I had the pleasure of helping Grantham Garden Club member and hobbyist beekeeper Amelia Lantz run a program for Eastman’s All Day Gang and Kid City campers this summer.
Amelia is beekeeper who participates in the Kearsage Beekeepers Association or KBA (https://kbanh.org). She is passionate about all species of bees and how vital good habitat is to all parts of our ecosystem. Amelia speaks for KBA to public groups, works in the their apiary in Sunapee, and helps teach at their Bee School in Newport on five Saturday mornings starting in January. (Yes, you too can sign up if you’re interested.)
The campers, who ranged in ages from 4 through 12, dressed in bee veils, jackets, and gloves. They handled Amelia’s tool belt and the smoker used to calm bees when the hive is opened. The hit for the children was the observation hive that Amelia brought which contained 15,000 lives bees. Amelia pointed out the queen.
Campers were given hive boxes, frames, covers, and a stand to figure out how to build an actual bee hive. This led to discussing the pioneer history of beekeeping in the United States. In the 1860’s, Ohio beekeeper, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, was essential to the industry becoming standardized. A teacher, clergyman, and pioneer; he improved the existing hives and built and patented the moveable frames inside the hives which make it safer for the bees and beekeepers and still used worldwide today.
Beyond all this information, Amelia’s main take-home message for the children was clear “Please eat only local raw honey.” Raw honey has enzymes that activate nectar. It has bits of pollen (protein). Raw honey has the anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-viral qualities that heated, filtered, blended honey does not. Local raw honey is the real deal.
Local Raw honey can be purchased in the Upper Valley at:
Beaver Pond Farmstand
Bouldevale Farm
Rum Brook Market
King Blossom Farm
Edgewater Farm
Kearsarge and Upper Valley Food Coops
Sutton Farmers Market
Spring Ledge Farm
Grounds Coffee Shop
Amelia is beekeeper who participates in the Kearsage Beekeepers Association or KBA (https://kbanh.org). She is passionate about all species of bees and how vital good habitat is to all parts of our ecosystem. Amelia speaks for KBA to public groups, works in the their apiary in Sunapee, and helps teach at their Bee School in Newport on five Saturday mornings starting in January. (Yes, you too can sign up if you’re interested.)
The campers, who ranged in ages from 4 through 12, dressed in bee veils, jackets, and gloves. They handled Amelia’s tool belt and the smoker used to calm bees when the hive is opened. The hit for the children was the observation hive that Amelia brought which contained 15,000 lives bees. Amelia pointed out the queen.
Campers were given hive boxes, frames, covers, and a stand to figure out how to build an actual bee hive. This led to discussing the pioneer history of beekeeping in the United States. In the 1860’s, Ohio beekeeper, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, was essential to the industry becoming standardized. A teacher, clergyman, and pioneer; he improved the existing hives and built and patented the moveable frames inside the hives which make it safer for the bees and beekeepers and still used worldwide today.
Beyond all this information, Amelia’s main take-home message for the children was clear “Please eat only local raw honey.” Raw honey has enzymes that activate nectar. It has bits of pollen (protein). Raw honey has the anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-viral qualities that heated, filtered, blended honey does not. Local raw honey is the real deal.
Local Raw honey can be purchased in the Upper Valley at:
Beaver Pond Farmstand
Bouldevale Farm
Rum Brook Market
King Blossom Farm
Edgewater Farm
Kearsarge and Upper Valley Food Coops
Sutton Farmers Market
Spring Ledge Farm
Grounds Coffee Shop
