Learn how to keep bees

If you've ever wondered what it takes to become a beekeeper, you can get all the basic information at an Introduction To Beekeeping seminar on Saturday, January 23 from 9:30 am until noon at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, 1225 Pearl Street, Suite 200, (corner of Franklin and Pearl) in downtown Beaumont.

For a $10 fee, you will hear talks on: Why keep bees, skills and equipment needed to get started, bee biology/lifecycle, and the basics of handling bees. If the weather permits, you can join in on a field trip to a local beekeeping operation. The speakers are Gretchen Horn of Southern Gold Honey Company and a Jefferson County Master Gardener, and Jeff McMullan of the Ft. Bend Beekeepers Assn.

Even if you don't think you want to become a beekeeper, I think it would be interesting to learn about bees just for the general knowledge - and $10 is a bargain. This is another excellent example of the numerous educational programs our local Agri-Life folks provide.

About the wonderful photo: this is a stamp collecting sheet from 2001 in the Ukraine, where beekeeping is an ancient tradition. According to www.beekeeping.com, one in 1,000 persons in the Ukraine keeps bees. The six stamps show a bee collecting pollen, Apiculture, the study of beekeeping, a worker bee, a queen bee, a beehive and a drone bee.