White House Beehives Produce 100 Gallons of Honey

Hives join Michelle Obama's organic garden on South Lawn
By Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune, 10/20/2009

WASHINGTON -- The White House is minding its own bee's wax.

In the lush gardens of the South Lawn, which has hosted a hive of activity since the new first family moved in, working bees are turning out gallons of honey.

The chief horticulturist has combed his memory -- which spans four decades on the White House grounds -- and cannot recall any other honey harvesting.

Washington is not exactly abuzz with this sweet new development on the grounds where the first lady has planted an organic garden and where the president has turned the tennis court into a basketball court.

But Dale Haney, White House horticulturist and grounds superintendent, waxes nostalgic about the grounds that lacked, until now, a working beehive.

Charlie Brandts, a White House carpenter and beekeeper, collected the first batch of honey from the hives on June 10. "I'm sure they've gotten at least 100 gallons of honey," Haney told NBC's "Today" show Monday…