The sweet reward of fresh honey is by no means the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. For a long time, agriculture has recognized the value of pollination by bees.
In fact, without the bees’ help, one-third of everything we eat would suffer dire consequences. Honey bees are remarkable and critically important creatures.
But in the last several years, millions of colonies of honey bees have been wiped out by something called “Colony Collapse Disorder.” Honey bees are facing a crisis. Perhaps as a result, we are seeing a dramatic growth in the interest of keeping honey bees as a hobby.
Learn more about the remarkable honey bee…the colony’s amazing social structure, and the multitude of benefits that honey bees bring to our everyday lives. Understand why the bees are vanishing, and what you can do to help reverse this grim situation.
The lecture will take place in the Lamb Room at New Canaan Library.
Howland Blackiston is the author of Building Beehives for Dummies (2013 John Wiley & Sons), and Beekeeping for Dummies (Fourth Edition 2017 John Wiley & Sons). A New Canaan native, he has been a backyard beekeeper since 1983.
He has written hundreds of articles on beekeeping and has appeared on dozens of television shows, radio programs, and in numerous magazines.
Howland is the past president of Connecticut’s Back Yard Beekeepers Association, one of the nation’s largest regional clubs for the hobbyist beekeeper.