Bee Keeping at the Penrose Strawbridge House
We started our honeybee colonies here at the Penrose Strawbridge House in 2009 under the direction of our beekeeper Tadeus Florek (Ted).
Mrs Strawbridge's caretaker, Dennis Smith was known to have kept bees and since the property has been an active farm since Governor Keith's time, its likely that bees were kept here even prior to the Strawbridges.
Honey! Summer 2012
Our bees have been doing very well through the spring and early summer of 2012. In late June we did our 1st major honey harvest which gave us about 300 pounds of excellent, local, organic honey.
We are hoping to have another harvest later in the fall but July so far has been very hot and dry which is not good for the bees or their production of honey.
Winter 2011-12
The winter of 2011-12 was actually very mild in the Northeast US, we had a week in February when it was in the 80s! For some reason, however, our bees did not do all that well.
We found a number of empty hives come spring, likely due to the phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). The bees just seemed to have disappeared. CCD does not have a known cause but it has been linked to the use of pesticides, parasites, and other environmental stresses.
We again repopulated the lost hives, treated the bees for possible parasites, and also asked the local farmer to plant something besides corn which might not require as much chemical pesticide.
Summer 2011
Since we lost several colonies due to the cold winter, we repopulated the hives with some bees that we purchased. We also planted a field of clover for the bees to ensure them a food supply. By late summer we were able to harvest a couple of gallons of very delicious local organic honey.
Winter 2010-11
The winter of 2010-11 was harsh in our area and in the spring we discovered that it had taken its toll on our bees. When Ted opened the hives in the spring he found many dead bees. The bees huddle together for warmth and probably exhausted their food supply where they were gathered. Even though there was plenty of honey just inches away, they were unable to get to it due to the cold.
Starting up in 2009
Our beekeeper, Tadeus Florek, had been keeping bees at another location but was being forced to move due to development of that location. Ted knew of the Penrose Strawbridge House through a friend and approached us about keeping bees here. We thought it was a great idea and Ted started building hives.
A large part of the Penrose Strawbridge property is still farmed under a lease agreement between the township and a local farmer. The crops he plants: corn, rye, etc, unfortunately do not need bees for pollination so we quickly realized that our bees might have a hard time finding food. So in the summer of 2010 we planted a field of clover and some 'bee friendly' plants for them.
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2012 Honey
Our latest batch of all natural, local, organic honey from our own bees here at the Penrose Strawbridge House bottled in July 2012
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 7/26/2012
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Cindy Ted Pete Beekeeping
Our beekeeper Ted with helpers Cindy and Peter suiting up to start the harvest of honey
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 6/30/2012
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HPHA Honey
HPHA's 1st batch of organic honey produced by our own bees and bottled by our bee keeper Tadeus Florek in late summer 2011
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 2/2/2012
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Dead Bees in Hives
Pete and our beekeeper Teddy opening hives in spring 2011 to find dead bees.
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 4/17/2011
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Ted
Tadeus Florek, the beekeeper at the Penrose Strawbridge House, getting ready to suit up
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 6/23/2012
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