Experience required – one year minimum

The challenges of maintaining thriving hives continue to mount. We see this in the apiary and hear much the same from other beekeepers.

This three-hour class is intended for beekeepers that have kept bees for at least a year. The goal of the single session is to address specific issues and questions facing beekeeping in our area and to provide an overview of key approaches found to be successful in our apiary. There will be two 90 minute periods, an indoor discussion followed by time with the bees, weather permitting.

This educational opportunity is made possible by friends Charlie and Kathleen Marder who have helped me long before I knew who or even where they were. Marders indirectly supported my work at the Pfeiffer Center, through their financial support of both Gunther Hauk and the Center. Upon relocating to the East End, I approached the Marders about putting bees at their nursery, where the bees have lived and thrived ever since.

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Welcome to the Bees’ Needs website! Its activation coincides with our 9^th anniversary. We long delayed this endeavor, believing no Internet presence was preferable to another casual voice in a clamorous world, and a worthwhile website requires time, excellence and up-to-date readings. Keeping up with our girls has been our primary focus.

However, much has changed since our beginnings in the spring of 2007, when Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) had recently emerged as the latest in a series of threats to the world’s honey bee population. The surge of interest that ensued was heartening, as awareness of the vital role bees play in our environment was better understood.

From our vantage point, the past twelve years on Long Island’s East End have been largely consumed with intense study and work at our craft, while trying to be good listeners and stewards of the girls. One never believes enough is known and yet our efforts have produced some encouraging results. Their success carries us to the next challenge — to participate more vigorously in the larger conversation on behalf of the honey bee, the natural world and kindness towards both. We wish to reach out to communities near and far.

It is our desire that this blog provide a glimmer of both the sacred and the profane.   We will portray life with the honey bee through word and picture, seeking to balance the demands of being a 24/7 beekeeper with sharing a view into her miraculous world. Perhaps this is easier said than done, but we will strive to post seasonal updates on what meeting the bees’ needs actually entails, while it also regales. Please join us!

Finally, we wish to thank those whose skills and insights have made this site a reality. Our talented and ever-patient web designer, Colin Goldberg, and graphic designer, Dale Hushbeck, whose first imaginings set wheels in motion, and writer, Carol Williams, whose thoughtful comments provided an invaluable guide. Several fearless photographers make a story vivid: Mirella Cheeseman, Daniel Gonalez and Karen Wise. And finally and eternally, my husband, Rob Calvert, whose extensive literary and artistic abilities make my dreams for Bees’ Needs come true, always.

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