Honeybee Festival Brings Bees Back to Cross Orchards
Honeybee hives have returned to Cross Orchards Historic Farm where the bees are pollinating the apple trees and flowers, thanks to the efforts of Colorado Honeybee Festival Board Member and Beekeeper Mollie Woodard and her partner Gi Woodard-Moon.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship,” said Gi. “They were looking for pollinators, and we were looking for places that were safe for our hives. We have really enjoyed their partnership.”
In May of 2025, they established two hives behind the small summer house, a six-sided tiny building, far enough away from public walkways to not bother visitors. They are the result of two nukes placed in home-built hives in May of 2025. Each nuke consists of a queen and five frames of honeybees.
At first they were concerned that pesticide spraying of the trees might affect the bees, but they were able to work with Cross Orchards and cover the hives during the spraying. The bees continued to do well.
A couple months later, Gi and Mollie also got a swarm that they relocated to a remote part of Cross Orchards where the bees can adapt to their new surroundings away from people.
Olivia Pollock, horticulture and collections assistant at Cross Orchards, is excited to see if the on-site bee population will increase their pollinator rates. Cross Orchards has about 100 apple trees on the 24-acre property.
“I love having pollinators in the orchard and out back,” she said. “I think it was an outstanding addition.”
Saskatraz bees are the species that now inhabit the hives at Cross Orchards. They are known for their hardiness, good honey production, and resistance to varroa mites.
“Next to pesticides, the mites are the number one reason honeybees are dying,” Gi said. “You never quit learning when you’re taking care of bees.”
This year, Gi and Mollie focused on growing the hives and not harvesting honey, so the bees could overwinter well. In 2026, they plan to spend about four hours a week caring for the bees—monitoring for mites, studying the egg patterns, and making sure the queens are doing well.
“There’s a lot more upkeep than people realize,” Gi said. “But we love it.”
She credits all of their beekeeping knowledge to the Western Colorado Beekeepers Association, a group that teaches and supports local beekeepers and has brought demonstration hives to the Colorado Honeybee Festival every year to educate visitors about beekeeping.
The Woodards plan to split the honey production with Cross Orchards Historic Site. They are also planning to conduct demonstrations of the hives at the 2026 Colorado Honeybee Festival and later for school field trips.
“It will help the kids who are scared of bees see that they’re not an enemy,” said Pollock. “It’s great for education.”