Honeybees – Part 2
Sara MacArthur gets to know the NDC bees.
They’re back! And there are more!! Due to the overwhelming success of last year’s partnership with Beeproject Apiaries, we’re pleased to announce that our honeybee friends are once again spending their summer working away on Red River College rooftops. Just like last year, three hives have been installed on the 4th floor patio at the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute (PGI). We’ve also added three hives on the roof of Building A at the Notre Dame Campus.
Honeybees are vital to food production and are a fantastic way to engage around sustainability issues that happen ‘in our own backyards’. We have an exciting summer planned to give students, staff and faculty an opportunity to learn more about the amazing world of honeybees… and to enjoy some delicious honey, of course! Here’s how you can get involved:
Visit the hives – A hive visit at the Notre Dame Campus will be scheduled for late June. Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first served basis. (Check out one of last year’s hive visits here.)
Bijou Urban Honey.
Help name our NDC honey – Our PGI honey is named “Bijou” after the park just south of PGI where many of our rooftop honeybees foraged for nectar, but also because the honey is like a jewel – elegant and delicate. Our NDC honey, however, is currently nameless. In the coming weeks we’ll be holding a contest to find the honey name that best represents our geography, culture, and identity. Rebel Honey? Brookside Delight? We want your ideas!
Participate in a honey extraction workshop – Held at both campuses in late August, take part in the simplicity and beauty of the honey extraction process.
Purchase our honey at the RRC Farmers Market in September – Last year’s honey sold out in 40 minutes. Doubling our hives means doubling our honey yield, so we promise there will be more to go around this season.
To ensure you don’t miss a beat on any of the updates we’ve got coming down the pipe, we encourage you to follow the Sustainability Office on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
We hope you’re buzzing with excitement like we are!