Beekeeper Miss Honey (above and below photos) working with her colonies in North Philadelphia.
Photos: Julian Moore-Griffin
By Constance Garcia-Barrio
From delicious honey to exquisite chocolates and food trucks representing diverse cultures, are featured at next Saturday’s Honey Festival at Wyck, 6026 Germantown Avenue, offering visitors a world of experiences. This festival, whose entry is free, will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Activities include demonstrations of honey extraction, bee beards, cider pressing, mead and beer sampling, tours of Wyck and more. This family-centered event will give guests a chance to enjoy sweets, storytelling and goods made by vendors of different cultures, including some of African or African American heritage.
The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild, a not-for-profit group begun in 2009, is sponsoring the celebration . The organization’s members encourage and promote sustainable urban beekeeping.
Wyck, located on 2.5 acres of what was once a large colonial farmstead, provides a safe space for children to learn about history, farming, nutrition, and environmental science year-round as well as at the Honey Festival. Dating to 1690, Wyck, a National Historic Landmark, comprises a museum house, garden with famed old roses, and an urban farm.
The house, open for tours at the festival, has a cabinet of curiosities with unusual objects from around the world. These include a squid fossil.
“This fossil was thought to be lost for almost 200 years, until a [former] caretaker re-discovered it,” said Kim Staub, Wyck’s executive director.
“In some cases, pieces of early 19th century newspapers are wrapped around the specimens, providing a unique glimpse into the 19th century world.”
Beekeepers at the festival will include the adventurous Amma Dorman, a.k.a. Miss Honey. Dorman, a Black beekeeper, has hives in North Philadelphia at her great-grandmother’s house. Her company, Honey Making Bizzness, promotes environmental stewardship and community wellness through honey and bee products.
A Philly girl, Dorman became interested in the environment during graduate school at Penn. Her studies included a stint in London.
“I was on an environmental studies track,” Dorman said. During the pandemic, when she began taking long walks in nature, Dorman came across a “a beautiful carpenter bee on a lavender blossom.”
She read about beekeeping and visited Baybees, a honey farm in Whaleyville, rural Maryland, to learn about beekeeping.
“People come for a class or workshop to make sure it’s something they want to pursue because there’s an initial high investment,” said Lauren Pascarella, manager at Baybees.
Dorman connected with the Beekeepers Guild in 2022 and launched her enterprise, honeymakingbizzness.com, in 2024.
“My honey is affordable: $7 for a 3-oz. jar,” she said.
Dorman holds Bee Day to familiarize the public with bees and their essential role in the environment.
“Once a year in August I open my apiary for a free community hive experience and yearly offering,” she said.
Atiya Hardnett, born and raised in East Falls, uses honey to make medicinals. The owner of Love Identity Candle Company. Hardnett is also a cost accountant for the construction industry.
“Both my son and I have asthma, and we also experience eczema,” Hardnett said. “I was searching for a solution. I created a soap whose ingredients include turmeric, raw honey, and goat’s milk. Some small jars [of cream to treat eczema] cost $45 to $75. I wanted to something effective that doesn’t break the bank.”
The turmeric soap, formulated to relieve itchiness and dryness, costs $7 a bar.
Talona Coleman
Storyteller and children’s book author Talona Coleman will help children look at bees from yet another angle, with stories that emphasize the bees’ good qualities.
“Bees give us honey, pollinate plants, and cooperate in the hive,” said Coleman, a reading captain in Northwest Philadelphia, where she lives.
“My husband is a chef, and he incorporates honey in some of his dishes.”
Coleman and her husband have three grown children. She also makes jewelry, and has written books to help strengthen children’s self-worth, kindness, and other positive qualities. Her company, KIDazzle Literacy and Puppetry, LLC, also presents workshops at schools, libraries, and birthday parties, where children make own puppets or engage in other crafts.
“Puppetry enhances literacy skills and provides opportunities for language development,” Coleman said.
Ebo Nunoo, a master chocolatier who uses honey in some of his creations, will bring a taste of his West African heritage to Wyck.
Ebo Nunoo at work.
Photo courtesy of Ebo Nunoo
“I’m excited about attending,” said Nunoo, a Germantown/Mt. Airy resident, who is married and has one child.
Born in Ghana, Nunoo lived in Accra, the capital, until he was 20. He moved to the U.S. to attend college.
“My maternal grandfather had a cocoa farm but left it in the late 1930’s or early 1940s,” Nunoo said. “People boycotted and burned cocoa farms to protest economic strictures imposed by Britain, [from which Ghana gained independence in 1957].”
In 2021, Nunoo, who had been working in banking, decided to start a chocolate company, Xoxoa Chocolates.
A proponent of sustainability and transparency in the supply chain — he won a competition at Temple University for his thesis on that topic — Nunoo insists on an inclusive, transparent supply chain, he said.
“Because of opacity, we don’t know where our commodities come from,” Nunoo said.
Today, Ghana and Ivory Coast supply 60% of the world’s chocolate, but farmers make less than 10% of the global profit, Nunoo said.
“I research companies extensively to make sure that no child labor or forced labor is involved before I do business with them,” he said.
Nunoo mentioned that the flavor of chocolate, like that of wine, depends on where the cocoa is grown.
“In Southeast Asia, it has notes of soursop, [whose flavor is often described as a blend of strawberry, pineapple and citrus.] As to flavor, Ecuador produces some of the most complex and satisfying chocolate,” he said. Xoxoa chocolates, available at the festival, will include “crackly, golden, divine” honeycomb toffee dipped in dark chocolate for $16.50 a box. Nunoo also has a vegan version.
Finally, Dorman — “Miss Honey” — offers her advice on how to bring honey not just to one’s palate but to daily living.
“Be courageous in your endeavors,” she said. “It’s what makes life sweet.”
For details about the Honey Festival, visit: https://wyck.org/philadelphia-honey-festival/ or call: (215)848-1690.
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