KOHALA COAST — Two queen bees and 15,000 honeybees are as well behaved as the other guests at Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii. After moving into their two Flow Hives in July, they are now content with their accommodations and live at the resort year-round.
Specifically designed to make harvesting honey simple and painless, the hives are set on a hillside behind Plantation Estate with banana trees and birds of paradise as the backdrop. Kiawe tree blossoms are in close proximity just across the street.
“We put them away from the lobby,” said Michael Domeier, the hotel’s beekeeper and owner of Rare Hawaiian Honey. “On the hill above the walkway, the bees fly above people’s heads directly into the kiawe trees. Kiawe honey is the most popular because it’s silky smooth, a beautiful white color and a very light flavor.”
Fairmont Orchid’s first harvest of the kiawe honey was collected on Tuesday.
“Flow Hives are a really unique idea that was invented in Australia,” Domeier said. “To harvest the honey we don’t need to open the hives. The bees fill up an artificial comb and when it’s full you insert a key into a little slot and turn it and the honey runs right out. This type of a hive is really great for backyard beekeepers because it eliminates all the normal honey extraction tools and equipment that you would need. It’s much safer for humans, less disturbing to the bees and you get pure clean honey immediately, without having to do uncapping and spinning and separating wax from honey.”
The hives are slightly smaller than commercial hives, but on the second story the frames are larger and 40-50 pounds of honey can be harvested four or five times a year. Harvesting the honey from the first hive took less than a half-hour.
“We have nice little jars and want to use the sustainable honey in amenities, at the Orchid Court in breakfast items and on the Gold Floor in the dining area on a daily basis,” Executive Chef Hubert Des Marais said. “We want to make it really local.”
The fresh honey will also be used in spa offerings in the near future.
The idea to create the bee hives on property originated from an idea cooked up by the resort’s F&B Director Wendle Lesher, who is actually allergic to bees, after reading about the Flow Hives. Fairmont hotels in Whistler, New York and Seattle also have their own bee programs.
The hives are in sync with Fairmont’s corporate sustainability goals.
“Fairmont has a longstanding history of supporting sustainability initiatives,” said Kelley Cosgrove, the resort’s general manager, who had bees at her previous Fairmont properties in San Jose and Sonoma, California. “In Hawaii, we have so many diverse choices. The rich botanical world here with honeybees made a lot of sense, minimizing our footprint on the island.”
Like VIP guests, the queen bees get special treatment.
“The queen bees actually sit in the middle of all of the combs,” said Jaisy Jardine, the resort’s director of public relations. “They run the show. Michael constantly keeps an eye on them to make sure the queens are staying healthy. This project is sustainable and good for bees.”
The hotel plans to roll out educational bee programs for children to learn about honey production in the future.
Info: Call Jaisy at 887-7548