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Auburn beekeepers hold sale of locally produced honey

<p>Honey bees at the Auburn University Bee Lab in Auburn, Ala.</p>

Honey bees at the Auburn University Bee Lab in Auburn, Ala.

 Comer Hall was buzzing with excitement on Friday.

The Auburn University Bees had a honey sale on the lawn of Comer Hall on Sept. 27. The event was scheduled to take place from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. However, the lawn was crowded with people waiting to get in line by 11 a.m.  

The organization had to put out enrollment sheets where people could place their order beforehand so that the front of the building wouldn’t be blocked with such a long line. Even with this countermeasure, the two separate lines both stretched all the way to the street when the scheduled start time rolled around.

The proceeds from the event will go back to the University’s Bee Lab, helping them buy more equipment and fund scientific meetings on campus.

Joshua Campbell, a research associate in the entomology department at Auburn University, helped coordinate the honey sale. According to Campbell, they harvest the honey about twice a year, usually in June and then late summer. The honey being sold at the event was an accumulation of both harvests.

“A good beekeeper checks on their bees every few weeks during the summer, and with having nearly 100 hives, we have a lot of people staffed and volunteering to help manage the bees,” Campbell said.

AU Bees is the organization on campus associated with the Auburn Univeristy Bee Lab, and they helped run and put on the event.  

Carter Giles, junior in organismal biology, conservation and biodiversity, was volunteering at the sale.

“I wanted to get involved, and it’s something to do that’s positive,” Giles said. “There’s also an educational aspect to the club that I love. We get to go to the local elementary schools, and we get to educate little kids on bee populations and what they do for our environment.”

At the sale on Friday, a booth was set up for educational functions, which showed off a beehive.

Jessica Moore, senior in animal sciences, was excited to attend the event and get a feel for how the honey is produced.

“Even though honey is still food, it’s so different from my major,” Moore said. “It’s so cool that I got to go ask ... about how the bees live, how do they harvest the honey or any other questions I want to ask. But I mainly came here to buy honey.”


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