Food Power Program
Apiary
Honeybees living in the Apiary help pollinate our vegetables, fruits and flowers at Martha’s Community Farm and provide honey for clients of Martha’s Choice Marketplace.
To make one pound of honey, about 550 bees visit 2 million flowers. Honeybees also produce beeswax that can be used to make candles, creams, lip balm and more. A honeybee produces beeswax by excreting wax from the wax gland located on their abdomen. They can excrete 8 plates of wax from their wax glands in a 12-hour period.
The Farm’s Apiary is comprised of several honeybee hives. It was established by grants provided by Chester County Beekeeper’s Association and Montgomery County Beekeeper’s Association. The Apiary is maintained by volunteer members from both beekeeper’s associations.
| Environment | Food | Community |
| Understanding the interconnection between pollinator and wildlife habitats, human activity and the food system is crucial to creating and maintaining sustainable environments for all living things. Honeybees assist local pollinators in pollinating approximately 80 percent of plants by transferring pollen in between plants as they forage for pollen for their own purposes. Honeybees assist in the pollination of the crops with assistance from other native pollinators such as mason bees, bumble bees, sweat bees, moths, bats and wasps. | Since most of our food comes from flowering plants, pollinators, such as honeybees, are critical to our farming efforts. | The Apiary offers opportunities for individuals and groups to explore nature’s inextricable connections between plants, insects, wildlife and humans. |