Honeybee Day set for Saturday at Waynesborough
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 16, 2015 1:50 AM
Beekeepers of the Neuse will host its fourth annual National Honey Bee Day celebration Saturday, Aug. 22, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Waynesborough Park on U.S. 117 South.
"We are one of the fastest-growing beekeeping groups in North Carolina, and North Carolina has more beekeepers than any other state," member Rebecca Jones said. "It is pretty cool. With the decline in the bee population it has been really hard to preserve areas and stabilize the bee population.
"We get a lot farmers to call because the feral bees just aren't in the fields, and they need us to bring boxes of bees over to pollinate their crops. Bees pollinate 80 percent of all of the fruits and vegetables that we eat."
"Our certified beekeeping club, we have members as young as 11 and as old as into their 80s, so it is a really diverse group," she said. "We are specifically trying to reach out to the Hispanic community because they buy a lot of local honey.
"So the have grown up knowing the benefits (of honey) to the stomach, for allergies. We can invite them and make them feel comfortable. They may have an interest in becoming beekeepers themselves. Since a lot of them work in the agricultural area it would help the farmers out to have more people who have bees."
Shannon Baxter of Baxter's Bees will conducting demonstration during the day on how to take products from the hive such as beeswax and honey and make them into balms, body butter and other items.
Beekeepers will be on hand to answer questions. Equipment and honey will be on sale.
Participants can ask about where hives are currently located in their area, Mrs. Jones said.
"You can sign up for beekeeping classes or ask about our free mentor program," she said. "You can take a look at the equipment used in maintaining a hive and ask about the costs to get started.
"You may just want to know why would anyone in their right mind put a hive with 60,000 bees in their yard? You may ask 10 people and get 10 different answers. The primary goal of the Beekeepers of the Neuse is education so feel free to ask all the questions you wish."
The Eastern North Carolina Vintage Farm Equipment Club will have a display.
"I think some of their folks are going to do like a yard sale or vendors sale of equipment so that people can purchase things," she said.
There will be face painting and candle making for children.
Master Gardeners will have a booth and Mrs. Jones said she hopes to have demonstration on rootings and cuttings.
There also will be demonstrations on vermicomposting in which earthworms are used to turn organic wastes into high-quality compost.
Another demonstrations will be help on keeping chickens and on portable chicken coops that can be moved around the yard.
Homemade ice cream will be on sale and Adams Roadside Barbecue will be selling food.
"The only cost is what you eat or whatever is for sale," Mrs. Jones said.
The celebration is the biggest event for the group that has two booths at the Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair. Members also participate in the Taste of Wayne County and take observation hives to schools and daycares.
The group's primary mission is education, Mrs. Jones said.
"We talk with people and get them comfortable with the idea of bees," she said. "In Wayne County I don't think there are any ordinances so people can have bees in their back yards. They can have bees in the fields."
The group meets on the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Wayne Center.