“Please help save the bees.”
The tags on jars of honey from Log Cabin Bee Farm send a clear message. Bees are in trouble, their numbers declining in recent decades. But throughout the Susquehanna region and statewide, devoted beekeepers are doing their part to preserve a vital resource.
“What happens if we don’t have bees?” says Bill Sprenkle, whose Log Cabin Bee Farm in Hellam, York County (www.logcabinbeefarm.com), specializes in breeding queen bees genetically equipped to lead strong hives. “The consequences are not very nice. The fact is that one out of every three bites of food we consume is there because the bees allow it to be there. That’s pretty powerful stuff.”
Enthusiasts cite a variety of reasons for the ongoing decline of bees, including the mysterious scourge known as Colony Collapse Disorder. There are mites and diseases, pesticides and diminishing food sources.
The rising alarm and the local food movement are sparking increasing interest in beekeeping. Registered beekeepers’ numbers have doubled in Pennsylvania since 2012, now reaching 4,000. Hives are up from 40,000 to 63,000.
Charlie Vorisek, president of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association (www.pastatebeekeepers.org), put a hive in the yard of a neighbor whose vegetable garden wasn’t producing. Before long, the neighbor was leaving an abundance of produce on Vorisek’s doorstep.
“He was tickled to death,” says Vorisek. “People are understanding better the connection between pollination and food production, even in their backyards.”
The movement has pushed into cities and suburbs, where some municipalities are easing restrictions. While city bees are faring well, their country cousins sometimes struggle to find food in regions where acres of crops don’t produce nectar. City and suburban bees have access to diverse sources of nectar, which they collect and turn into their food, known to humans as honey.
Local honey is making its way into sweet wines made by Pennsylvania meaderies and into liqueurs, home-brewed beer and offerings at upscale restaurants. A Philadelphia restaurant’s rooftop garden includes bee hives that produce honey for food dishes and a signature cocktail.
In the Harrisburg area, bee researcher Adam Nelson of www.geobees.org tends hives he has placed at the homes of friends and family, hoping that they will learn to assume caretaking duties. By cultivating a beekeeping culture among individual homeowners and businesspeople, he hopes to help promote a bee revival.
“The future of bees isn’t one beekeeper with 60,000 colonies,” says Nelson. “100 or more is too much. They should be spread out.”
Building a pollinator garden
You don’t have to be a beekeeper to help save the bees. Honeybees want diverse food sources, so any yard can become a bee buffet. Create a pollinator garden with these tips.
Go native. Native plants are four times more attractive to pollinators than non-native (www.panativeplantsociety.org).
Plant a blooming variety. Fill your garden with trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals that bloom from early spring to late fall.
Plant these herbs: Lavender, catmint, sage, cilantro, thyme, fennel, borage.
Plant these perennials: Crocus, buttercup, aster, hollyhocks, anemone, snowdrops, geranium.
Plant these annuals: Calendula, sweet alyssum, poppy, sunflower, zinnia, cleome, heliotrope.
Avoid modern hybrids, especially those with double flowers. Those showy blooms may have been created at the expense of pollen and nectar.
Bees need water, too! They use it to cool the hive and thin honey that’s fed to larvae. Give bees a water source by planting a water garden, hanging a dripping bottle or simply setting up a bird bath or water container. Just be sure to change standing water three times a week in warm weather, to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.
Attract a variety of pollinators, not just honeybees, by choosing multiple colors.
Plant in groups or “drifts” to make flowers easily visible.
Use pesticides only when needed, and strictly according to directions. Don’t spray mid-day, while bees are hunting for nectar.
Also good to know:
Penn State’s Center for Pollinator Research, ento.psu.edu/pollinators, has lots of information on creating healthy environments for bees and other pollinators. You can even learn how to earn certification as a Penn State Master Gardener Pollinator Friendly Garden.
If you want to have a bee colony but don’t have time to become a beekeeper, consider hosting a hive. Visit the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers (www.pastatebeekeepers.org) to link with a local beekeeping club and beekeepers who can put hives on your property.
Those local beekeeping clubs in Pennsylvania are, indeed, busy as bees. Members are very active and often host Beekeeping 101 seminars to educate interested homeowners.
Beekeeping rules differ by municipality. Some places require special permission or impose restrictions by lot size, while others ban it outright. If you want to set up a hive in your yard, be sure to check with local officials.
Fun Facts (and some myth busting)
In 1852, Philadelphia native and minister Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth invented a wood-box hive with removable frames that simplified honey extraction. The Langstroth hive remains in use today.
Honeybees can sting but are only aggressive when threatened. “The only time you’re going to get stung by a honeybee is when you’re blocking its entrance to the hive or you’re crushing it,” says Adam Nelson, of www.geobees.org.
Each hive produces about 40 to 50 pounds of excess honey for human consumption. Colonies need about 80 pounds entering the winter, because honey is the bees’ food.
One colony can have up to 60,000 bees. Each colony’s worker bees are typically half-sisters, products of the queen laying 1,500 eggs a day after mating with 15 or 20 drones.
Genetics mean that some colonies excel at essential tasks, like cleaning, foraging or guarding. “That’s called a ‘mean colony,’” says Sprenkle. “But it’s that diversity we strive for.”
Many major crops are pollinated by bee colonies trucked from one location to another by commercial beekeepers. California almonds, Florida oranges, Georgia peaches, Pennsylvania apples, New England blueberries–many are pollinated by these migratory bees. Even alfalfa fed to cattle is produced by pollination, so “in some ways, there’s an impact of honeybees’ pollination on a cheeseburger,” says Nelson.
Local beekeepers don’t overly filter or overheat their honey. Commercial producers that filter honey to make it crystal-clear and overheat it to make it easier to pour into bottles can eliminate beneficial enzymes and pollen.
To decrystallize honey, put it in the microwave until it just starts to liquefy. Take it out, recap and let it sit. Don’t overheat, which can hurt beneficial enzymes, proteins made from amino acids that cause chemical reactions in the body's cells, such as breaking down glucose.
Despite anecdotal evidence from allergy sufferers who swear that honey provides relief, science hasn’t come to a conclusion. Conflicting studies either show no benefit or some improvement in allergy symptoms. “More high-quality research is needed before a firm conclusion may be made,” notes Mayo Clinic.
Honey can ease a cough, but never give it to children under age one, because it can contain a bacterium that causes botulism.
Sorry, but honey is not a sugar alternative for diabetics. Both will affect blood sugar levels. Honey does have a lower glycemic index than sugar, meaning your body burns it slower
than sugar.
By M. Diane McCormick, Photography by Donovan Roberts Witmer
