Bee-ginner Beekeeper Workshop

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Published on Tuesday, 26 March 2019 16:03

Written by Will Barrett

LITTLETON, NH- This past sunday an introductory coarse on beekeeping was held at the Littleton Food Co-op. Nearly an all day affair, students were taught by president of the North Country Beekeepers Association, Janice Mercieri. Students were taught the basic roles of bees in the hive, as well as what resources and equiptment are needed to sustain a man-made hive. When the time comes for hands on learning, the students will work with stingless bees, ones who do ot produce as much honey but are safe for practice.

Inbetween sessions and on their lunch breaks, students talked about their resources and space they have to start beekeeping, which brought up many questions that were readily answered by Mercieri. The biggest question amongst the students was in regards to how much space was needed to be a beekeeper, to which Mercieri replied with a story of how beekeepers function on rooftops in cities. Space is not the problem. No matter how large the project, our ecosystem can benefit from more honeybees.

"We're trying to raise more awareness for the plight of the honeybees," said Mercieri, "If we lose forty percent of our honeybees, we are also losing forty percent of our native pollinators and thats really important to our ecosystem."