Bee keeper school kicks off March 16

ASHLAND — The complex and intricate world of the honey bee will be examined this spring at the 2024 Pemi-Baker Beginner Bee School in American Legion Post 15 at 37 Main St.

Classes will be held on Saturdays, March 16, 23, 30 and April 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Participants will learn how to keep a colony of bees, promote their health and extract their honey. They will also explore the bee’s essential role in pollinating plants from flowers to vegetable gardens to commercial crops.

Course topics include bee biology, equipment and supplies, hive components, how to buy and install honeybees, hive management, products from the hive, pests and diseases, and protecting hives from bears and other potential intruders.

The course is designed to allow a beginner to be able to successfully keep a hive. Mentors are available to provide ongoing assistance as needed.

Gerard Godville, with more than 20 years of experience in keeping bees, will teach the class with the help of club members and guest speakers. He and his wife, Mary-Ellen, have been coordinating the school since it began in 2010.

He finds it relaxing to work with bees and enjoys talking about them.

Those who take the course become members of the Pemi-Baker Beekeepers Association, a club with monthly meetings. The nonprofit organization has more than 100 members from the Lakes Region, the north country and throughout the northeast.

To register, visit pemibakerba.org/bee-school-2024-registration. For more information, email megrg74@yahoo.com.