Community aspirations to provide local homes for hens and honeybees received an official stamp of approval this past spring.
After two years of efforts from community members and the Energy and Environment Commission’s Local Food Task Force, the Edina City Council unanimously voted in favor of apiary and fowl ordinances that allow residents to maintain up to four hens and an apiary, a honeybee home, for roughly every half-acre of land.
The ordinances mean more than adding fresh eggs and honey to your breakfast table. It’s representative of a bigger environmental picture.
Yard and garden hens negate the need for many pesticides since insects are a typical treat for chickens.
In addition, housing honeybees helps sustain the shrinking population of the insects essential for pollinating one-third of nation’s crops.
Interested in raising honeybees or hens? Contact city clerk Deb Mangen at dmangen@ci.edina.mn.us or 952.826.0408.
