The Bee-U-tiful Cape

Cape Island is a magnet for endless vacationers, nature enthusiasts, and millions of birds, but it’s also a pollen paradise for bees. Honeybees especially have been lured to the Cape for its abundant wild resources of pollen and nectar and have been swayed to take up residence with many a happy beekeeper. If you can secure a site for a few hives in this diverse green community, you have hit the golden-honey jackpot.

New Jersey’s barrier islands were once lush with maritime woods, native bushes, steep rolling sand dunes, wildflowers, meadows, salt marsh and freshwater ponds, as well as a multitude of birds, insects, and wildlife. But most of the islands have been stripped bare and filled in with wall-to-wall homes, commercial buildings and high rises, asphalt and cement, stone-filled yards, and boardwalks bordering a thin edge of sea on one side and a bulkheaded bay on the other. As such, the Jersey Shore seems a most unlikely environment for beekeepers.

Yet tenacious Cape Island has held onto its historic city and boroughs along with an abundance of sacred habitats, vineyards, and farmland. Those who govern this tail-end of the Garden State and those who live here value all that.

More than half of Cape Island’s land mass is devoted to habitat restoration and preservation. Higbee Beach Wildlife Preserve covers an impressive 1,160 acres. Cape May Point State Park, 244 acres. South Cape May Meadows Preserve, 200 acres. Garrett Family Preserve, 180 acres. Add in the recently acquired 100 forested acres of the Sewell Tract in Cape May City plus several privately preserved acres and you can understand what a wonderland this is for millions of birds, butterflies, and a broad variety of insects including honeybees that thrive. Let’s meet a few people who are passionate and privileged to keep bees here.

Pat Bowman: The Queen Bee of beekeeping on Cape Island. Pat has kept honeybees for the past 40 years. Visiting her homestead is like stepping into a living painting, and her story is a bit like a National Geographic spotlight. Her father’s work moved the family all over the world when Pat was young, including Vietnam and Thailand. Besides all the obvious cultural beauty she was exposed to, insects were what intrigued her in these faraway lands.

But when the family moved back to the States, it was the broad, clover-covered lawn of her Ohio home that drew her into the world of honeybees that were abundant among the unsprayed clover flowers. Pat’s parents settled down on Cape Island in 1964 so their children could finish school in one place. She finished high school at Lower Township High School, and eventually married. Her husband Jack bought a small house in 1979 next to what is now South Cape May Meadows Preserve, where the surrounding fields behind their home were full of wildlife and ponds. She was more passionate than ever about bees, so Jack decided to buy his wife a hive and “box of bees” from the Montgomery Ward catalog. And that was it! Pat has been keeping honey bees ever since and remains fascinated by them. “I love the way they work together as a society,” says Pat. “It’s living art to watch what they create inside a hive. The internal blueprint is much the same as it was thousands of years ago in this ancient kingdom that includes their matriarchal queen.”

What a unique, botanical joy Pat’s gardens are: full of pollinating flowers, bushes, a wide variety of shrubs and trees, unusual benches made from hollow trunks, and her sweet little Honey House, a miniature museum of beekeeping equipment.

“Cape Island has always been a bit untamed, and this is why I love it here,” Pat told us. “I created a business selling a broad variety of wildflowers and creating gardens that not only help sustain honeybees, but a whole host of other pollinating insects, birds, and wildlife. Sadly, our American culture has become very disconnected from nature. We view insects, snakes, frogs, squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs as pests as well as crabgrass, dandelions and clover and seek out pest-control and pesticides to rule over our outdoor surroundings. If we see bees flying around us, we panic, thinking they’ve come to sting us. But more than likely we are in the path of some kind of flower or bush they’re attempting to get to and gather pollen or nectar from.”

What you wear matters, Pat added. “Bees are very color- and scent-oriented. Wearing bright vivid colors can attract bees like flowers do. We also unknowingly smell rather botanical with all the products we wear these days. Perfume. Essential oils. Deodorant. Shampoos. Sunscreen. Even the residue from highly scented laundry detergents can draw them close to humans. Buzzing curiously about us, bees can also smell fear! Particular pheromones are emitted when humans become afraid the nearer a bee enters their personal space to investigate an assortment of scents. They can transition from inquisitive to defensive, perceiving some type of threat as people swat and swing at them. If given a moment to figure out that you are not a flower, they’ll move on.”

If there is a King of beekeeping on Cape Island, it’s Jerry Frutrell. He has hives in Cape May County. Twenty-two of those occupy prime bee real estate on Cape Island. These are by far his most productive hives.

Jerry grew up on a farm in Cape May County, and his brother’s interest in beekeeping eventually drew him in to explore the world of bees for himself. That was 17 years ago, and Jerry is now the go-to guy for all things bees. “I love spring when I open up my hives and the bees are happy to see me, and [they’re] loaded with honey,” says Jerry.

Happy bees? Evidently, honeybees know by sight the particular people who work closely with them, and those people know from experience if their bees are happy or stressed. Both share a common space with mutual respect.

“The colony has many parts to play in keeping things humming along” explains Jerry. “With every waking hour of sunlight, they’re all working at their own particular jobs. Most are Worker Bees. They travel far and wide gathering pollen and nectar to bring back to the hive where honey is magically manufactured. Honey is what the bees live off during the cold winter months. Drones are strictly for mating with the Queen to keep their population healthy and vital. Guard Bees do just that. They guard the opening to the hive looking for any type of intruder including other types of bees and insects or even honeybees from nearby hives. The world of honeybees is as fascinating as any digital creation humans can create, and their history goes back to the beginning of recorded history.”

