(MCT)— Four stories up, out on the roof above the doctors, nurses and staff at The Valley Hospital’s Luckow Pavilion in Paramus, N.J., a new group of employees is busy creating a city out of wax.
Valley has installed two colonies of honeybees in tall, pale cream boxes, which will produce honey the hospital plans to use in its patient food and also package to sell in its gift shop.
Each colony will likely produce up to 100 pounds of honey by season’s end. The beekeepers will harvest 30 pounds of that and leave the rest for the bees to eat through the winter.
“The hospital is trying to be as green as possible, and this fits in with our goals for sustainability,” said Valley dining director Dawn Cascio.