Rotary News

Emporium Rotarians learned more about beekeeping at their recent luncheon meeting from Ryan & Brandi Magaro, owners and beekeepers of Rich Valley Apiary located in Rich Valley. The Magaro’s started their bee business in 2011 after their son, Enzo, then 3 years old, and Ryan became interested in honeybees after watching some You Tube videos.

Honey bees have been around for millions of years, but were not native to the United States. In the early 1600s, settlers brought honey bees to the United States. The Indians referred to them as “white man flies”. Einstein quoted “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live”. Honeybees are very extremely important to our food supply as they pollinate flowers up to 50-100 flowers during a collection trip. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honey bees and one queen. Worker bees are female, are the only ones with stingers, do all the work, and live for about 6 weeks. The queen bee can live up to 5 years and it’s role is to fill the hive with eggs, up to 2,500 per day. They are the only insect that produces food (honey) eaten by man, and honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes. The biggest threat to the honey bees are mites.

Magaros started with 1 hive and now have 15. Along with selling honey, they also make and sell soaps, hand cream, candles and lip balm all made from their kitchen. All three of their children are also involved in the business.. Items can be purchased from them directly or at the local Chamber of Commerce.

Rotary President, Dale Kern, welcomes Dave Greene, Executive Director of Northern Tier Community Action Corp., back to the Emporium Rotary Club. Dave had been a member of the St. Mary’s Rotary Club for years and previously a member of the Emporium Club.

 Tickets for the Rotary Wine & Cheese fundraiser, February 18th are still available. Must be 21 years of age to attend. See Becky Pasquinelli at Northwest Bank or any Rotarian for tickets. 

 Proceeds help fund the Rotary Academic & Technical Scholarships.