NEIGHBORS: Bristol Beekeeper Gathers Honey From Riverfront

Neighbors by Pat Wandling is a regular feature that will profile interesting local residents.

Nondescript beehives, alive with thousands of honeybees, dot a grassy slope on the banks of the Delaware River and this month the golden, sweet product of their hard work is being harvested by beekeeper Chet Szczucki. 

I first visited Szczucki in the spring when the sun was glinting off the river and as many as 300,000 honeybees were at work in and out of  his six scattered hives, all settled around grapevines on the hill.

From spring to fall, the magic takes place near the Bristol Borough home where Szczucki lives with his wife, Rosemarie, decidedly a perfect, breezy spot protected from many intrusions that could harm the precious colonies. 

He will tell you his interest in beekeeping as a hobby began about five years ago, but now has resulted in an “accidental” honey business. Blame it on success. Szczucki recalled the hives were producing too much honey!  

“And I was starting to think, how much honey can you use or give away?”

So with a nudge from his friends, Bristol Busy Bees honey was born. 

“Pure and unadulterated,” he notes. 

An environmental chemist by profession, Szczucki explained the height of honey production comes in spring – May and June – when the bees are the busiest. There’s a slowdown in August and September as the summer flowers wane, but cooler nights and native fall flowers soon arrived to give him another 40 to 50 gallons of honey in one month.   

It is not an easy hobby without levels of concern and interference, so a beekeeper must be diligent.

“Everything, seen and unseen, affects honey’s taste, color and body, even the weather. Native, flowering plants and weeds of that come in the fall, results in a darker honey, with a slightly different taste,” he said. “But it’s only a matter of preference, It’s all good.” 

But all honey on the market is not the same – the various processes affect the quality, character and taste, including pasteurization and mass production, while pointing out his Bristol-created honey is neither pasteurized nor altered. 

And at the last Middletown Grange Fair the judges concurred, Bristol Busy Bees was awarded a blue ribbon, a first prize, in the Amber Honey category.     

Szczucki enjoys discussing the many aspects of honey, its ancillary benefits, its non-spoilage and ancient history. History tells us honey has outlasted civilizations with traces found in Egyptian tombs — and it was edible!  

And the bee? 

Szczucki, like others familiar with the little creatures, respects them for their skills, work ethic and do-or-die protection of the all-important queen and the “manufacturing site.”  They are masters at temperature control, navigation and communication, Szczucki said, citing this amazing feat: Bees are able to guide others in the colony to the most abundant wildflower fields, the flyway, and how long it takes to get there and back. 

“It’s amazing. They have this ‘waggle dance,’ as a way of communicating where the flowers are. I don’t know exactly how they do it, but the waggle works.”

And artfully, his neighborhood bees continue to “dance” and produce from their riverbank homes. You can find jars of Bristol Busy Bees wildflower honey at Mignoni Jewelers, 200 Mill Street in Bristol Borough.

Past columns:

Neighbors: Bristol Twp. Man Helps Preserve Movie History

Pat Wandling also hosts a popular, call-in, talk show, Speak Your Piece, WBCB-AM 1490, Monday through Friday, 12:10 to 1 pm.