Queen’s is sometimes called a city within a city – a humming hub of student life tucked into the heart of Kingston. But hidden inside this city is another bustling metropolis most people pass without noticing.
Too bad. It’s got a lot of buzz.
Welcome to the West Campus Apiary, a pocket of wildlife wedged between Richardson Stadium and Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard. It’s home to 10 honeybee colonies and hosts upwards of half a million bees at the height of summer.
Launched in 2022, the apiary helps restore urban pollinators and supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, says Theresa Couto, registered dietitian and wellness and sustainability manager at Queen’s Hospitality Services. But it’s more than a sanctuary for bees. It’s a living, buzzing classroom. “There’s so much we can learn from bees about our environment and our ecosystem,” Ms. Couto says.
Then there’s the honey, harvested from August through September. About half of the sweet stuff goes into the kitchens of Queen’s eateries and coffee shops. For example, Café Union in Goodes Hall serves a delicious peanut butter and honey sandwich. The rest is bottled and sold under the Queen’s Bee’s Honey label at campus favourites like the Lazy Scholar and Mac-Corry dining hall.
Honeybees are remarkable creatures – hardy but fragile. They can operate in the hottest summers and coldest winters. Yet they remain oh so vulnerable to climate change, parasites, and pesticides.
A bee can’t survive by itself. It de-pends on the colony, which is surprisingly democratic. Decisions, like how much honey to produce or when to relocate, are made through a sophisticated system of collective communication.
“Bees operate in massive societies the way we do and have these incredibly complex interactions,” says Andrew McCann, the apiary’s beekeeper. “In some ways they are the most human-like of species.”
Having grown up with bees (his father was also a beekeeper), Mr. McCann remains deeply impressed by them. For thousands of years, humans have taken bees wherever they’ve migrated. Perhaps we need them more than they need us.
“Sometimes I wonder who’s domesticated whom,” Mr. McCann says.
