New workshop offered for beginning beekeepers

13 May 2013

Beekeeper conducting routine hive inspection — Basic hive inspections are routine tasks for beekeepers. Photo courtesy of Mark Chorba.

Besides the distinguished role of being the only insect that provides food for human consumption, the honeybee’s most estimable value lies in the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops throughout the country.

The upcoming Beginning Beekeepers’ Workshop is designed to support this asset by providing a strong foundation of knowledge to those interested in starting their own apiaries, either for pleasure or potential profit.

The first of two sessions will be held May 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center. The second all-day session on June 1, will be at the Catawba Sustainability Center. The fee for the 12-hour workshop is $100 and includes a popular beekeeping book as well as lunch during the second session.

Topics include the history and biology of the honeybee, necessary start-up equipment, pests and diseases, laws and regulations, African honeybees, pollen and nectar sources, and information on how to harvest honey.

Instructor Mark Chorba, also known as the “bee whisperer of the Roanoke Valley,” has kept honeybees in Roanoke, Floyd, and surrounding areas for the past 20 years. As a certified Virginia Beekeeper, Chorba has taught hundreds of new beekeepers throughout southwest Virginia. He is the 2013 president of the New River Valley Beekeepers Association, currently the largest beekeeping association in Virginia.

The workshop is part of the Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center’s homestead learning series, classes that teach skills for independent, sustainable living.

Increasing the honeybee population in southwest Virginia is one goal of the workshop. Josh Nease, manager of the Catawba Sustainability Center, stated that colony collapse disorder continues to decimate commercial beekeepers’ hives across the United States. “Introducing more of these very important pollinators will yield benefits not just for the beekeepers, but for our entire region,” said Nease.

Online registration is open until May 21. For information, contact Nease by email or at 540-553-2311.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.