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Keeping a hive of bees can be an educational family activity as well as providing honey for your table and pollination for your garden and flowering plants. Most city ordinances allow up to two bee hives per city lot.
Many families make beekeeping an experience for adults and children. Beekeeping suits are available in all sizes and even children as young as 5 years old can participate in caring for bees and harvesting honey.
Some beekeeping clubs host youth programs that teach young folks how to be beekeepers and will even provide protective gear, woodenware to assemble into hives, and the bees to place in the hives. The Colorado County Beekeepers Association holds their meetings every 2nd Thursday of the month, 6 p.m. at the Texas AgriLife Extension Office.
Interest in beekeeping has exploded over the past 10 years. As an example, 10 years ago, there were 13 bee clubs in Texas. Today, there are 56 active clubs and more being created.
Honeybees are an important part of our environment and help produce 2/3 of the food that we eat. But honey is not the only thing bees do for us. Bees also aid in pollination and produce wax that is used in candles. Bee sting therapy can also be used in medicine.
To learn how to keep bees and use their products, you can attend the 15th Annual Beginning Beekeeping School to be held Saturday, March 1 in Brenham.
Sponsored by the Central Texas Beekeepers Association, the school will include sessions on Beginning Beekeeping, Apitherapy (the use of bee products in medicine), how to extract honey, where to get your bees and many more interesting topics.
The one-day school is open to the public and families are welcome to attend. The cost of the school is $100 for the first adult in a household and $90 for additional household members over 18.
Active and retired Military will be $80. Students, including college, are $40 each. Children under the age of 12 are $25. The admission includes a catered Bar-B-Que lunch with Blue Bell Ice Cream.
There is even the opportunity to “suit up” and visit a live beehive while a beekeeper opens the hive and shows you the queen and honey inside. Ninety-eight percent of the instruction is in the classroom. Prior registration is required.
To learn more about the school, you can visit www.tinyurl. com/2025BeeSchool. For more information, call 979-3531811.
