The Rye Historical Society held a family honey harvest program at the Knapp House recently. Greenwich beekeeper Ray DuBois led a “taste buds on” program about bees and his hives at the historic site.
By Bill Lawyer
The Rye Historical Society held a family honey harvest program at the Knapp House recently. Greenwich beekeeper Ray DuBois led a “taste buds on” program about bees and his hives at the historic site.
Mr. DuBois had set up two hives at the Knapp House for the first time back in May. One is a standard four-sided wood-frame hive, the other a simpler “top bar” variety. An established hive of either type can produce 60 pounds or more.
While both hives were still active, neither one produced enough honey to harvest for commercial purposes. In fact, the queen in the standard hive had died, so Mr. DuBois introduced a new queen and some brood. The extra honey they produced will be kept in the hive to help them over-winter successfully.
Attendees did not go home unsweetened, however. They were given the opportunity to mash honey out of the fresh honeycomb from one of Mr. DuBois’ established hives in Greenwich.
In the slide-show presentation portion, Mr. Dubois noted the importance of honeybees in pollinating most of our country’s fruit, nut, and vegetable crops. He stressed the harm caused by pesticides to honeybees and other types of pollinating bees.
If you’re interested in trying out the honey, contact the Rye Historical Society.
