Bees at the Oshawa Port

The Oshawa Port has a new tenant.

The port’s newest business owner, Cosmin of Aromath Beekeeping, Cosmin has planted eight hive boxes, with plans to add more.

Located at the top of the berm on the east wharf, he says he is pleased with the progress they’ve made so far, and he can tell “the bees are thriving” at the port.

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.

Cosmin says 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 of the bees bow in her direction and part to make way, as she moves over the honeycomb to lay eggs.

Down the berm the sound of steel can he heard being unloaded off a vessel along the east dock wall by longshoremen.

Cosmin came to Canada from Romania in 2016 with his wife. 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 beekeeping shortly after moving to Durham. It is a skill he says 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 the Oshawa Port, he says the waterfront is a special place for him, noting Lakeview Park was one of the first places he and his wife visited after coming to Oshawa.

Cosmin can be found on Facebook @aromath or on Instagram @ar0math for more information or to purchase honey and honey products.