As part of our mission to educate the public about beekeeping, our club maintains an observaton hive at the Rotary Nature Center in Oakland, and regularly runs classes and demonstrations for our membership.  This year, as part of preparation for "bee season," one of our members Jim Novosel held a Basics for Bee-ginner's class at his home in Berkeley, and Randy Oliver ran a full-day class for beekeepers at the Island Yacht Club in Alameda.

Every year, the club arranges for a field trip to Randy Oliver’s apiary in Grass Valley in the spring to learn from California's most energetic beekeeper, writer and researcher.  This year's trip was on April 24, 2010.  On this outing we visit Randy's home, his business, research facility and bee yards, and get to see a great range of beekeeping activities.  Club members also have the opportunity to build their own nuclear colonies - picking a queen and filling up the box with as many bees as they can fit.  Nuclear colonies include a laying queen, three frames of brood, and two frames of food.  To learn more, read the "beginners" pages at Randy’s own site www.scientificbeekeeping.com 

ACBA also has a booth each year at the Alameda County Fair to educate the public about bees and beekeeping.  This year's fair will run from June 23 through July 11 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton (see our "Upcoming Events" page on this site for more information.)  And we have also participated as a group in other East Bay events, such as the Hayward Zucchini Festival and the Livermore Wine Festival.

For social purposes, we get together outside of meetings as well for a December potluck as well as a mid-summer Bar Bee Que. 

 Mentoring

 
Have you just started beekeeping and are looking for experienced beekeepers willing to be helpful in explaining the basics or answering questions?  Rob Hopcke and Bob Ballard have volunteered to be the point persons for our mentoring program, connecting some of more experienced members with “newbees” for information, guidance and even some practical help.  Call Rob at 510-393-1762 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; and send Bob an email with your questions and interests at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    They’d love to talk bees with you!