We are super excited to bring back one of our favorite Bee Guardians, Alex DeCesaro, for another round of mind blowing class about how to care for bees. Alex teaches beekeeping with a bee-centric approach to promote a beekeeping practice that is more rooted in nature. She has studied under Backyard Hive's Corwin Bell and works with Michael Thiele to bring back natural nesting sites to areas on the Front Range. This class is open to folks new to beekeeping, just curious or skilled beekeepers looking for a holistic understanding of bee guardianship!
Session 1:
May 17th: 10am - 3pm
Session 1 covers more than just the bee basics, which is a misnomer because there is nothing basic about bees! Alex paints a fascinating picture of how bee genetics inform survivor behavior traits, how these traits make up the bees' behavioral immune system, which directly relate to survivability. Alex launches into the big picture of bees as a superorganism, why we teach beekeeping the way we do, and why we designed the type of hives we use. We compare and contrast different hive styles used by the majority of beekeepers, but we also explore various management practices that natural Bee Guardians use to create a sustainable habitat for the bees. Once we learn the bee basics, understand the individual types of bees in the colony, and can identify and discern the various combs and their uses in the nest, we will have the foundation to continue onto Session 2.
Session 2:
May 18th: 10am - 3pm
In Session 2 we go through step-by-step management practices during the seasons of the hive. We learn to "read" combs from different locations in the honey bee nest and assess their condition, their state of health and many other factors. Alex demonstrates unique techniques for hive management, presents a "time lapse" perspective of how the honey bee nest is initially created, how it evolves over the first year and how it is sustained over the years through careful observation and application of specific management techniques at the right times. By the end of Session 2 you should be able to identify colony problems, apply solutions and be able to assess what to do for your bees in just about every circumstance that you will encounter. Session 2 is also when we get to see how Alex approaches the hives and how she flows with the energy of the bees, and how she moves through the hive, weather permitting.
About the Instructors:
