Introducing Buckhead to Bees and Beekeeping

Yesterday my friend Jay and I had a table at the Buckhead Heritage Festival to show how bees are kept.  Jay brought his observation hive and honey to sell.  I brought bee veils for the kids to try on, honeycomb to pick up, honey to taste, and lip balm to sell.  We had a great time and the groups that stopped by our table were enthusiastic.

Jay talking to kids about his observation hive.

Me, talking to one of our many child visitors.

Everyone looked for the queen but we never found her (she's probably in the box below instead of walking around on the frame that was lifted up).

Here are pictures of the many kids in bee veils who stopped, tried them on and were willing to have their picture taken.

They had a great time and so did we!

Blue Heron Eco-Fair

On Saturday we had a beekeeping booth at the Blue Heron Eco-Fair. The weather was threatening and we only had about 1/4 of the people who came last year, but we had a great time. Here I am with my helpers, Jay, Stacey and Terry.



The observation hive is an Ulster hive belonging to Jay. I'm so envious - they are out at Brushy Mountain, but I am ordering one as soon as I can. It was the perfect way to have bees at the fair and the bees were a hit! Jay also brought a hive box full of those educational frames with inserts describing bees and their roles in the hive, etc.



Every kid who came up wanted to see the queen. Amelia in the pink shirt and Terry in the yellow were the best queen spotters. We all had fun, as you can tell by the faces.



The other thing the kids liked was to squeeze the bellows on the smoker.


I had veils for the kids to try on and some of them liked it and some were afraid.  I was surprised.  Everywhere I've taken the veils kids have wanted to put them on, but not on Saturday.

In general everyone who visited our booth loved looking at the bees and tasting the honey.  And some of them were OK with putting on bee veils.

Presentation at St. Dunstan's Vacation Bible School

Today my grandson, Dylan, and I went to present about bees at a Vacation Bible School at St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in Atlanta. We took my friend, Julia's, observation hive.

Trying to get the hive to the car today was a much bigger challenge than the last time I used it. I had about 25 bees loose in Julia's house before we got everything squared away to take the Ob Hive to the car. There has to be an easier way. I spent about 20 minutes covered the bees with a glass and sliding a card under the glass to take them to the outdoors to release them.

We did the talk outside and set the hive up on a picnic table. I also took a medium nuc (the blue box), bee veils, honey for them to taste, and candles to feel and smell. We talked about the comb in the hive and they got to do the waggle dance. It was a lot of fun for me and I think the participants had fun too.


One of the teenage counselors took these two pictures. The first is of Dylan and me as we got started talking about the bees.

Here are the children learning to do the waggle dance to communicate!

This young man, Conner, was eager to try on a veil and to ask lots of questions.

Dylan who is only 3 was a fabulous helper and got a promised Brewster's ice cream cone as a reward when we left!

We returned the observation hive to Julia's with only two bees to return to the outdoors before we came home.

Eco-Fair at Blue Heron Nature Preserve

Today there was an Eco-Fair at Blue Heron Nature Preserve. I went to represent beekeepers in the natural environment. Several members of Metro Atlanta stopped by and Gina, my local beekeeping friend, helped me run the table.

We took Julia's observation hive, which I had to go get from her house. What an adventure, but I got the bees without mishap. I have the Ob hive at Blue Heron from 11 until 4 when the bees began to act agitated and I thought I should take them home!

Here are Gina and me, working together to explain bees to all the passersby. We handed out information about how to learn more, including information about Metro Atlanta Beekeeper's Association.


Gina did a great job of explaining bees to this family and everyone got to taste honey.



Several of the kids tried on bee veils and loved doing that.


At the end of the day the hive was acting agitated and buzzing. I left the festival early to get them back to Julia's. I was so scared trying to take the cork out of the hive, uncover the pipe to the outdoors, and hook the whole thing up without mishap.

I managed to get the cork out of the hive and cover the opening with a card. Then I eased the aluminum stopper off of the pipe to the outdoors. Then I slid the Ob hive so that the only thing between the hole in the hive and the hole to the vent was a thin card. I slipped it out and slid the two together.

One bee escaped into the room, but I got a cup, rescued her and sent her on her way outdoors.

The bees clearly were desperate to get out of their cramped quarters. They poured out into the tube. Here they are "escaping."