Introduction to Beekeeping Course

Please check back soon for early 2020 dates!

This is an intensive 2-day course

EVERYONE IS EXPECTED TO COME TO BOTH SESSIONS

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Tickets cost $70

Price includes BOTH days.

Listen to MARC volunteers talk about bees, pollination, and the role of the Maryland Agricultural Resource Council in educating the public about agriculture On The Record with Sheilah Kast at WYPR:  http://wypr.org/post/busy-bees-and-busier-beekeepers

This beginner’s beekeeping course is perfect for individuals who are curious about beehives and the bees that maintain them. This course will help you build a framework to continue your education as a junior beekeeper, or simply a person who recognizes the irreplaceable value honey bees hold in our food system.

The course will cover:

• Colony build up
• Reproduction
• Resource accumulation
• Winter prep and survival
• General management of the beehives
• How to extract honey
• How to identify and treat bee diseases

About the Instructors: 

Jeremy Barnes has spent his life living and working in England, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States, with the opportunity to visit with, and learn from, beekeepers in a variety of European and African countries in between. An educator by profession with a focus on history and group dynamics, the honey bees chose him in 2002, despite which, and like many new beekeepers, he lost his first two hives over winter and may well have discontinued but for the intervention of two more experienced local apiarists. He discovered quickly the value of both having a mentor and being involved in the local and state beekeepers’ associations, and it was the latter which, in 2009, asked him to write a column for their monthly newsletters, culminating in the publication of Our Green Cathedral, Reflections on Honey Bees, the Environment and the Human Condition, in 2018. His current focuses are working with bees that are descended from local, survivor stock, and reverting to more naturalistic methods of managing honey bees

David Papke

Past president of CMBA, David has kept bees for 40 years in OH, MD, PA, and Belize, C.A. with the Peace Corps. He currently lives in York County, PA renting colonies to growers for pollination and producing honey for the local market.

Follow this link to get updates on all activities related to beekeeping!