UW Extension Offers Wyoming Bee College

Learn the craft of caring for bees at the 2015 Wyoming Bee College Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.

Workshops are in the Conferences and Institutes Building. Registration is $65 for the two-day event, including snacks, two lunches and one dinner, says Catherine Wissner, horticulturist in the Laramie County office of University of Wyoming Extension. More than 120 people from six states attended the first bee college last year.

Registration, the schedule and more information is at www.eventbrite.com. Search “Wyoming Bee College.”

Workshops address those new to bees and the experienced beekeeper.

“We have reached out to find new and inspirational speakers to take everyone to the next level of beekeeping, bring more people into the craft and help others make a business of beekeeping -- or just be better at keeping bees and helping pollinating insects,” Wissner says.

Registration is at 7:45 a.m., followed by keynote speaker William Meikle of the USDA Agricultural Research Service Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Ariz. Also speaking is Randa Jabbour, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Plant Sciences, who is developing research projects in relevant field crop and forage systems.

Other speakers include:

-- Keziah Katz, doctoral student, Colorado State University.

-- Ronald Fessenden, author, “Feed Your Brain First: The Honey Revolution Series.”

-- Glen Andresen from Bridgetown Bees, Portland, Ore., to teach a beginning/apprentice beekeeping workshop.

-- Albert Chubak, program director of the Wasatch Beekeeping Association.

-- Mark Carroll, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.

-- Terry Booth, retired research scientist, High Plains Grassland Research Station, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Cheyenne.

Other programs include permaculture, habitat hero, bee biology, marketing, crafts and making mead wine.

UW Extension and the Laramie County Conservation District sponsor the event. For more information, contact Wissner at (307) 633-4383 or cwissner@uwyo.edu.