On Friday, The Office of the First Lady announced an expansion of a beekeeping program at the White House first launched by former First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009.
The new @WhiteHouse bee hive is expected to increase annual honey production by an estimated 30 pounds, allowing for even greater use in preparing White House culinary dishes, serving as official gifts from the @POTUS and @FLOTUS, and supporting charitable donations of healthy… pic.twitter.com/c6Q48T6Cg8
— Office of the First Lady (@FirstLadyOffice) April 24, 2026
The new @WhiteHouse beehive is expected to increase annual honey production by an estimated 30 pounds, allowing for even greater use in preparing White House culinary dishes, serving as official gifts from the @POTUS and @FLOTUS, and supporting charitable donations of healthy foods to local food kitchens.
The statement reads:
First Lady Melania Trump announced the expansion of the White House honey program with the addition of a newly installed and fully functioning beehive on the South Lawn. Hand-crafted by a local artisan in the image of the White House, the beautiful, new hive will add two new bee colonies to the existing two colonies that already produce the signature White House honey.
The new hive is expected to increase annual honey production by an estimated 30 pounds, allowing for even greater use in preparing White House culinary dishes, serving as official gifts from the President and the First Lady, and supporting charitable donations of healthy foods to local food kitchens.
The installation will support the existing colonies in pollinating the nearby White House Kitchen Garden, Flower Cutting Garden, and vegetation on the National Mall. It will also serve as an educational feature, offering potential opportunities for visitors on the South Lawn to get a closer look at a working colony and learn about pollination and food production firsthand.
This is indeed a clever and creative expansion of a program that is not only good for the environment, but in MAHA fashion, for the overall health of the natural resources that help us produce real food, and the health of the White House visitors and guests who partake of the honey produced.
WATCH:The White House honey is known for its light clover and basswood flavor, with a subtle hint of citrus. It is used by Executive Residence chefs to sweeten teas, prepare salad dressings, and craft desserts. The expansion, funded through the Trust for the National Mall, continues a legacy of stewardship across administrations—adding to the legacy of the Kitchen Garden, the Flower Cutting Garden, and other beekeeping efforts now supported by White House Chief Horticulturist, Dale Haney, and local apiarists. The new hive and its base were designed by the White House Executive Residence staff and hand-crafted by a local Virginia artisan.
This latest renovation will be a featured part of a state visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla of Great Britain. On Monday, their majesties will tour the White House grounds, which include the South Lawn and the beehive expansion, according to a statement from the Office of the First Lady.
On the afternoon of Monday, April 27, the President and First Lady will greet Their Majesties when they arrive to the South Portico of the White House. The couples will then head to the State Floor where they will sit for tea in the Green Room.
After tea, Their Majesties will join the President and First Lady for a tour of the newly unveiled and expanded White House Beehive, which is nestled on the South Lawn near the White House Kitchen Garden.
It is apropos that First Lady Melania Trump has chosen the 250th year of America's independence to expand the White House beehives. American colonists used beekeeping and honey production to circumvent King George III's high taxes. Honey could be produced locally and had a variety of uses as a sweetener, a medicine, and even as payment to workers. As we developed as a nation, bees became an essential resource that drove American ingenuity and prosperity.
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