At our October meeting Fran and Pete Demo, long time
beekeepers from the Darlington area, introduced us to beekeeping.
Honey bees have fascinated Pete since he was a boy growing
up in New Jersey. Fran reports she was slower to come on board. But for the
last 25 years, they both say they have been stung by the joys of beekeeping!
Now their hobby has grown to a business, Queen Bee Acres, and involves managing
25-30 hives in Lafayette and Iowa Counties. Their hives are carefully located
to promote bee health and delicious honey from an ever-changing blend of
available nectar.
Fran and Pete demonstrated the basics of setting up and
working with a Langstroth beehive, the preferred hive used by beekeepers
because it encourages bees to build honeycomb on movable frames which makes for
easier bee management and extraction of the honey. A real, but uninhabited hive along with an
observation frame was available for us to see and hear.
Fran is also a member of the Lafayette County MasterGardeners and shared her knowledge of plants and woodies that attract bees.
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