Taking Bee Keeping to the Next Level with Bee School 102

People choose to raise bees for many reasons. They heard about the recent decline in the number of existing honeybees, or they really want the experience of keeping a hive, of watching these little creatures as they magically create honey from flowering plants. Some just want, more than anything, to spread honey from their own hives on their toast every morning.

But the yummy honey is the cherry on the cake - the most important fact it that we need bee pollination for our food system to survive and thrive. With that mission as their main focus Island Grown Initiative (IGI) started its pollination program called Island Grown Bees (IGB) three years ago. Their mission is to educate our community about the importance of bee pollination in our food system and the role that beekeepers play in responsible beekeeping. Their goal is to promote both natural pollinator habitats along with honeybee beekeeping knowledge to achieve a balanced approach to insect pollination on Martha’s Vineyard.

One of the first tasks taken on by IGB was to offer honeybee keepers professional knowledge about how to properly keep honeybees and last year they offered Bee School 101 – for the beginner. 

“Bee School came about and was born out of our Living Local workshops that happen at the festival each year. These workshops were always well attended,” said Island Grown Bees Coordinator, Randi Baird.

According to Baird, IGB found at these workshops that, “Island beekeepers were really enthusiastic, but they were not exactly sure what they were doing.”

Last year IGB invited Everett Zurlinden, who has over 40 years of honey beekeeping experience, to teach at the Island’s first bee school.  Zurlinden founded Beehavin' Apiary, a 15 acre farm, in 1972. Zurlinden is also, according to Baird “the Island mentor of bee keeping.”

The first bee school was a great success with over 80 people in attendance. Over the last year and half, IGB and Zurlinden have held five workshops for bee keepers on the Island, regularly visited Island hives and counseled bee keepers on what their bees need most.

On March 24^th and 25^th, Zurlinden is returning for what IGB is calling Bee School 102. This intensive course takes place over eight hours and, while all are welcome, Baird said it’s called Bee School 102 because, “The course is good for beginners, but it’s not a beginner course. It’s really for those who have kept bees for a least year and have some experience.”

The topics to be covered include things like swarm control, mite control, spring build up methods and splitting hives.

Another important factor of Bee School 102 is IGB’s new native pollinator habitat program.

“One thing that we want to promote this year is our native pollinator program” said Baird. “Our native pollinators are not honeybees.”

In fact, over 100 species of native pollinators exist on Martha’s Vineyard and they are now sharing their turf with very abundant and enthusiastic honeybees.

“Honeybees are strong nectar gathering insects due to their sheer numbers,” said Baird, “and there’s not enough pollinating plants on the Vineyard to support all the bees. We now find that we need to take steps to strike a better balance between the honeybees and the native pollinators.”

IGB is working with Matt Pelican from The Nature Conservancy and entomologist Paul Goldstein from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and a West Tisbury resident, who have been studying the Island’s native pollinators for last three years.

Baird points to some confusing information that we get from the media as being behind the large number of people who now want to keep honeybees.

“One thing that you hear in the media is about the lack of bees, but when people think bee, they think honeybee. And yes, there are problems with honeybees in the US, but what the media hasn’t clarified is that there is not a problem with native pollinators and they play an important role in food pollination as well.

“IGB wants to educate our community about native pollinators. We need to strike a balance with the native pollinators and the honeybees because that’s what our eco system needs to stay healthy and productive. Honeybees are not native to North America and when introducing any non-native species, one needs to make sure it doesn’t upset the balance with the native species.”

Efforts to work toward that balance include a new native pollinator habitat program. IGB is hoping that landowners may be interested in participating in this program in lieu of keeping honeybees. IGB is planning informational workshops for landowners who are interested in growing wildflowers that promote native pollinator habitat.

“Instead of keeping honey bees, you can keep a native bee box to encourage native bees to nest, and instead of being a bee keeper, you can plant your land with clover, buckwheat or flowers plants such as asters, Baptisia tinctoria (Indigo) or butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) - plants that increase nectar and pollen for all bees,” said Baird.

Bee School 102 takes place on Saturday, March 24th from 4-8pm & Sunday, March 25th, 1-4pm at Island Cohousing, 17 Rock Pond Road, West Tisbury. The workshop is $100 and includes materials and dinner on Saturday evening. Space is limited so please reserve early. Send an e-mail to register or sign-up on the web site at  www.islandgrown.org/donate.  Scholarships are available.