2010 Bluegrass Beekeeping School

On March 13, 2010, over 400 beekeepers met in Frankfort, KY for the 2010 Bluegrass Beekeeping School. Ruth, Isaac and I were of their number. Dr. Dave Tarpy, Associate Professor of Entomolgy from NC State was the keynote speaker, and started the day with a fascinating presentation of the dance language of the honeybee. He shared a wonderful on-line tutorial on the bees' communication through dance which you can access at http://entomology.ncsu.edu/apiculture/Dance_tutorial

After several more classes and lunch, it was our turn to teach "Beekeeping with Children." We had a great class, many more than I expected, and I was sorry to run out of handouts. If you were in the class and didn't get a handout, please just contact me through this blog and I will get one to you. The photo above shows as many of the wonderful group of people that made up our class as I could fit in the viewer of the camera.

The class provided Ruthie with her first public teaching opportunity. She gave a presentation

on why she felt that Warré hives with windows are the best hives for beekeeping with children and did a great job. Everyone from class members to school organizers were very encouraging. Ruthie is excited about preparing and teaching again next year.

Of course our Warré hive was unique at the bee school. Except for one other speaker, Tiffany Gillespie, who gave an introduction to Kenyan top-bar hives, everything was geared toward beekeeping with Langstroth hives. In spite of that, we learned a great deal that will enhance our beekeeping and make us better beekeepers. I'd highly recommend going to a bee school near you no matter what your level of experience or what beekeeping methods you use.