Alexandre McLean’s first contact with beekeeping happened as he studied music in university. In between semesters he flew to Manitoba to help his uncle, a beekeeper, with his more than 2,000 hives. “He taught me everything,” Alexandre recalls.
Flash-forward to 2012 when Alexandre launches Alvéole, an urban beekeeping service, with friends Étienne Lapierre and Declan Rankin Jardin. Starting with two hives in the Plateau, Alvéole now boasts an impressive 150 hives, each of which can produce 10 kilograms of honey a year.
“The idea came from a similar project in New York,” Alexandre explains. “We started an urban beekeeping initiative here for fun and it attracted a lot of attention, people got interested in the project. From two hives in the Plateau, we’re now at 150 and cover most of the island; we have some in St-Henri, Verdun, Rosemont, even in Pointe-Claire.”