By Ansley Green (’22)
Last June, with assistance from the Houghton Class of 2020, the Center for Sustainability (CfS) purchased three bee hives for campus, marking the beginning of the official Houghton apiary. Brian Webb, Environmental Studies professor and Sustainability Coordinator at Houghton, cited several reasons as to why the CfS made the apiary their next big project. “Students have been interested in beekeeping for years,” said Webb, “Bees also perform a vital ecosystem service by pollinating crops.” The hives are placed by the campus garden near the college flats for this exact reason, this way the nearby bees are able to pollinate the produce that the Center for Sustainability grows in the garden each year. Bees can pollinate within a range of up to five miles, so, in Houghton’s case, the campus hives work to pollinate the orchard that stands near Nielson and even the Houghton woods.
Mary Chichester (‘22), the student intern for the Center for Sustainability who first lobbied for the addition of the bee hives to campus, mentioned an additional reason for the new hives: “It is important that we try and support our local bee population by raising bees because they are integral to the local ecosystems.And they are very cute!” they added. With the recent decline in the bee population, the addition of well-regulated hives is very important to the growth and survival of the flora in the area.
The apiary is currently home to two surviving hives of honey bees. The third hive was not able to survive the winter due to a bad queen bee, which goes to show how difficult it can be for bees to stay alive even when they are being tended to by a keeper. The two good hives produced nearly five gallons of honey in the first harvest, which occurred in late September of last year.
The honey produced was processed and bottled by the student interns at the Center for Sustainability and is now available for purchase at the CfS office in Chamberlain 322. The hope is for this honey to be available not only for purchase in the campus store, but also for general use in the dining hall. The bees also produce wax and, in order to stay as low waste as possible, this wax was collected and is being used by the art students in their creations.
There are now plans to expand the apiary by this upcoming summer break. There will be an additional three hives purchased, along with a hive to replace the one that was lost during the frigid winter. In adding these hives, the expectation would be for the honey production to at least double for each harvest. With a goal of two harvests in this year, the bees could produce almost twenty gallons of local honey. Furthermore, the Center for Sustainability is purchasing more beekeeper’s suits so that a larger number of students would have the chance to appreciate the hard work of our newest residents on campus. According to CFS garden intern Clayton Hardiman (‘22) “If you love bees, or even if you’ve never worked with bees but love an adventure, we would love to have you come and help us out!” ★
