Bee-licious-honey harvest tops last year's
Release Date: Aug. 24, 2006
Highland Park News
By: Kenneth L R. Patchen, Staff Writer
If Highland Park is the land of milk and honey, about 3,600 pounds of the honey part of the equation has been placed in one-pound jars for sale to the public.
The Heller Honey Harvest this year appears to be funning about 400 pounds more than last year, and this will be good news for the beekeeping program, school students and residents, especially those wanting local honey for Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 23.
Education programs are scheduled for September and November to teach families and interested students about honey bees, Apis mellifera, and about making candles.
The Park District of Highland Park has a year-round program at the Heller Nature Center, 2821 Ridge Road, to teach students in schools and residents at the center about beekeeping.
Over several years, the program has grown as has the harvest and the number of volunteers who help make the program work. This year, honey was extracted from 20-hives the week of Aug. 14. Additional honey remains and will be extracted during fall workshops. Funds raised by sale of honey and candles is recycled into park district programs.
The main issue, however, is the taste.
"This year's taste is minty--summer honey with a taste of mint from the basswood trees and local wildflowers," said Liza Fischel, naturalist at the center. "It's a pleasant taste and the same light golden color it has had in the past."
Fischel said extraction went well because they have new equipment to help harvest the honey, the days were nice, and there were not too many stings.
"We had about 20 volunteers. Every volunteer had their niche," Fischel said. "It was organized when we were taking the supers (containing honey) off the hive."
At the start of the harvest, three bottles from last year were on hand. Those are gone and the fresh honey is now at Sunset Food stores: 1812 Green Bay Road, Highland Park; 1451 West Peterson Road, Libertyville; 825 South Waukegan Road, Lake Forest; and, 1921 Raymond Drive, Northbrook.
"We'll also have it here at the Nature Center," she said.
Facility Manager Jeff Smith said, "We do public programs throughout the year. We do school programs as well."
From 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 16, Heller Nature Center naturalists will host a program for adults and families with children 6 years old and older to learn more about honey bees. It includes a trip to the honey bee colonies and to extract honey from frames where the bees store it. Registration is at (847) 433-6901.
"Participants will get to taste the honey and make some candles," Fischel said.
From 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 9, a Thursday night workshop program will make hand-dipped and rolled candles.
"They get to take the candles home with them," Fischel said. "We'll have a Volunteer's Day to help us make the candles. We'll sell the candles as well. They smell amazing. You can smell the honey."
Interest in the program has been building, in part because of the school outreach program during the academic year.
Heller Nature Center naturalists teach about 400-500 students in the first and third grades during the school year. The program helps students learn about the insect world, their biology, their role in ecology and pollination, and about their life cycle, said Schools Program Coordinator and Naturalist Theresa L. Greinig.
"We also dispel a lot of myths," she said.
Students get to see the bee colonies and to participate in some of the activities related to beekeeping. A donation from the community allowed the Park District of Highland Park to purchase more protective gear so more students can be up-close-and-personal with the bees.
"And, of course, they taste the honey," Greinig said. "When they leave, it's kind of a whole new world for them."
In addition to local students, Heller naturalists also provide workshops for teachers to learn about the bees as a teaching resource.
Fischel said one student became very interested in bees as a result of the program. He even created a Halloween honey bee costume last year.
His family has helped strengthen the program.
"They've been very nice and supportive of us," she said. "Through them, we have been able to do so much."
The family helped obtain more equipment such as a hand-cranked extractor and an automatic machine to take caps off each cell of honey so it can be processed in the extractor. Their support also helped obtain more beekeeping clothing to protect interested program participants.
"We've been getting some wonderful turnout for the programs," Fischel said.
"One of the things I've seen is that people want to know what is going on in the colony, their natural history, all the things bees do. People keep having questions one after another."
"Once they learn one fact, it leads to lots of other questions and more and more."
Visitng the hives is more than an eye-opener.
"We can actually open a hive and watch what they do."
"I think that's a large part of it too, the experience of being able to go out there to the hives."
Smith encourages participants to explore beekeeping through Heller Nature Center. It is not something people can see every day and has many unique aspects. It's a rewarding experience to harvest honey and make candles.
"People see honey for sale but don't often think of all the work to extract it, bottle it," Smith said. "It's an extremely unique experience."