Honey Bees #1: Becoming Beekeepers

Becoming Beekeepers

Back in March a Hon’s Honey Worker Bee, and our Director, Erin Allison enrolled in a Beekeeping short course with the Bowie Upper Marlboro Beekeepers Association (BUMBA). It was the closest class that wasn’t already full, which of course lends itself to the idea that beekeeping is a widely growing interest!

We embarked every Thursday evening for 6 weeks to consume massive amounts of varied information on the science of beekeeping. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming! Beekeepers joke that if you ask 2 beekeepers a question you’ll get 3 different answers. It seems that couldn’t be more true! We used a textbook but the classes were led by presenters who were teaching from experience rather than “the textbook”. It was really helpful, but also seemed to double or triple the amount of information to take in. We even won a hive tool in a weekly drawing, which kick-started our beekeeping equipment collection!

Thankfully, the short course served as an overview and now we are paired with a mentor that will be walking beside us (and practically holding our hands) as we enter our freshman year of beekeeping. It is not lost on us, that it’s the exact model of mentorship used at our parent nonprofit, The Well as they journey alongside women on a plan for life development. We couldn’t be more thankful for our mentor’s help!

“Beekeeping is an interesting and rewarding activity if you love nature, have a fascination with the unique social organization of insects, and are consumed with an active curiosity about how things work. And oh you should also enjoy honey.”

-The Beekeeper’s Handbook, Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile

We are excited to dip our toes in the water of beekeeping and get closer to the incredibly fascinating world of honey-making.

This is the first step on the road to equip more women survivors with varied skills and work experience that will enable them to rise to new heights.