Glensheen Honey Bees Produce Sweet Honey, and Beautify Flowers

DULUTH - Despite the late spring, flowers and veggies growing at Glensheen Mansion are looking better than ever and the reason is all the buzz. At the historic Glensheen Mansion on the shores of Lake Superior lives 100,000 honey bees. Honey bees moved onto the property just over a month ago, and since then they've not only pollenated every plant on the property but are working on a one-of-a-kind honey."You can definitely tell where the bees are because the flowers have just really popped all over in that region," said interim director of Glensheen, Dan Hartman. They've been buzzing from flower to flower and from one raspberry bush to another to create the one of a kind taste."The bees here are foraging on plants that are specific to this location," explained beekeeper and owner of Lake Superior Honey Company, Jon Otis. The honey the Glensheen bees are producing will be unlike any honey in the world because of the location. The Glensheen hive is the closest hive Lake Superior Honey Company has to Lake Superior."I think it's great to have them immediately connected to Lake Superior too. So we'll have that Lake Superior taste," laughed Hartman. According to recent honey tasters, Lake Superior tastes pretty good."It's been kind of fun for us as staff to come and actually see the bees at work and to every once in a while get a taste of the honey," said Hartman. Many guests at the Glensheen have asked about the bees, and staff is using it as an opportunity to teach people about the importance of bees and how they help nature.The bees are described as docile, so they concentrate on the task at hand, not stinging. The bees will be removed late-October because they can’t survive next to Lake Superior during the winter. Glensheen is hoping to have the bees back on the property in early spring 2015. Lake Superior Honey Company is hoping to get 60 jars of honey from the Glensheen bees. While some of the honey tastes delicious now, the bees still need a few more weeks to get it completely ready. Expect to see exclusive Glensheen honey sold at the mansion in about a month. Hartman hopes to have enough honey to give to a local brewer in hopes to create a Glensheen flavor beer or root beer.