The Daily Campus

Issue date: 6/9/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux Stephen Anthony (left) and Amy Gronus (right) tend to the bees at UConn's hives. In Anthony's hand is the case that holds the Queen Bee.

In an effort to expand sustainable food on campus, UConn has purchased 100,000 bees from a farm in Georgia to produce its honey supply.

On Saturday, May 31, the bees were released into 10 hives behind an old apple orchard about two miles off campus, according to Dennis Pierce, director of UConn Dining Services. Pierce did not want to reveal the exact location of the apiaries in order to protect the hives from theft.

The bees are expected to produce about 2,000 pounds of honey annually, just over half of the 3,800 pounds the university uses in its dining units, bakeries and catering each year, Pierce said.

The majority of the honey will be used as tea honey rather then cooking honey, said Pierce. It will be supplied at the tea stations in different dining units.

As part of UConn's Sustainable Dining Program, local honey has already been used in Whitney Dining Hall. According to the Dining Services Web site, Whitney's menu is "designed to feature delicious local, sustainable ingredients."

"To buy local makes sense," Pierce said. "We look at every opportunity we can to support the local community and support local farmers."

According to the Web site, the Sustainable Dining Program supports other local companies such as Omar Coffee, Bigelow Tea and Garelick Farms Dairy. Whitney also features vegetables from the university's student-maintained EcoGarden, as well as eggs from university-raised chickens, according to Anthony.

"We're still in the learning stage," Pierce said. "We want to start to transition [sustainable foods] into the larger units."

Stephen Anthony, an assistant manager for Dining Services, proposed the idea of honey cultivation earlier this year after he visited the bees of UConn Production Chef, Amy Gronus. Anthony pitched his idea to Pierce, who approved the project and the Department of Plant Science provided the land.

"It was the right thing to do because we're an agricultural college," Pierce said.

Continued...

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