2016 Bee College cross-pollinates learning, demonstrations in Cheyenne
University of Wyoming Extension and Laramie County Conservation District are presenting the 2016 Wyoming Bee College Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20, at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.
The $75 conference fee includes all conference meals, drinks and snacks. There is no charge for bee buddy children under 14 accompanied by an adult.
“The 2016 Wyoming Bee College is open to everyone,” said Catherine Wissner, Laramie County extension horticulturist. She said the program is for beekeeper “want-a-bees,” experienced beekeepers and anyone who wants to learn to help pollinators.
Registration and agenda information is at bit.ly/2016beecollege.
Bee College presenters include beekeepers and business owners, researchers, professors and chefs. “They bring lots of enthusiasm for helping our pollinators,” said Wissner.
Registration starts at 7:45 a.m., followed by a welcome from the American Honey Queen and a keynote address at 8:20 a.m. by Tony Landretti of Rice’s Honey in Greeley, Colo., on the importance of buying honey from a known source.
The keynote speaker on Sunday is Jamie Strange, USDA Agricultural Research Service entomologist and contributing author of the Federal Pollinator Action Plan. Strange presents an update on national efforts to help all pollinators, including the monarch butterfly.
Other presenters for this third-annual event include:
• Carolina Nyarady, DVM, with an all-day workshop in beginning beekeeping.
• David Lewis with a hands-on hive building demonstration.
• Zachary Haung from Michigan State University on honey bee health and welfare, in-depth honey bee nutrition, swarm psychology and rearing queens.
• Will Robinson of Casper College, sharing 40 years of international travel and honey bee research.
• Hank Uden of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, with an update on Wyoming’s Pollinator Protection Plan.
• Chefs Vally and Rusty of Cheyenne’s Crow Creek Catering on cooking with honey.
• Greg Bowdish of Hunters Moon Meadery in Severance, Colo., on the art of turning honey into mead wine. He and his wife, Kim, make their internationally recognized mead from their own 60-hive apiary.
Other programs include seasonal care, choosing bee hive locations, research findings on overwintering and how pollen nutrition influences bees’ foraging choices.
“This is one of the best courses I’ve ever taken,” said 2013 Wyoming Bee College graduate Kim Withers,
CEO of Meridian Trust Federal Credit Union in Cheyenne. “After my first year of beekeeping, when I was first called a beekeeper, it was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
For more information, contact Wissner at 307-63¬3-4383 or cwissner@uwyo.edu.
Source: University of Wyoming Extension
