A honey of a discovery at St. Matthew Catholic Church
After a giant beehive was discovered in a wall, the church had the bees relocated to a new apiary on the church campus. Proceeds from the honey will go toward the church's ministries to feed the poor
The following article appeared in the Nov. 6, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
St. Matthew Catholic Church is buzzing over a giant bee congregation revealed within its walls; 25 gallons of honey is expected this summer
by Cristina Bolling
Imagine the roofers’ surprise: As workers installed a section of new roof on St. Matthew Catholic Church’s New Life Center building, they came across a beehive nestled between the interior and exterior walls.
And this wasn’t just any beehive — it was 5 feet by 7 feet, and held some 100,000 honeybees, possibly with two queens.
Jesse Holland, a local beekeeper and the owner of BizzyBee Honey, Hives & More, was called in, and he safely removed the bees from the building’s walls using smoke to calm them and a special vacuum to extricate them.
Holland told The Ledger it was likely the hive had been there for 7 or 8 years.
The bees were moved to a hive on Holland’s property for several weeks to adjust before moving into their permanent new digs — an apiary on the church property.
Each of these 10 hives on the campus of St. Matthew Catholic Church in Ballantyne is expected to produce about 2.5 gallons of honey a year. Jesse Holland, owner of BizzyBee Honey, Hives and More, extracted the bees from the church walls and now tends to the hives year-round. (Photo courtesy of St. Matthew Catholic Church)
The honeycomb from the New Life Center walls was cut into slabs and placed in frames to form 10 separate hives, which were placed on the church’s campus, behind a tall metal fence designed to keep out predators. Holland said he added other bee colonies to the St. Matthew colony, and now a half-million bees live together on the church grounds.
The bees are working hard in their new location, and 25 gallons of honey should be ready to harvest sometime next summer, Holland said. He and his team will check in on the hives about once a month in the winter, every 7 to 10 days in the spring and about every two weeks at other times of the year.
The honey will be sold in the St. Matthew gift shop, with proceeds used to support the church’s ministries dedicated to feeding those in need, St. Matthew chief operating officer Antoinette Usher told The Ledger.
And of course, the honey will need a name.
Parishioners are voting on that, and Usher said the list has been narrowed down to two contenders: Holy Honey and Heavenly Honey.
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman