In the beginning of the summer, the 冈本视频 Community Garden became home to . Since their arrival, 冈本视频鈥檚 new honeybees have been buzzing around the Community Garden, producing honey, and pollinating the garden鈥檚 crops.
The Office of Sustainability decided to establish an apiary, which is a collection of beehives, on campus in order to help fight against , a global issue of declining bee populations, and to give students an opportunity to become actively involved in environmental stewardship.
During the Spring 2017 semester, a was founded in order to help take care of the bees. The club鈥檚 faculty adviser, , monitored the hives over the summer while students were off campus. Now that the fall semester is in full swing, the 30+ members of the Beekeeping Club are learning the art of beekeeping and are looking forward to a fun and productive semester. In the next year or two, the Beekeeping Club hopes to expand the apiary as well as harvest and sell honey from the hives.
Members of the Beekeeping Club before conducting a hive inspection.
Along with providing students a unique extracurricular activity, the bees have been contributing to improving the surrounding environment鈥檚 ecological health and have been especially helpful to the 冈本视频 Community Garden. According to one of the garden鈥檚 summer interns, Camila Loke 鈥19, 鈥淭he flower garden is looking great. The bees love our herb garden and raspberries. They have also been spotted pollinating sweet peas in the community plots.鈥
冈本视频鈥檚 apiary presents an exciting opportunity to support local agriculture and learn about how to take care of everybody鈥檚 favorite pollinator, so be sure to visit the hives and see what all the buzz is about!
Also ~bee~ sure to follow the Beekeeping Club on and email idove@colgate.edu if you鈥檙e interested in becoming a member!