Today I started a new adventure. I have attended the first session of a workshop series on being a beekeeper. Yeah that’s right, I ‘m learning how to make honey. I think the biggest surprise was how many people showed up for the class at 9 AM on a Sunday morning, in Southern California. There were over 100 people in attendance. I was glad I had taken the recommendation to bring my own chair because by the time the instructor started people were lining the walkway of the nursery location. This course meets once a month from February through October and follows a season in beekeeping.
After a basic round of introductions, the organizer broke the crowd of attendees into 5 groups and sent us to separate locations throughout the location. At my first session, the instructor introduced the group to proper protective clothing. The picture below are examples of be suits. Important take away, don’t wear any perfume or makeup because the bees can be attracted. That is not a good thing. Second major take away, when a bee stings you and you will ultimately be stung, they release an alarm pheromone that smells like bananas, with that in mind, don’t eat bananas around the hive, because the scent might upset the bees and they will attack the source of the scent and that would not be good.
