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Tending the Hive: Beekeeping 101

18 Reasons
Saturday, March 10th, 2012, 3-5:30PM
Tending the Hive: Beekeeping 101
$25 member price/ $35 general admission

Join 18 Reasons and local apiarist Robert MacKimmie for a class on the basics of sustainable and socially responsible beekeeping!

Beekeeping is not as simple as it sounds! Successful beekeeping is based on knowledge - knowing what decisions to make wisely, and when. While the bees themselves can skillfully navigate for nectar and pollen on their own, human management of their parasitic infestations, along with viral and bacterial diseases, has become the "life or death" determiner of colony survival. Beekeeping can be glorious, mostly focused on honey production, pollination, a wonderful sense of prosperity, the life-affirming diligence of nature's best workers. If not well tended, losing a hive to mite collapse can be traumatic, and this class will give you information to help you prevent this loss and revel in the glory of home-spun honey instead!

This class we will learn:
1. The amount of time, location and equipment required for bees
2. Bee biology/ selection of bee stock
3. Where to buy and how to build equipment
4. Beeswax versus plastic in a hive
5. The phases of getting started, hive build up, management practices to avoid swarming, hive health, honey production and harvest.
6. Needs for Fall, Winter and anticipating Spring will be briefly touched on.

Learn to keep bees alive, healthy and prosperous - avoid being one of the many 'Voodoo' beekeepers who let them die, and then repurchase new bees every year. Learn what it takes to experience the joys of being a "beekeeper," and not just suffering the sad fate of being a "bee haver."

Almost forgot to mention! There will be a honey tasting to get our palates excited for some local sweetness!

About the instructor:
Apiarist Robert MacKimmie has successfully tended bees for 16 years. He manages 70 hives, mostly in San Francisco, producing neighborhood-based, micro-climate honeys for allergy sufferers, and spectacularly exquisite honeys for those who love one-of-a-kind nectars. He keeps six of his hives on the rooftop of Bi-Rite Market, available on their shelves just below the hives, which he labels with batch and jar number. Robert also sells his SF honeys at the Inner Sunset, Castro, and Larkspur's Marin Country Mart Farmers' Markets. He is an inspired instructor who conveys a highly-complex subject with clarity and enthusiasm. 7x7 Magazine notes that Robert is, "one of SF's most highly regarded urban bee colony cultivators," and MSN cites his reputation as, "San Francisco's pre-eminent urban beekeeper."