Learn Beekeeping at Sherwood Recreation Center

Photo by Sharee Lawler

Beginning Monday, DC Parks and Recreation is hosting a four course series on Urban Beekeeping at Sherwood Recreation Center, 640 10th Street, NE. (Pre-registration required. Contact Kelly.Melsted [at] dc.gov to reserve your space.) The classes, on February 22nd, March 1st, 8th and 15th, from 6:30-9 PM, will be taught by local beekeeper Toni Burnham.  Uncertain about the idea of starting a hive after all the dust-up about chickens?  No need to worry!  DC Parks and Rec owns a beehive at the Lederer Youth Garden at 4801 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave, NE.  This will be joined by five other hives at locations to be identified in the next few weeks across the city.  People who take the course will be welcome to work in these public apiaries.  And, we hope, share in the city’s first honey harvest come July.

Burnham was kind enough to share details of the series with THIH:

“The purpose of the course is to give a relatively short form (shorter than an actual course) overview of honeybees and beekeeping, enough background to allow students to learn-by-doing in DC’s own apiaries (at 6 locations in the city by May) or with an experienced local beekeeper mentor.  We truly hope to recruit hearts to the wonderful world and contributions of the honeybee in an urban context, and hands to help make a public beekeeping program possible for all DC residents.

Topics include:

• Why do honeybees matter?
• The lifecycle of the honeybee and the role of the beekeeper.
• Beekeeping equipment, how to get it and how to use it.
• Honeybee pests and diseases, and deciding how, when or even whether to treat.
• Beekeeping tasks across the seasons.
• Products of the hive, from harvesting honey to handsoap, candles, and even medicine.

Each session will include a brief presentation from a DC beekeeper (or beekeeping group) about their experience with honeybees in the city.”

According to Burnham, “there is no current certification or legal regime licensing beekeepers in DC, but it is a very bad idea to try to undertake the art and science of beekeeping in your own.”  If your heart is set on backyard beekeeping, Burnham strongly recommends taking one of the long-form classes either in Montgomery County or Prince George’s County. There is also a Northern Virginia class, but it has already started. “Most of these classes will actually provide a certificate of completion,” says Burnham, “which is a helpful thing to be able to show your neighbors when you introduce the idea of backyard beekeeping to them!”