Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Bee'ginners Bee School

Tonight was the first class of the 'Beekeeping for Beginners' course presented by the Piedmont Beekeepers Association in Lynchburg, Virginia. About time! About time, because I've had bees for Two years and am finally attending a class. About Time, also because the first two classes were postponed due to bad Winter storms. The class was packed with soon to be new beekeepers. Which is a very good sign. People mentioned many different reasons for enrolling:
  1. Lack of pollinators
  2. Bees need a helping hand
  3. I want honey
  4. My garden needs bees
  5. Parent & child shared activity
  6. I have bees and don't know what to do with them
  7. I saw a demonstration and decided to start
  8. My wife saw a demonstration and decided that I was going to start
Or this one,
My relative who kept bees in the States moved to a Caribbean island where he was attacked and almost killed by Africanized bees.

I have no idea how that last one works but I'm glad they came all the same. #'s 6 & 8 apply mostly to me. I can't wait to finish this bee class & bee smart.

3 comments:

immwia said...

Wow, this is amazing. It sounds like you are smarter already for just showing up. Thanks for sharing!!

Marcia said...

I teach 2 adult night classes a week at a local High School here in the city of Hamilton NZ - I have been keeping bees for 5 yrs and there was no where to go to learn except for our excellent bee club - the classes run for 6 weeks and have been very sucessful so far - I really enjoy teaching people about the huge importance of bees in our lives. I have a blog you may want to check out called `Bees in the Antipodes`
or http://miro-ngaio.blogspot.com

Hemlock said...

immwia,
Yes it took some brain power just to show up since I forgot the map & directions at home. Looking forward to the next 7 classes.

Marcia,
My predicament is similar. I had the bees for two years before i made contact with other beeks. Too much guess work made for some foolish mistakes on my part.
Thanks for the link to the website.