While walking on the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge property, you may hear a distinct buzzing noise coming from the roof. Don’t be alarmed – it’s just the lodge’s 200,000 bees working on your breakfast. 

JPL’s Executive Head Chef Derek Ingraham recently launched a bee program that brought five hives to the park, and with them the thousands of bees. The new project is producing honey that will be bottled and served in guest rooms and in the many dining rooms at the lodge. So far one extraction has been done.

Originally Ingraham had hoped to collect 800 to 1,000 pounds of honey from the five hives, but unfortunately bees do not collect nectar when it’s raining. A typical harvest season will see three to four harvests, with the last one in September. Some honey has to be left in the hives over the winter so that the bees can survive. On a sunny day thousands of bees can be seen zooming in and out of the hives. Up to two thirds of the colony will be out collecting nectar; they are most active in weather above 22 C. Ingraham is now hoping to get about 500 to 600 pounds of honey. 

“If it’s pouring rain you might see four bees on the outside of those hives,” Ingraham says. 

The idea is new for the Jasper Fairmont – but one that Ingraham has been trying to get implemented at the Fairmonts he has previously worked at. Things finally fell into place this year in Jasper, and the bees are buzzing along. Jasper has become the eighth Fairmont to have a bee program.

The honey is being bottled and given out as a free gift to guests. Because honey is a product made from an animal, there are different laws and licenses required to actually sell it. Ingraham says it may be something they look at in the future. 

“It’s not a money making product,” he says of the project so far. “It’s a nice little gift to give to the guests when they stay here.”

For now, the lodge’s many chefs are enjoying infusing recipes with honey, and Ingraham is hoping to have a fall menu devoted to the sweet stuff at the Emerald Deck. Another idea they are working on is the construction of a frame that will hold one of the honey frames from the hives at the breakfast buffet, that will allow the honey to slowly drip down into a strainer. The guests will be able to use that honey literally straight from the hive. 

Ingraham is also in talks with Granville Island Brewing Company and Big Rock Brewing Company to create a honey ale. The staff at JPL has been putting forward many great ideas on how to use the honey and wax, such as in candles. 

Purchasing a bunch of bees seems like a difficult task, but Ingraham says it was all a matter of researching the insects, and getting in touch with the Alberta Bee Association – who were happy to help. 

“They got in touch with me and said they would be very interested in getting us set up,” Ingraham says. 

The association put Ingraham in contact with Griedanus Honey Mill out of High River, Alta. He then worked on reading everything he could about bees and honey production. JPL entered into a partnership with the Griedanus family, who supplied everything the lodge needed to start producing their own honey. Ingraham says he has had a lot of support from the lodge’s General Manager Amanda Robinson. 

The cost of the hives, bees and processing machinery is a one-time fee of $6,000. Once the hives have been established, the bees take care of themselves. The bees will feed themselves for the most part, however they can be supplemented with sugar water so that they do not consume their own honey. 

“If you don’t supplement them with something else, they’ll eat the honey,” Ingraham says. 

During the wettest days of summer, the bees have gone through 32 litres of sugar water in one weekend – a staggering amount for such a tiny organism. 

“It’s usually if they’re starving they’ll eat the honey.”

Each hive has its own queen, who lays 1,500 eggs a day – which means thousands of bees are hatching every day. When the bees were originally shipped, there were 5,000 bees in each hive for a total of 25,000. The population has since exploded to the 200,000 Ingraham estimates today. That population should change over the next few months as the winter draws near.

“They monitor themselves pretty much – they know when they have to stop laying eggs,” he says. 

The population also changes because the males are incapable of feeding themselves. The female bees will simply stop feeding them in the winter and the numbers in each hive will drop. 

After the final extraction of honey, the bees will be winterized in their roof-top home. The hives will be wrapped in blankets and a feeder with sugar water will be left for them. Ingraham says the hive will maintain a temperature of 18 C throughout the winter. 

Ingraham and his Executive Sous Chef Cory LeDrew, did the first extraction on Aug. 4, with help from the Griedanus Honey Mill. Their appearance on the roof in their white bee suits that resemble fencing uniforms was quite the curiosity to guests. Staff have also been inquiring about the project. Ingraham says he has taken a few staff members up to the roof-top bee paradise to see the lodge’s new guests. 

For now, the honey has not been placed in rooms, pending the arrival of some labels for the jars, but Ingraham is excited to have the honey be used by guests. 

“As soon as they start seeing it with the room amenities, it’ll be right in their face,” Ingraham says. 

So far, only two people have been stung; the first was Ingraham himself when he went near the hives without a bee suit. He went to bat something out of his hair, only to discover it was a bee. The second was his pastry chef, who got stung seven times–again after going near the hives without a suit. 

“No one else has been stung anywhere on the property,” Ingraham says, adding that the bees die after stinging someone, “which is why they don’t sting you if they don’t have to.”

When near the hives, smoke made from woodchips is used to calm down the bees. The bees are a European bee, which is one of the most docile species of honeybees. 

“It’s the African ones you always hear the nightmares about,” Ingraham says. 

The bees can fly up to 10 kilometres from the hive to collect nectar and pollinate plants. Ingraham has seen the bees in the townsite of Jasper, and says they will definitely help area gardens. 

“Honeybees are the best cross-pollinators in the world,” he says. 

This year the project has just begun and the extractions and a lot of the work is being done by Ingraham and a few of his fellow chefs. Next year the project will be turned over to their apprentices, and the next extraction will be done with their help. 

The extraction process starts by checking the hives. Each frame removed from the hive can have up to 10 pounds of honey on it. The bees are carefully shaken off, and the frames are set aside for processing. Once all the frames are removed, they are inserted into an extraction machine, which spins the frames around so fast that the honey flies out and into a collection tube, and then feeds into a bucket. The honey is then warmed up and strained to complete the process. 

“It’s as pure as you can get.”