20 new responsible beekeepers have emerged into society from last weekends beekeeping workshop. They got the hands on experience playing with the bees and the latest cutting edge information and theories about bees from the trainers Doug Sommerville and Anthony Andrist. Nutrition, pests and disease management, and general hive maintenance and management were well covered along with topics including how to start and split hives; organic methods; bees and permaculture; pros and cons of different hive designs and types of hive systems; social and political issues concerning bees; history, biology and much more. Both natives and exotics were discussed. The new beekeepers dressed up in bee suits to open the hives and learned lots by handling and inspection. Participants also learned how to extract honey using simple home methods through fly wire and a bowl as well as using beekeeping extractors and strainers. There were many highlights of the weekend but one was definitely the tasting of honey fresh from the hive, it was unbelievable good. It was so successful that PSI has decided to run another one soon. See some pictures from the workshop below (click on image to progress through slideshow).
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