Peavey Mart hosts beekeeping 101 workshop

Adelle Ellis
Times Reporter

 

Over 70 people showed up for Peavey Mart’s free introductory to beekeeping class on Feb. 26.
“Hobby and small beekeeping is on the rise,” said Jest Sidloski, director of customer experience at Peavey Mart. “We turn a lot of these people into beekeepers and we give them support every step of the way. Every year the interest for these courses goes up.”
Peavy Mart has been offering beekeeping 101 courses for three years and have put on nine classes in four different cities in Alberta. This is the first time they’ve held the course in Strathmore, and due to the good turnout, they plan on holding an introductory to extracting course in late July.
The store started carrying beekeeping equipment a few years ago. Once they started bringing in live bees to sell, they decided they needed to start offering support and classes for beekeepers.
“This class is for general knowledge so people who are new to beekeeping can figure out whether they actually want to pursue it or not,” said Sidloski. “A fair portion of people who attend (these classes) are already beekeepers and they just want a refresher.”
The course teaches participants the basics: the history of honeybees, the differences between the honeybees, what their positions are in the colony and diseases and how to watch for them. Participants also learned what it takes to start their first hive; there is a high failure rate in some beekeepers’ first year so it is suggested they start with two hives
“We put a strong focus on the safety of the bees, that’s our priority,” said Sidloski. “The reason we offer this course and connect beginners to professionals is that we can’t have a bunch of new people doing beekeeping without any training because that would be irresponsible. We want to make sure the people who want to do it have the proper connections.
“It is very important for everyone looking to get into this industry that they ensure they are ready for it and they receive more advanced training. It’s not something you can wing, it doesn’t happen by chance.”
The course was taught by Thomas Hopkins, president of BeeSpace LLC and of Mellivo Beekeeping.
“If we’re getting people into bees we feel we have the responsibility to get them into it right. Not only for the fact of teaching them so they have a successful year of beekeeping, but also so they have the support they need,” said Hopkins, who also runs a Facebook page that all class participants are urged to join. Hopkins will help answer any questions or provide support through the page should new beekeepers need it.
Currently, the Town of Strathmore has no specific bylaw on beekeeping but they will be considering options for urban bees this spring. If a bylaw is set in place allowing beekeeping, it will follow Alberta’s Bee Act and any provincial regulations. The town also suggests interested people to become familiar with provincial regulations. This can be done via a smartphone app – Bee Health – which also acts as a resource guide for different diseases and pests of bees.
Alberta is the biggest honey producer within Canada.