Flight of the Bumblebee

WINGING IT: Saturday afternoon we had a million tasks we really needed to take care of. So what did we do? We headed to The Museum of Flight for a presentation about beekeeping near SeaTac airport. 

I asked CJ to provide a write-up about the event, hosted by the most interesting Bob Redmond, founder of Urban Bee Company.  A poet and Rhodes scholar, Redmond has an interesting resume. He's a fulltime beekeeper now, and founder of The Common Acre, a non-profit which restores food and farm culture

Unfortunately, CJ's report is barely cursory. (I'll talk to him about that later.) Here's his way-too-short account. ... 

On a mostly dreary Saturday, on 19 January 2019, we went to The Museum of Flight for the fifteen quadrazillionth time. This time, it was for that day’s Honey Bees And Airplanes (HB&A) event. HB&A primarily concerns two topics: The Flight Path project (FPP) (a non-profit project dedicated to the sustenance of a bee ecosystem in land near the extremely busy SeaTac airport,) and a comparison between bees and airplanes.

According to the Port of Seattle, the FPP has been in place since 2013, when it was established by the Port of Seattle, as well as a local non-profit organization, The Common Acre, to turn the-unused green land in the south part of the SeaTac airport into a pollinator habitat, thus helping the local bee population. Roughly 36 beehives are in the FPP’s area.

Beekeeper Bob Redmond, who gave the presentation, displayed an infographic comparing SeaTac with the FPP. Notably, the FPP has nearly a dozen times the number of daily operations that SeaTac does (SeaTac has ~1045, the FPP has ~125,000.)

One of the things we learned during the presentation was that not only are there bees near the SeaTac runways, there is also a bee-inspired public art installation within the airport itself.

We also learned about the gentleman who invented the beehive frame, L. L. Langstroth. Born on Christmas Day, 1810, Langstroth was a teacher and clergyman. He's pictured on the right, below. Redmond said the man on the left was a 'model' on the patent application, and he has no idea why his head is so small, ha ha.

I compelled CJ to tell you more about him. ... 

Today, the most common form of a beehive frame is a "Langstroth hive," a hive design featuring several movable frames, for easy harvest of honey. It was patented on October 5th, 1852 by L. L. Langstroth, a clergyman and teacher often known as "the father of American beekeeping." In the years since its introduction, has become omnipresent in beekeeping, and an icon of the practice. The way Langstroth hives are constructed, bees cannot attach honeycombs in a way that would connect adjacent frames, or connect the frames to the hive's walls. Langstroth hives are notable for the presence of vertically movable frames, which, prior to its introduction, were rare.

While "hive frames" had existed as early as 1814 (with the earliest known one created by Ukrainian beekeeper and inventor Petro Prokopvych,) their frames were often difficult to remove, making the seemingly simple process of harvesting honey from the frames an annoyance. Meanwhile, Langstroth's invention made the lives of beekeepers around the world much easier and less irritating by using easy-to-move frames. Today, beekeeping would probably look very different (and a whole lot more frustrating!) without Langstroth hives.

We also learned about the many different types of bees found in Washington and around the world.  The SeaTac beekeepers collect specimens to track which of the winged wonders are inhabiting our area.

After the presentation, people had an opportunity to taste some honey produced by the SeaTac hives. We were first in line. :) The kids report it was delicious (I was busy taking this photo.)

A couple of fact sheets for you to peruse if you choose.