Pure curiosity drew Andrew Long and Christel Anderson into beekeeping about five years ago. Christel was initially nervous about bees, as most are. But fear has given way to fascination and she and Andy look forward to all that the summer season holds as beekeepers. From nearby Adirondack chairs they observe the comings and goings of their bees.

“We study them year-round and feel privileged to share land with them,” Christel explains. “Our bees know us. Once a Honeybee came in between my flip flop and foot and rummaged around a bit and then climbed my leg unafraid of me and I just began to talk to her. She was just curious. I trust them now and they trust us. A sting may come here and there from some kind of sudden perceived threat. It is what it is, and we always feel bad that it cost the bee its life. Bees don’t sting because they personally feel threatened. It’s their sole duty always to protect the hive and queen.”

Christel and Andy consider what the bees would enjoy with everything they plant in their yard. They mix in rows of pollinating flowers next to rows of vegetables. They also plant many flowers along their curb to initiate conversations about bees with people passing by. From their seasonal observations they decide on what they should plant as a winter cover crop that would most benefit their bee neighbors.

Andy notes, “We’ve become much more aware of all the natural world on a greater scale now. Because we observe the bees so much, we now notice a host of other insects that frequent our yard. Most people would naturally spray these unwanted bugs. Without thought we douse them with insecticide. This way of living with nature will come back to bite us, because without the broad range of pollinators such as honeybees, bumble bees, wasps, ants, flies, moths, beetles, butterflies, birds, bats, and possums that carry pollen to fruit and nut trees and vegetable crops, our gardens and farms both big and small will suffer and our food supply with it.”

When President Obama and his wife Michelle had several honeybee hives set up on the White House lawn, Allen Osmundsen grew curious and ventured into the keeping of bees. We met Allen several years ago as we were just stepping into beekeeping on our three acres of rural land on the west side of Cape Island. We offered him meadow space for a few hives in exchange for his vast knowledge, which has been invaluable. He often remarks how productive his hives are in our location compared to those he has on his property in the Jersey Pine Barrens.

It took several years before he accumulated enough honey because the bees had very little pollen or nectar to gather from such a wooded area. Most of the surrounding land has also been developed into tract homes with pristine green grass and very little interest in providing habitat for bees let alone other wild foraging animals. Honeybees can travel several miles to find their magical ingredients for creating honey, but sometimes it’s just beyond their range to come home with a successful bounty. Allen was grateful to have a spot on Cape Island for several hives.

“Just as we learn how to navigate streets by sight and landmarks, so do bees,” explains Allen.

“Honeybees will fly three or four miles in search of wildflowers, trees, and bush blossoms. Their internal GPS is highly sensitive as they ‘download’ where they live through their orientation flights. It’s fascinating to watch young bees as they study the front of their own hive by flying figure eights round and round in front of it as they lock in their location and even their own hive among several. They also know their way home by sight. They recognize houses, pastures, roads, and landmarks as they go back and forth carrying their harvest home several times a day. But most don’t have to travel very far because the Cape is loaded with all the best of what bees need.”

Our personal venture into beekeeping was when Mike and I moved from Ocean City, New Jersey, where we’d lived most of our lives, to Cape Island five years ago. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could own a parcel of farmland by the sea, but when the door opened, we jumped. Mike was always interested in beekeeping, and soon after we moved, he began reading books, watching YouTube and learned much from Allen Osmundsen once he moved a few hives from his wooded area to our open fields.

Mike kept me in the loop with all he was learning, including getting stung. Being a sailor, he was particularly curious how bees observe weather patterns before setting out to venture far and wide collecting all their essentials for honey production. Within our first year we were loaded with delectable honeycomb and now I wanted to learn more as we began bottling it.

All beehives must be registered with the state. The certification process for us to become beekeepers required seven weekly classes provided by The Jersey Cape Beekeepers Association held at the Rutgers Extension campus in Cape May Court House. This, however, was postponed for two years during the pandemic. In the meantime, Allen (and later Jerry Frutrell) taught Mike most of what was in the course during the Pandemic shutdown. When we could finally begin the course, I found the whole thing mind boggling!

One of my first victories in understanding and accepting the ways of this tiny insect that I now live closely with was when several got entangled in my hair-bun atop my head—they were frantic! I truly did not want them to sting me and lose their lives in the process, so I became very conscious of my personal pheromones. Fear has a threatening vibration. Drawing in deep slow breaths, I slowly worked my bungee out of my hair and hung my head upside down over my knees to keep them farther away from my scalp as they worked their way through my long, messy hair. The buzzing eventually calmed as each one found their way out, and all flew free!

I’m also interested in the health benefits of honey. I was spellbound while reading the miraculous journey of Marilyn Murray Willison in her book What the Honeybees Taught Me; How 10,000 Stings Improved Both My MS and My Life, and Two Million Blossoms; Discovering the Medicinal Benefits of Honey, by Kirsten S. Traynor, M.S.

This teeny, tiny insect—no bigger than your thumbnail—is a crucial component of the world’s food supply. We’ve invented countless innovations for the progress of our society, but nothing will replace the role of pollinators like the honeybee that connects pollen to flowers, vegetables, or fruit. Just as we learned the hard way about DDT, the devastating effects of Roundup on beneficial insects and humans goes way beyond our yard of weeds.

Let the clover grow on your lawn. Replace your geraniums, petunias, and impatiens with wildflowers and stay calm when bees enter your specific arena. They’re simply looking for pollen and nectar resources. If they come near you, they may simply think you’re a flower! Breathe deeply and slowly. Stay calm and maybe even bravely observe them and see what happens! You may begin to see the benefits and beauty in them.