Good afternoon folks!
It's been a long time since we've have an update and I apologize for all you lovely volunteers who have wanted to get involved and haven't been able to. But now is your time!
Straight off the bat, There will be a Bee Team Meeting tomorrow April 3 @ 4PM in the Botany Greenhouse. If you're interested in working on some of the projects we've got to get done before our new swarms arrive, I highly suggest showing up! Otherwise email me ASAP.
As for the bees themselves. Well I'm sorry to say everyone but our Italian Honeybees did not last the winter. The red and blue hives got a nasty case of nosema that weakened them pretty severely and despite getting fed medicated syrup, they ended up not being able to make it. As bummed out as I am about this, it is a great learning opportunity. Evan Sugden documented the hive death and we'll be going over it trying to figure out the details of exactly what happened. We lost the hives! last winter as well and I think it demonstrates how poorly bees bred in California and shipped here do in the damp winter months. This year we've ordered some locally bred bees who hopefully will last the winter. If you're thinking "it's like local heirloom varieties of vegetables!" then you're correct!
Since our new bees are coming in soon, we've got to hurry and get our hive equipment all finished up! Yes, I finally got the lumber exchanged and it's all ready to be taken to the wood shop and made into new boxes! This needs to happen within the next couple of weeks, so we can get them painted up and ready to go before the bees arrive. Currently I have Alexa, Sweta, and Ann interested in this project, and anyone else can sign up. I'll be emailing you seperately after the meeting tomorrow.
Also, as a heads up. If anyone is interested in doing a farm internship to manage the bee team over the summer, please let me know! It will be different from the bee interns! hip class that's been advertised, which is mainly for beginner! s and will be more class-oriented this year. Instead, you'd need to have previous experience working with bees, and be interested in doing a project to get credit through the UW Student Farm, which can be anything from running statistics on parasites to creating more native pollinator habitat around the CUH and Botany Greenhouse farm spaces. The rest of your credit hours would be managing the bee team to care for the bees over the summer. Pretty Neat!
Lots more to come, thank you to everyone who has been offering time and energy to the bees! It's now the busy season, so there should be plenty to do!
Cheers,
Jamie B.
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