Wilson County Beekeeping School
Frank and I had the pleasure of attending the Beginner Beekeeping School presented by the Wilson County Beekeepers Association in March 2025. This absolutely fantastic course ran from approximately 8am until 5pm. It was continued with three, two-hour hands-on blocks of instruction on the subsequent 3 Saturdays from 9am-11am at their local apiary. On the day of the initial course, I was amazed at the high turnout rate. I would guess that there were about 50 or more people of all ages that had shown up out of the 66 that had enrolled. The room was very well organized. What made me the most excited was the very large snack table with coffee in the back of the room! You can tell a class is going to be good in the morning when they serve coffee, that has to be a scientific fact, right?
Throughout the day there were a variety of speakers, all of whom were extremely knowledgeable but more importantly articulate. All of the classes and speakers were thorough and well spoken. Lunch was provided with sandwiches and chips being served. After lunch you could tell there was a sense of the class getting tired due to both being seated for so long and fatigue setting in from trying to retain all the information. At times it was like drinking water from a fire hose! A good change to the class may have been more hands-on activities after lunch which would have gotten everyone's blood flowing a little. Just by having everyone get up and putting their hands on the hive components and tools may have been a little more effective.
The next three Saturdays were mostly hands-on with the exception of short 15–20-minute introductory lectures on how the time was going to be spent along with answering questions. I am a fan of hands-on learning as it works best for me so this was my favorite portion. The instructors demonstrated how to wear bee protective equipment, light and use a smoker, manipulate the hives, and effective pest management techniques. The most memorable moment was when the instructors showed us the individual frames from one of the active hives. One particular frame was a near perfect example as it had everything we wanted to identify, including a new adult bee emerging its way out of her cell.
I had a great time meeting both the instructors and other classmates. I would definitely recommend attending this class as it was informative and very beginner friendly. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to the instructors conducting the weekend events as they were so welcoming and personable to everyone there. (Trish Martinez, Sherry Boone, Mellisa McCloud, and Vicki Salter)
Jonathan Holmes
Frank Matthews
