How the Apiary Society Harvests Its Honey

This week the Apiary Society harvested their first batch of honey for the school year. With more than 180 members, the club tends to two hives on the green roof atop Regis throughout the year, carefully monitoring the colony of tens of thousands of bees.

To harvest the honey, students first remove frames from the beehives, after which the bees fly back into the hive. The students bring the frames inside, where they scrape the wax off of them with a knife. This reveals the honey and allows the frames to be put into a hand-cranked honey extractor. Club members then pour the honey into a specially designed bucket, which allows for easy bottling. The unused beeswax will be melted and turned into lip balm and candles.

This week's harvest produced more than 50 pounds of honey, and club members have already bottled nearly 30 jars, with enough honey left over to fill dozens more. Regians immediately piled into the art room to buy the honey, with the proceeds going towards equipment that will allow the Apiary Society to continue harvesting. The club plans to next extract honey in the spring.