Dennis Rittenhouse has been a hobbyist beekeeper for over 50 years. He keeps 7 beehives on his property in Point Pleasant and practices natural beekeeping without chemicals. Rittenhouse is passionate about educating others on the importance of pollinators and the threats facing bee populations. He gives presentations locally and hopes to reinstate the Boy Scouts beekeeping merit badge. Rittenhouse's lifelong interest in bees started when he taught his own children about gardening and pollination, and now in retirement he continues to learn about beekeeping and share his knowledge with others.

1. The Ocean Star
PAGE 23
FILE PHOTO THE OCEAN STAR
Children watched as Dennis Rittenhouse showed them a real-life honey-
comb during a harvesting program at Barlow’s Flower Farm in Wall.
COURTESY OF LEE MUENZEN
Dennis Rittenhouse painted two beehives for his
grandchildren in their favorite colors.
FILE PHOTO THE OCEAN STAR
Point Pleasant’s Dennis Rittenhouse extracted honey into a jar after it was
separated from the bee’s wax during a presentation in Wall.
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
When you think of a hobby, what
comes to mind? Knitting, working
out and baking may be among the
answers generated by the question.
However, not many people can say
that their hobby is more out of the
ordinary — or, perhaps, “the bee’s
knees.” But when it comes to
Dennis Rittenhouse, the phrase is,
quite literally, relevant to his
favorite pastime.
Mr. Rittenhouse, a Point Pleasant
resident, has a lifetime’s worth of
memories and knowledge with
unique creatures from the wild:
honeybees.
Mr. Rittenhouse grew up in a
small town in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, where he attended
grade school and high school
before graduating in 1957 to attend
Bucknell University. In college, Mr.
Rittenhouse explored his interest
of music and met the love of his
life, Andrea Becker, whom he has
been married to for 51 years.
Mr. Rittenhouse graduated with
a bachelor of science degree in
music education and continued to
live out his passion for music for
the rest of his career and life. In
fact, he still plays the trombone
and is in three bands that perform
locally.
He continued his education,
receiving a master’s degree from
Pennsylvania State University.
Shortly after, Mr. Rittenhouse
began his career at J.W. Pepper, an
educational music distributor
company. From there, he had what
he calls a “golden opportunity.” He
was offered a job as the band
director at the University of
Pennsylvania, where he worked for
five years.
Mr. Rittenhouse and his wife
subsequently moved to Point
Pleasant where they raised their
two children, David and Elizabeth.
He worked for his wife’s family
business which was then called
Vanote Lumber, located in Point
Pleasant. He continued
woodworking for 29 years before
he retired. Mr. Rittenhouse’s
familiarity with the craft became
apparent with his new hobby,
beekeeping, as he would soon
make unique, handmade homes for
his bees.
‘HONEY’ I’M HOME
While teaching his children the
importance of sustaining their very
own vegetable garden located in
the backyard of their home, Mr.
Rittenhouse found he had a keen
interest in pollination and its
importance to the environment.
“My interest has been in bees
since the kids were small,” Mr.
Rittenhouse said.
He and his family spent their
vacations at various educational
summits with organizations such as
the National Wildlife Federation.
While the education was primarily
for the benefit of the children, Mr.
Rittenhouse explained that he
reaped what the programs sowed,
as well.
He said his initial knowledge of
beekeeping and pollination was an
outgrowth from the summits.
To teach the children what he
was simultaneously learning, Mr.
Rittenhouse constructed a beehive
in their yard and entered the world
of beekeeping. The purpose of his
efforts shifted from educating his
children to enjoying the hobby and
even becoming knowledgeable
about beekeeping and its
importance.
“Because of the [population]
decline of the honeybee I’ve
become more interested in our
environment, the sensitivity of our
environment in terms of pesticides,
and so I have developed a stronger
interest in bees for two reasons,”
Mr. Rittenhouse said.
The first is to help the bees in a
state of apparent decline due to
colony collapse disorder [CCD].
The second is to educate people on
the importance of pollination and
living in a reduced-pesticide
environment.
Mr. Rittenhouse said honeybees
are in a decline for a number of
reasons, including the use of
pesticides and genetically modified
crops which cause issues with
pollination.
Mr. Rittenhouse joined the
Central Jersey Beekeepers
Association nearly 10 years ago and
gained even more knowledge of the
beekeeping, delving deeper into his
mission of keeping his bees
pesticide-free and natural.
