Clay adds second beehive to community garden
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
Despite a soggy spring, the town of Clay’s Project: GREEN community garden is abuzz with activity — and not just because eager gardeners are digging in the dirt.
“The hardy ones are here regardless of the weather,” said Clay Town Supervisor Damian Ulatowski.
Ulatowski could have been talking not just about the gardeners but about the plucky swarm of bees that had broken off from the main hive to stake their claim in a tree on the Project: GREEN property on June 6, the same day as the garden kickoff.
The town unveiled a second hive for its Save the Bees project thanks to Don Maccombie of Sunshine Honey Bee Farm in Eaton and Master Beekeeper Ken Boyce of Chittenango. Boyce taught a beekeeping course for Clay residents this past spring, and more bee programs are in the works.
Ulatowski said the town decided last year to incorporate an apiary into the community garden to teach beekeeping and to boost gardeners’ success with a population of natural pollinators.
The first beehive at Project: GREEN, Boyce said, has between 30,000 and 40,000 bees.
“Over the summer, that’ll probably go up another 10,000,” Boyce said.
Many apiaries in New York state and across the country struggle with winter mortality, but Clay’s bees are a robust batch.
“We could have expected the worst, which was a hive collapse, and it didn’t happen,” Ulatowski said.
They outgrew their original hive, and on the community garden’s June 6 kickoff, they formed a swarm about 5,000 bees strong to search for new quarters. The summer months — May, June and July — are prime swarm months, Boyce said.
Boyce gathered the swarm to return to his property in Chittenango, and Maccombie installed more boxes for the second hive.
Plans are underway for an advanced beekeeping course that will teach residents how to harvest honey. Boyce said many beekeepers choose to harvest their honey only once a season, usually in August or September, but collecting throughout the summer allows beekeepers to compare honey made from the nectar of different types of flowers.
“Flowers bloom throughout the year, so the bees are making honey now. You can harvest different flavors of honey,” he said.
Ulatowski said the town is planning a harvest festival for the community garden’s bounty.
“It’s nice to be able to enjoy homemade dishes with the eggplant and tomatoes grown here in the garden, and now we can add honey to that,” Ulatowski said.
More than 30 people signed up for plots in the community garden, which is now home to a greenhouse and solar array thanks to $75,000 in grants secured by former State Sen. John DeFrancisco.
“Fortunately, because of the greenhouse here, we’ve given every one of those people the opportunity to start from seed,” Supervisor Damian Ulatowski said.
The greenhouse’s heating system is powered by the solar array, which opens up the opportunity for year-round growing. The town also has made potable water available both in the greenhouse and the garden plots so residents don’t have to haul water to care for their crops.
Up next for Project: GREEN is an education center to house programs on gardening and beekeeping as well as a planned BMX bike trail.
“We’re giving our residents something different than the traditional park with athletic fields,” Ulatowski said.
The town is applying for grant funding for the education center, as it did with the greenhouse and bee program. Employees of the Clay Highway Department installed the greenhouse and tilled the soil for residents.
“It’s a good cooperative effort between the town and residents,” said Ulatowski, adding that Project: GREEN is a little to no cost alternative to a traditional park.
Project: GREEN is located at 9604 Blackcreek Road in Brewerton (off Caughdenoy Road). To learn more, contact project coordinator Chrissy Clancy at 315-652-3800 ext. 137 or [email protected]. Visit Project: GREEN on Facebook as well.
