewise to you. I was excited when I followed you on twitter to see on your profile that you do podcasts. I have always enjoyed listening to gardening podcasts.
Wow, you have 6 acres in Butte? That’s close to where I went to college in Davis. How many beehives are you planning on getting?
I’ve subscribed to your website feed, so hoping we can keep in touch.
Best wishes,
Mil
Thanks for the follow. Found your website, and boy am I glad I found it. You have a delightful collection of great information. Thanks for providing it.
Am in the process of moving back to Northern California from Texas as soon as our home sells. Anxious to get back where clean fresh food is appreciated. Will have to visit your restaurant on my return.
I have 6 acres in Butte county I intend to garden, orchard, and of course, have bees.
Steve