With Bill Day

If you are thinking about getting honeybees next spring, now is the time to prepare. This one-day workshop will address questions all aspiring beekeepers need to ask as they prepare to embark on this spiritual yet profoundly nature-bound journey. For beekeepers with one or two years’ experience, this workshop is a great opportunity to take stock, ask questions, and learn new perspectives.

The workshop will be organized around the beekeeper’s essential role in nurturing the hive organism. What can we as beekeepers do to create conditions in which our bees can thrive? What are the most up-to-date natural and holistic methods, and how do they work?

Topics covered will include: the biology of the hive organism and the beekeeper’s role in fostering healthy hives; working with different hive designs; sources of bees; siting your hives; biodynamic methods for managing varroa and other health issues; record keeping; beekeeping as a path to heightened powers of observation and awareness; and much more.

The day will include a visit to the Pfeiffer Center’s apiary. Weather permitting, we will open a hive and demonstrate techniques discussed in the classroom.

Bill Day has been keeping bees for fifteen years. He is the beekeeper and beekeeping instructor at the Pfeiffer Center, and also keeps bees at Bluefield Farm in Blauvelt, NY.