Did you know that Loomis Village is home to three very active hives of Italian honey bees? This spring, we were fortunate to find that two of the three hives survived the winter. With only one hive to restart, honey production was off and running with the welcoming of spring. Today, we realized the fruits of the bees labor with our first harvest!
Residents Linda Gordon (L) and Jeanne Achille (R) work on harvesting honey from the combs that were pulled from the hives this June.
Our hives are maintained by residents of Loomis Village, along with beekeepers from the Hampden County Bee Keepers Association. Residents are involved in every aspect of the operation from pulling combs to check on the bees, to harvesting the final product, straining it, and jarring it for use in our country store.
Two of the combs pulled for this harvest.
This spring production comes from 15 of the 54 combs that are available for honey production. Certain combs are left in tact for use by the bees as a food source, and we only begin to harvest when those combs are filled and capped.