To infinity, and bee-yond folks

Staff at the National Space Centre (NSC) in Cork are abuzz with excitement after cracking open a few jars of local honey in celebration of Earth Day.

Last year, as part of a Green Campus initiative, NSC began hosting beehives on its seven-acre site in Midleton for local producer East Cork Honey.

“Our high-tech Elfordstown campus is filled with wildflowers that help produce a superlative local east Cork honey,” said NSC Operations Manager Mark Gibney.

Through peak summer production, local beekeeper Niall Coffey will visit the NSC about once a week to check on the hives and to collect the honey.

He said: “In a good year, you can expect about 40 pounds of honey per hive. There are three established, productive hives and two hives just getting started.”

The beekeeper got started when he bought his Midleton home and discovered a colony of wild bees in the attic. Now retired, he establishes and tends beehives all around the Midleton area.

East Cork Honey is available at the Ballymaloe House shop, and at Jim Crowley Butchers in Midleton.