Registration is open for spring bee school

ASHLAND — The amazing world of the honey bee will be explored this spring at the 2025 Pemi-Baker Beginner Bee School in the Ashland Booster Club at 99 Main St. in Ashland.

Classes will be held on Saturdays, March 15, 22, 29 and April 5 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. Also explored will be the bee's essential role in pollinating plants from flowers to vegetable gardens to commercial crops.

To be discussed at the school are 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.

“I believe this school opens the eyes of the beekeeper to how the honeybee affects the local environment,” he said. “The beekeepers themselves will learn about beneficial products from the hive."

To register, visit pemibakerba.org/bee-school-2025-registration.