Course on Beekeeping     

The  season-long course of 10 classes is being offered to interested students as a package for the price of $80, with drop-in opportunities for individual sessions at the rate of $10.00 each.  Topics for each monthly class are briefly listed below, with more detailed descriptions of each here.  The series will begin on February 15, 2014.  Registration and payment for the full series can be done here.  

To see a full description of all the classes, please click here.

Monthly Class Topics of the Course

February 15:       Equipment Options for Keeping Bees

March 22:            Specialty Tools and Assembling Your Equipment

April 12:                Bee Biology/Checking Over-wintered Hives

May 17:                Splitting Hives and Swarm Prevention

June 7:                 Supering and Honey Production

June 21:               Hive Inspection and Pest Identification

July 19:                 Varroa Mite Monitoring

August 23:           Honey Extraction

September 27     Managing Hives in the Fall

October 11:          Preparing Your Hives for Winter

In this second class of her season-long series, Meghan Milbrath will focus on setting up your hive and answering questions about assembling your equipment. A series of more specialized equipment will be brought in for participants to examine, along with other tools and jigs to help you assemble your equipment. Participants are welcome to bring in any equipment that they have questions about or need help assembling.

Class is limited to those who have already paid for the full course, though drop-ins are permitted, with fees of $10.00 ($15.00 per couple), payable in cash at the door.

Do you want to garden this summer but are limited in space? Do you have space, but don’t know how to start? Then this class is for you! James Lee, certified Square Foot Gardening instructor, will again present a class on this popular and well-established method of gardening in a small space. Topics will include reasons for using the square foot approach to gardening, methods for creating such beds, and planting schemes that take advantage of the newly created beds, all without weeds!. Participants will also be able to visit the Square Foot Garden bed at Leslie and see this method in action. The fee for this class is $10.00.

Please visit Eventbrite to register and pay for the class.

Shari Kane and Dave Steele, Project Grow gardeners, have developed the art and science of winter gardening with low tunnels and want to share their discoveries with you. Meet them at their plot in Lakewood and see what a low tunnel is and how it has allowed them to grow vegetables when snow is on the ground and to start earlier, long before most gardeners can begin! Then learn how they did it, down to the last nut and bolt, so that you, too, will be able to do it next winter.  The class is free but registration is required.

Outside, at the Apiary in the Discovery Garden at Leslie, Meghan Milbrath, in this third class of the series, will discuss the different types of bees, their biology and anatomical adaptations. The focus will be on the natural cycle of the colony over the season. Then, weather permitting, we will check the hives at Leslie and learn how to do a first check of over-wintered hives and how to get them ready for the upcoming season. Rain date: Sunday, April 13th.

Class is limited to those who have already paid for the full course, though drop-ins are permitted, with fees of $10.00 ($15.00 per couple), payable in cash at the door.

 Learn the secrets to selecting and growing exceptionally delicious tomatoes and peppers, using organic practices. Discover the best cultivars to grow, along with tips to ensure a bountiful harvest. Royer Held, tomato and pepper grower extraordinaire, will tell all in this class. Class is free, but registration is required.

Inge Ferguson, Jesse Raudenbush, Joet Reoma and Marcella Trautmann, experienced Project Grow gardeners, many of them master gardeners and composters, will share tips and techniques that have helped them to garden successfully. If you are a novice gardener, or even an experienced one, attend this class to learn how to garden more effectively and efficiently in 2014. Topics will range widely, to cover problems often encountered by gardeners at the start of the season, and will include, but are not limited to, the following: preparing beds for planting, choosing the right tool for the task at hand, amending the soil, decoding seeding and planting instructions, selecting appropriate staking methods and materials, using row covers effectively, watering wisely, preventing weeds, and the like. Class will be open to questions and individual problems.

The class is free but registration is required.

The first of a two part series of classes   This explores water conservation in home (backyard and indoor) and community gardens. Specific goals include:

• Awareness of community/municipal garden rules regarding water use.
• Understanding the ecology of how much saturation is needed to support plant life.
• Understanding how much water you really use and how much it costs.
• Appropriate times to water and most efficient method for each time.
• Plant selection and gardening methods that save water
• Efficient times to water versus good times for plants to be watered
• The benefit and dynamics of rain gardening
• Ingenuous ideas of some small-space and water-wise gardening.

The class is free but registration is required.

Growing potatoes and sweet potatoes is easy and fun. They taste better than store-bought ones, too! Learn the history and characteristics of different potato varieties and how to raise them from seed or tuber. Then learn about sweet potatoes, a totally different plant, and how to grow them in Michigan. Instructor is Royer Held, potato and sweet potato grower, extraordinaire.   The class is free but registration is required.

At the Apiary in the Discovery Garden at Leslie, we will discuss swarm biology and behavior and examine hives for signs of swarm preparation. We will discuss and possibly perform splits or other types of swarm management, as well as options for preventing, catching, and dealing with swarms. Rain date: Sunday, May 18.

Class is limited to those who have already paid for the full course, though drop-ins are permitted, with fees of $10.00 ($15.00 per couple), payable in cash at the door.

There are a multitude of heirloom vegetable varieties that survive today thanks to home gardeners of the past. You can maintain that connection by saving heirloom plant varieties for future generations, while enjoying them today. Discover why it’s important to do so and key seed saving techniques. In doing so, you might even create you own “heirloom” vegetable variety! Royer Held continues his exploration of heirlooms in this class. Class is free, but registration is required.