The October Beekeeping 101 class at the South 40 Community Garden was standing room only. Actually, the large number of attendees did not quite fit in the apiary. Newcomers included some folks who inherited a barrel of bees – that’s a barrel in the literal sense – who were there to gain knowledge about managing their hive.

Pro tip: Talk to an experienced club member and get some help moving hives living in an unconventional space to a proper aviary to be able to better manage the colony. Pest management, honey extraction and other facets of maintaining a hive is no easy feat if the bees are not easily visible and reachable.

The theme of the day was HONEY! The South 40 hive has quite a bit of the liquid gold in both the top and middle boxes. It made for a less interesting inspection, but a promise of good things to come in the very near future.