Helping Hives, UMD’s beekeeping club, celebrated the fruits of their labor on Sept. 4 with a honey harvest at the Bagley nature classroom. Students gathered to learn about the honey extraction process while gaining hands-on experience. 

Kaylee Wingness, a senior and club member, expresses her excitement about the harvest and involvement with the club.

“Over the summer I got to work closer with the bees and learn more about beekeeping. It was cool to see them create honey over the summer, and now that we are harvesting the honey it’s sort of a full-circle moment for me,” she said.

Wingness enjoys learning about bees' environmental importance and some of their unique behaviors.

“I learned that when bees feel threatened they stick out their little butts and release a pheromone that smells like bananas. So if they ever smell you eating a banana they might try and get aggressive with you,” Wingness said.

At the harvest students focused on a process called “crush and strain.” This method is common in small-scale honey harvesting. Once the honeycombs are retrieved from the hive, the harvesting can begin. 

Here’s how it works: first, each cell in the honeycomb is uncapped or punctured to let the honey flow. Next, a combing tool is used to scrape the honey off. Then, it's spread onto cheesecloth stretched over a collection bucket. The cheesecloth is used for straining, leaving behind the beeswax collecting only honey into the bucket.

Once the straining process is complete, the honey will be jarred and available for sale on campus. All the proceeds support the club, its apiary and its educational efforts.

Violet Forster, senior and Helping Hives president, shares that the club's biggest mission is to make beekeeping more accessible for students, especially freshmen. The club offers flexible and easy-going participation opportunities along with options to get involved with research and community action.

“I want it to feel like a laid-back club where students can gather to recharge, a place to rejuvenate,” Forster said.

Helping Hives aims to build a community focused on supporting the environment. They offer many activities and events beyond beekeeping such as natural honey soapmaking, educational workshops and documentary presentations. These opportunities are meant to encourage and guide students toward a better understanding of the importance of bees in the ecosystem and how to support them.

The Helping Hives Instagram page @umdhelpinghives has information about the club, how to get involved and their upcoming events.