Today WSB’s 5th grade class jarred the honey we extracted from our bees’ honeycomb in the autumn. They also made labels and performed a rigorous inspection and quality control taste testing. (Please Note: All testing was done after the jars were filled.) WSB will soon be offering the honey for sale to raise funds to advance our bee stewardship practice.
Early Saturday morning, I set our bee colony into their new top-bar hive with the help of Meme Thomas of Baltimore Honey and Emily Uchytil. It was a beautiful, humbling, and exhilarating experience. Over the weeks to come, myself and WSB teachers will be working on incorporating our partnership with the bees into the curriculum, giving the students a chance to observe and learn from these amazing, important creatures.
For now, though, we will give them their space as they learn about their new home and surroundings. Below are some photos taken during their placement into the WSB top-bar hive. Enjoy!
Actually, not quite, but they will be in the next few days. This week I was able to procure a new horizontal, top-bar hive from Baltimore Honey. WSB hosted honeybees from Baltimore Honey on our property before, but this time WE ARE THE BEE GUARDIANS.
I spent the last couple of days painting the new hive (with low VOC paint) and setting it into place. Each of the 4 steel legs had to be buried about 20″ down (which if you’ve dug into our stoney land before, you would know is a rather humbling task). The bees will be delivered sometime between now and Tuesday. Here are some photos of the new hive placed by the top of the driveway:
Join me this winter at Baltimore Honey’s Honeybee Stewardship Workshop.
Meme Thomas of Baltimore Honey will be teaching this course. You’ll learn about the equipment and the hive, honeybee colony dynamics, integrated pest management, all natural keeping methods, and how to enhance the honeybee environment in your backyard. Baltimore Honey is the ONLY organization in the State of Maryland that offers this type of workshop!
When: on Sundays: Feb 3rd, 17th, March 10th, 24th, and April 21st from 11am-2:30pm.
Cost is $100 for all five classes. For more information and to register for this workshop visit www.bmorehoney.org.
Students receive a 50% discount with valid student ID!
Hope to see you there,
Michel
Green Dragon Bytes 