Oshawa, ON (May 18, 2021) – We recently met up with the newest business to set up shop at the Port of Oshawa: meet Cosmin of Aromath Beekeeping. At the top of the berm on the east wharf, Cosmin has planted 8 hive boxes, and he plans to add more.
He is pleased with the progress they’ve made so far, some after only a week, and he can tell “the bees are thriving” at the port. “They have the resources to develop with the trees and dandelions on top of the berm and Second Marsh so close by,” said Cosmin.
The honeycomb within the hive frames is packed with nectar and he can spot three different kinds of pollen that the bees are bringing back to the hive from a variety of pollinator plants in the area. The pollen is a protein source for the bees, what they feed their young, and the nectar they forage is used to make honey.
Each hive box is filled with about 10,000 to 30,000 bees, male drones and genderless worker bees, all of whom report to a lone queen. Looking through a hive, the queen’s elongated body is easy to spot. The rest bees bow in her direction and part to make way, as she moves over the honeycomb to lay eggs.
Cosmin covers the frames with smoke, calming them down as he examines their status. Down the berm, we can hear the steel being unloaded off a vessel along the east dock wall by longshoremen, as the port itself moves to its own special rhythm.
Cosmin came to Canada from Romania in 2016 with his wife and high school sweetheart. After a brief stint in Toronto, they settled in Oshawa to be closer to friends nearby in Pickering. A civil engineer and surveyor by trade, Cosmin rediscovered his ‘true passion’ for bee keeping shortly after moving to Durham. It is a skill his father started teaching him about while growing up in Transylvania when he was only six years old.
Though he never expected to have bees at Oshawa port, the waterfront is a special place for Cosmin. Lakeview Park was one of the first places he and his wife visited after coming to Oshawa.
Follow them on Facebook @aromath and Instagram @ar0math for more information or to purchase honey and honey products.
