Honey bees are critical to a healthy ecosystem, and it is estimated that one-third of the human food supply depends upon pollination from insects like them. Unfortunately, honey bees are struggling these days, but YOU can help!

By hosting your very own bee hive in your backyard, you can support your very own colony. As social insects, bees live in colonies, the population of which consists of a single queen, a few hundred drones, and thousands of worker bees. And boy do they work hard!

The good news though, is that you don't have to work that hard! This starter kit consisting of a hive and bees comes with a full year of hive management by a team of seasoned backyard beekeepers.

As the hive host, you can be involved as much or as little as you would like. This father-son team, David and Rex, will gladly pick up, deliver and install the bees into the hive for you. They will also visit periodically to check on the hives and maintain a healthy hive.

And when it comes time to harvest honey, they'll don their bee suits and equipment, collect the frames from the hive, spin out the honey in their centrifuge, and jar the honey for you.

They're happy to leave you with as much honey as you want, and if there's extra, they'll sell it to raise proceeds to support their efforts to install more hives in Marin and help boost honeybee populations.

Please note: The team of beekeepers is focused on Marin County, but could be convinced to travel to neighboring counties for the right hive host. ;)