The bees are thinking about the weather but it is too cold for them to venture out right now!  But as beekeepers we need to start now to be ready when the weather improves ad we can work with our bees.  Glad you can join us.
This is confirm your registration for the Certified Beginner Beekeeping course which runs at Campbell's Gold Honey Farm and Meadery, 2595 Lefeuvre Road, Abbotsford, from Feb 19 to April 21, 207.
 
Course dates and times are as follows:
4 Monday nights 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.  Feb   19, 26, March 5, 12 - lecture and some hands on
3 Saturdays 9:30 to 12:30  March 24, April 7 & 14 - field experience, working with bees and final examination
1 Saturday 10:00 to 12:30 - last field experience and graduation 
      
For those of you who have the balance of your course fee owing, please arrive 15 minutes before class time to make your final payment.
To Bring to the first class:
On Feb 19, we will hand out learning materials for the first session, go over essential legislation that you need to know about, and discuss beekeeping equipment and clothing.  We hope to get to a discussion on the best placement for your hives and we encourage you to bring to the class either a google map of your proposed bee yard location or a drawing of general layout (noting fence lines, trees, structures, slope and designate N,S,E and W).  
 
Once you have s uccessfully completed our beginner beekeeping course you are welcome to return to the fall management workshop, in August or any honey extraction demonstration, at no cost in the year that you complete the course, so that would be in 2018.  You are also welcome to sit in on relevant sessions for any future beginner beekeeping course that we host at the farm at no cost.  We recognize that a refresher is just what is needed after one or two seasons of experience.  
 
For any of you wishing to start building your beekeeping resources we suggest that you check out the Ministry of Agriculture's web-site on Apiculture.  We will be directing you to certain specific areas during the course.    

An area where we will spend a fair amount of time later in the course is on bee diseases and pests.  These are the challenges that beekeepers face on an ongoing basis.  This is NOT required reading for the first few sessions so review at your leisure and bookmark the links for future reference.

Diseases and Pests
Campbell's Gold Honey Farm & Meadery, 604-856-2125 www.bchoney.com,