The Honey House at Brown's Orchard in Loganville is trying to change that. The building and exhibit gives you the bee's story up close to where human and hive is separated by a glass window.
Brown's Orchard set up the honey house and several hives to show the importance of the busy bee. "Two weeks or so these will be red sweet cherries.", says Stan Brown, "If we wouldn't have bee activity for pollination, you wouldn't see cherries."
Twenty years ago, Pennsylvania had 80 thousand beehives. Now there are around 30 thousand. Parasites have taken a toll on hives; but the answer may be from imported bees. Beekeepers are stocking hives with imported Russian bees. They have over time built resistance to the parasites.
In addition, the honey house shows the importance of beekeeping. "It's a wonderful hobby.", says Jeremy Barns, the president of York County Beekeepers Association, "You can do it on a small acreage. you don't need to have an orchard or a farm. you can do it in town, in a city." For them the rewards go beyond helping the environment. Each hive produces 60 pounds of honey.
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