John Hedly of the of the Worcester County Beekeepers Association will present an introduction to the fascinating world of bees and beekeeping.

-- Starting a hive - I describe the different ways to get bees to become a beekeeper

-- Physical structure of a hive - I put a hive together in the meeting room and show the tools needed to do the work.

-- Colony and organization - I demonstrate how a hive is organized with the queen, worker bees (females), and drones (males.)

-- Bee chores in and out of the hive - I go over everything the bees do from the day they are born until they die.

-- Collecting honey - I describe and demonstrate the process of collecting honey from a hive and how it ends up in bottles.

-- Importance of pollination - I describe how important honey bees are to pollinating about 1/3 of the fruits and vegetables we eat each day.