Hallockville honey harvest makes for a sweet spring

Hallockville Museum Farm is holding an early honey harvest Saturday, March 15, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Hudson-Sydlowski House (6038 Sound Ave., Riverhead). Master beekeeper Chris Kelly of Promise Land Apiaries will do a demonstration showing a frame of honey and how the bees have capped the cells with beeswax. He will then sift the liquid to remove the particles of beeswax to produce a nice, smooth honey. Wine and cheese will be served, but the event is open to all ages.

“The normal time to harvest honey is mid-July. You do that from hives that are active and try to figure out how much you can take and still leave [the bees] enough so that they can make it through the winter,” said Sara Phillips, vice president of the Hallockville Museum Farm board and committee lead for the beekeeping program. “[Since] we have all this excess, we figured it would be a nice way to sort of kick off our program this year.”

Hallockville has expanded from hive sponsorships and a slate of online classes to a large apiary of about 20 hives and a hands-on program that hosts over 100 beekeepers from the Long Island area with multiple workshops each year. 

“The program meets to examine the hives every two weeks from May through November. We did a Zoom beekeeping book in January. We did a candle-making workshop in February where we rendered beeswax from our hives to make candles,” said Ms. Phillips. “We do an annual hive-building workshop, which is free, so anyone who’s either trying to add more structures to their property or just starting beekeeping, there’s people who can help you to construct your own beehive.”

Tickets for the honey harvest event are $50 for nonmembers, $40 for members. Registration is required. Visit hallockville.org or call 631-298-5292 for more information.