Mr. Rittenhouse continues to
extract information from the
meetings and workshops the
association holds. His latest project
is candlemaking, which he learned
of at a meeting. He tried his luck at
making candles from leftover
beeswax on his own, but did not
wind up with a refined product.
Mr. Rittenhouse said
candlemaking is an age-old activity
and beeswax has always been a
critical ingredient, as it does not
drip because of its thickness. He
said it also has a wonderful scent
of honey.
Mr. Rittenhouse explained that
beeswax and honey are in limited
supply for him, by choice. He said,
“The more honey that’s left in
reserve in the hive, the more
beeswax that’s left in the reserve,
as well — it’s stored in the
beeswax.”
Mr. Rittenhouse does not take all
of the honey [or wax] from his
bees, especially during the winter
when they live off of their own
product and do not venture outside
to forage.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE BEEKEEPER
Mr. Rittenhouse currently has
seven hives in his backyard that are
filled with honeybees, as well as
three at Barlow’s Flower Farm in
Wall, which he donated.
He said while he cares for his
bees and is concerned with their
welfare, they are not his pets.
While it is his hobby, he takes
beekeeping very seriously and
proceeds with his beekeeping in a
educated manner. For example, he
has many of the elements down to
a science — from the size of the
box they reside in to the specificity
of the ingredients he feeds a new
batch of bees when they come
home.
Mr. Rittenhouse practices
“natural beekeeping,” or
beekeeping without the use of
chemicals such as antibiotics to
keep them alive. The reason, in
part, for this is so that those who
consume his honey can be assured
that it’s as chemical-free as
possible. Mr. Rittenhouse clarified
that his bees are free creatures and
do forage on neighboring
properties up to two miles away
where pesticides may be present,
however.
Another unique feature of Mr.
Rittenhouse’s hobby is that he
carefully crushes his bees’
honeycombs by hand when he
takes their honey, rather than
reinserting a plastic base for them
to build on.
“All my honeycombs are
naturally produced by the bees,” he
said. “My honeycombs never go
back into the hives. It’s constant
recirculation of new wax that the
bees are making on their own.”
While it may seem surprising,
Mr. Rittenhouse does not fear his
bees, as he knows their cues from
experience and research. For
example, they are responsive to
conditions such as weather and
aggression just as humans are.
“You realize how gentle they
actually are in the right
environment,” he said.
Mr. Rittenhouse also said he
hopes to dispel the myth that
honey bees are fearsome because
they are often categorized in the
same group as hornets and yellow
jackets. After all, he would know
best.
He said, “I learned from an old
German beekeeper who taught me
that if you treat the bees gently,
they will treat you gently — and
they do.”
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Mr. Rittenhouse previously
donated 12 bee hives to a farm
preservation project in Aberdeen
Township as well as to Barlow’s
Flower Farm, which he says has
been a “great source of continuing
education with beekeeping.”
He continues his own education
on the subject by attending
workshops, reading and
researching regularly.
His most recent endeavor, aside
from taking a stab at candlemaking,
is to give educational presentations
on the importance of pollination in
the environment to local groups.
Mr. Rittenhouse visited the Point
Pleasant Garden Club just last
week to give a presentation and
show a short, educational film to
the club. He also held a film
screening for St. Mary’s-by-the-Sea
in Point Pleasant Beach.
On a national level, Mr.
Rittenhouse and his friends are
working toward reinstituting the
Boy Scouts Beekeeping Merit
Badge in an effort to educate
children on the importance of
pollination in the environment.
While Mr. Rittenhouse is retired
and residing in the quaint Borough
of Point Pleasant, he leads a
fulfilling life full of music,
continuing education and plenty of
buzzing.
Anyone interested in learning
more about beekeeping or the
importance of pollination in the
environment may contact Mr.
Rittenhouse at
thesmallbeesteward.com or
thesmallbeesteward@gmail.com.
Honey bee stewardship: A labor
of love for Point Pleasant resident
DENNIS RITTENHOUSE’S HOBBY IS THE BEE’S KNEES
“It’s a fascinating hobby and it’s also miraculous.”
DENNISRITTENHOUSEHobbyistBeekeeper,PointPleasantResident
PEOPLE
OBITUARIES 26
HOUSES OF WORSHIP 26
CROSSWORD 26
STREET BEAT 31
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015