- Trails are open 24/7 at no charge. Enjoy a Winnie-the-Pooh themed TRAIL TALES Storybook Walk.
What’s Happening: The Buzz About Honey
The Door County Beekeepers Club invites the community to join them for their annual Community Honey Harvest on Saturday, August 23, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Crossroads at Big Creek. This lively, family-friendly event offers live honey extraction demonstrations, fun activities, and educational programs that explore the fascinating world of honey and beeswax.
The Door County Beekeepers maintain an apiary near Crossroads’ Meadow Trail, where they carefully tend beehives to produce honey and beeswax. During the festival, visitors can watch beekeepers dressed in protective suits demonstrate the delicate process of harvesting honey and beeswax straight from the hives.
Beekeeping is an ancient practice dating back some 4,500 years to Europe and the Middle East. Honeybees are not native to America. They were brought here by early colonists around 1620 alongside other livestock: cattle, pigs, and chickens to help establish farms. Honey was a vital sweetener before sugar became widely available, and beeswax was essential for making candles and sealing goods.
By the 1830s, settlers introduced honeybee hives to Wisconsin, while wild swarms naturally spread across the Midwest. Early pioneers prized honey not only as a sweet treat but also for its natural antibiotic qualities, using it on wounds and as a cough remedy. Beeswax was especially valued for making clean-burning, fragrant candles, like the cherished Moravian Christmas candles still used as symbols of purity in Door County churches.
Today, beeswax is a key ingredient in many products, including lip balms, skin creams, cosmetics, cheesemaking, fishing gear, and archery equipment. Curiously, both beeswax and honey are used for repairing bagpipes!
In addition to the Honey Harvest Festival, Crossroads is hosting other programs this week, including a family wetlands exploration and an adult-only “Nature Trek with Terrie” focusing on Reading the Landscape at Ida Bay Preserve.
All programs are free and open to the public thanks to the generous support partnering organizations including the Door County Beekeepers Club, the Door County Seed Library, Wild Ones–Door Peninsula, and many caring and generous donors.
– by Coggin Heeringa, Interpretive Naturalist
For more information, please check out our Crossroads calendar or stop by the Collins Learning Center and pick up a printed calendar. Our trails are open all day every day, free of charge, thanks to donors like you!
Crossroads at Big Creek Learning Center and Nature Preserve is located at 2041 Michigan Street, Sturgeon Bay. Crossroads is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to inspiring stewardship of the environment through education, research, and outdoor experiences. We welcome your support.
Upcoming Activities
