No sooner did we post our story about Fortnum & Mason's rooftop beekeeping effort in London than one of our readers alerted us to a similar one under way across the ocean. This time, it's atop a Toronto hotel, and the resulting honey is being used to supply the hotel's restaurant kitchen.

Last summer the Fairmont Royal York hotel installed a three-hive apiary 14 stories up above the streets of Toronto. Affectionately named the Honey Moon Suite, The Royal Sweet and The V.I.Bee Suite, the three hives are home to as many queens and their accompanying entourage of more than 10,000 other bees, each of whom forages for nectar in the hotel's decade-old rooftop herb garden and on nearby Toronto Island. The apiary was established in partnership with the Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative and FoodShare, and is a natural extension of the hotel's herb garden, Executive Chef David Garcelon says. It's also part of the hotel's commitment to sustainable hotel management through its Green Partnership program. Garcelon explains: “You can’t find a supplier much closer than your own roof. Our colonies deliver irresistible honey for our guests, while promoting our ecological commitment to bee culture.”

The three hives had produced a total of 378 pounds of honey by last fall and won 2nd place in the Liquid Honey Amber category at the 86th annual Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November. Response from hotel patrons, meanwhile—who can learn about the source of the hotel's honey via the restaurant menu and also via its monthly audio podcasts—has been so positive that the hotel plans to install three more hives this summer. Similar efforts are also under way at The Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and The Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver.

All of which, of course, is further proof that consumers love things that are (still) made here, wherever that may be. One part hyperlocal production, one part storytelling skill, and you've got a winning recipe for sweet success! ;-)

Website: www.fairmont.com/royalyork
Contact: royalyorkhotel@fairmont.com

Spotted by: Dana

Hoping to unleash everyone's inner artist, Vancouver-based Raw Canvas is a creative hybrid: bustling café and full-service art studio.

Besides offering the usual café fare—organic coffee and tea, snacks, comfy couches and wifi, as well as wine, beer and tapas at night—Raw Canvas encourages customers to pick up painting. They can drop in at any time, buy a canvas and just get started in the open studio space that's connected to the café. Raw Canvas provides paints, brushes and all other supplies, and staff members and resident artists are on hand to offer encouragement and tips.

Inspired by popular art jams in Hong Kong, Raw Canvas aims to provide a low-threshold venue where people can come in for a few hours and explore their artistic impulses without committing time or money to a series of classes. With, of course, the added pleasure of a latte or glass of wine. Canvas pricing varies by size, ranging from CDN 40 to CDN 80. If you're a café owner looking to add a new source of revenue to your business, be inspired and get creative! (Related: A being space for learning English.)

Website: www.raw-canvas.com
Contact: paige@raw-canvas.com

Spotted by: Erin K.

Farmers markets have long been providing individuals with a place to purchase fresh produce, but until now there have been limited opportunities for individuals with gardens and fruit trees to distribute their own (leftover) crops.

Portland-based Veggie Trader, which just launched last month, is a kind of online farmers market that connects individual produce sellers, buyers and swappers. The service was started as an effort by foodies on both coasts of the US to help other families eat well, save money and make the most of the environment—all while putting their backyards to work for the benefit of the community. How it works? Registered users post listings describing their excess produce and specify what they’d like to receive in return—food or cash. They can also locate food available nearby, either by entering their zip code or by listing their desired produce in the ‘Wanted’ section, which is organized into categories like vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs, etc.

As more consumers take up urban and suburban farming, opportunities will grow for facilitators like Veggie Trader. One to set up for crop traders in your part of the world? (Related: More homegrown vegetables without the sweat.) For many more examples of concepts that help ordinary consumers make money instead of just spending it, check out trendwatching.com's latest briefing: sellsumers.

Website: www.veggietrader.com
Contact: www.veggietrader.com/contactus.php

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann & Emma Crameri

Everyone knows that baked goods tend to be best when fresh from the oven; the challenge for bakery customers is predicting when that might be. New technology from London agency Poke now removes the guesswork, however, by enabling bakeries to alert their customers via Twitter any time a new batch is done.

Much the way fans of LA's Kogi Korean BBQ can follow the company on Twitter to find out where its taco truck is at any given moment, so BakerTweet allows bakers to keep their customers informed. But because bakery kitchens don't tend to be hospitable to electronic devices—replete as they are with flour, eggs and other messy stuff—BakerTweet uses a specially designed box that can withstand the messiest kitchen conditions. Bakers begin by creating an account online with BakerTweet using their regular computer, inputting all the baked items they want to Twitter about along with the body of the Tweet that will be sent out for each. Back in the kitchens, the wall-mountable BakerTweet box captures that information, allowing bakers to simply turn a dial to select which item they want to Tweet about at that moment ("Fresh Buns," for example) and then push a button to send the full Tweet wirelessly to Twitter. Customers following the bakery then get updated immediately when it's time to go get those buns. A video on Vimeo demonstrates BakerTweet in action.

Poke staff originally developed BakerTweet for the Albion Cafe—its neighbour in Shoreditch, London, and currently the site of the only prototype device—for the very practical purpose of finding out the best time to go get stuff there. (To find out what's available, they simply follow @albionsoven.) However, as the company sagely notes itself, the technology is eminently applicable to just about any business that needs to communicate quickly and easily in real time about offers, pricing, stocks or other information. There's no word yet on pricing or availability; nevertheless, BakerTweet is not only a no-brainer to be implemented by bakers the world over as soon as possible, it's also yet another tasty illustration of the increasingly blurred lines between the online and offline worlds, as our sister site describes in its OFF=ON briefing. One to implement, adapt or partner with in the application of your choice!

Website: www.bakertweet.com
Contact: iwantone@bakertweet.com

Spotted by: Core77

Over the past few years, there's been a surge of interest in urban beekeeping, mostly on a small scale by amateur beekeepers. Fortnum & Mason is now taking the practice to a new level—the famous London retailer has placed four hives on the roof of its 181 Piccadilly building. From where, as Fortnum's describes, the bees are able to "fly high above Mayfair, visiting the grounds, gardens and squares of the best addresses in London, gathering rather superior nectar." (The colony was previously housed by Fortnum's in Shropshire and Oxfordshire.)

Pollen from chestnut and lime trees, as well as a wide variety of other flowering plants, is expected to make for a delicate urban honey, which will be on sale from May 2009. A 227g jar of Piccadilly Honey will be priced at GBP 10. Completing the picture, Fortnum & Mason offers an upclose view of the palatial beehives via two webcams.

It's a wonderful example of a retailer and food brand taking an uber-local approach to food production, and creating a still-made-here story that consumers won't be able to resist ;-) (Related: Honey without the mess — Sweet snobmoddity.)

Website: www.fortnumandmason.com/Fortnums-Bees/Home.aspx

Spotted by: @ktmonkey