Ogden House Beekeeping
Responding to the threat of the Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder the Fairfield Museum and the Fairfield Garden Club started an Apiary in 2013 introducing two beehives to Ogden House colonial gardens. The importance of beekeeping in colonial times is well documented in the historical record. Apple cider, honey and beeswax were so important they placed bee skeps in wooden chests on a board strapped to the stern of cargo ships, similar to the Mayflower, to bring to the New World.
Bees provided honey, which was used as a food source and had medicinal value. Bee pollination insured the garden’s productivity — the key to surviving in colonial New England. Today, with support from Oak Lawn Cemetery, the Fairfield Garden Club and the Fairfield Museum, members of the Fairfield Garden Club maintain from three to six hives during beekeeping season. The honey, cultivated and jarred by Fairfield Garden Club members, is sold through the Fairfield Museum Shop. In the past several years, hundreds of school children have visited the Ogden House Dooryard Garden and discovered the traditions of beekeeping, gardening and Colonial times.