Bee Hives
Virtual Tour Stop #9
**Please stay out of the fenced area for safety purposes. If you are allergic to bees, please skip this tour spot **
Welcome to the bee area! Every week, we host Bee Club, where we learn how to take care of the bees, check up on them, harvest honey, or anything else they might need. We have a volunteer lead beekeeper and several Participants who conduct Bee Club every week. Depending on the season, we usually maintain 8 bee hives on site. The Participants are in charge of naming the bee hives however they would like, it’s usually a bee pun of course!
Our ultimate goal is to use the bees for education and to help pollinate our garden. Every season, we harvest some honey from our hives and sell it in our store. We only take honey when we know the bees are able to survive without it.
Facts About Bees:
-
Bees belong to the insect order Hymenopterans, which comprises the majority of the insects. Amongst the insect order, bees are considered to be social insects as they live in colonies.
-
Bees are paramount for agriculture as they facilitate pollination, in fact, ⅓ of the world’s food supply pollinated by the bees.
-
Most of the European honey bees fall under Apis Mellifera; with ‘Mellifera’ being the Latin word for “honey-bearing”. The process of managing and breeding honey bees for acquiring honey and beeswax is known as apiculture or beekeeping. Apiculture is an old tradition that started with hunters in the forest in search of sweet honey.
Next Steps: Go back through the breezeway and into the Hoop House!