Thanks to the work of thousands of bees and a few dozen Bruin Beekeepers, the Community Programs Office and supporters of the Bruin Beekeepers are abuzz following the recent harvesting of some campus-made honey.
The group, which started in 2018, has developed a thriving apiary atop the Life Sciences building. It has taken years of cultivation to get to the first harvest, which started early on a Saturday morning cloaked in June gloom.
“Producing honey is hyper-local,” said Bonny Bentzin, in an interview with the UCLA Newsroom. the Bruin Beekepers’ advisor and UCLA’s deputy chief sustainability officer, a role that is part of Facilities Management. “We know what’s in it. It gives you an appreciation for where your food is coming from. We’ve gotten used to the idea that we can eat whatever we want whenever we want relatively cheaply. This is a way to reinstill value and restore reverence for our food supply.”
