Bees

This past Tuesday in Sustainable Agriculture, our Sixth period class met with Dave Peterson, a member of the Marin Beekeeper's Association at a local site next to the Corte Madera Creek. We had previously met with Mr. Peterson the week before in the classroom when we were not able to meet at the site due to poor weather conditions. During the times we met with Mr. Peterson, he stressed the importance of bees in our food ecosystems as Companion animals. Bees are crucial pollinators and in fact, one third of the food that humans eat is pollinated by Honey Bees. Without Bees, life as we know it would be much different as there would be less food for humans to eat.

Aside from the importance of bees, Mr. Peterson talked about the interesting components of their colonies. Roughly 10,000 bees are needed for a colony to become stable and strong. According to Mr. Peterson, there is only one Queen Bee in each colony and Queen Bees are the only bees that can lay eggs. This bee can lay about 2,000 eggs. When they leave to get fertilized in order to lay eggs, they leave for a Drone Concentration of bees to mate with between 15 and 30 bees. 

At the site, Mr. Peterson used a smoker to make bees be more worried about their honey rather than stinging somebody while he took the bees out of their colonies. Lastly, Dave Peterson also made suggestions of what to do when you are afraid of bees. These strategies include not to fan at the bees and to walk away from the bees if afraid. 

Overall, this was a very informative and interesting experience that has a lot to do with what we are learning about Companion animals.

JD Mancini