This six-hour, hands-on workshop will give you a window into the fascinating world of natural backyard beekeeping, focusing on the European Honeybee (Apis Mellifera). The topics in this course will be explored with an emphasis on natural bee-friendly beekeeping, whereby the needs of the colony are given as much respect and significance as those of the beekeeper. In this course you’ll join Adam as some small starter hives are opened and inspected (weather dependant). The day will cover:

• Basic bee biology

• The positive and negative aspects of different hive designs

• How to interact and care for your bees

• Necessary beekeeping equipment

• Siting your hive

• Processing honey and making mead

Cost: $160

Provided: Post course notes and resources. Fresh honeycomb and mead will be provided for afternoon tea

The Teacher: Adam Kennedy is a Permaculture Educator, Beekeeper, and fermentation enthusiast. When he caught his first bee swarm, he was hooked…the hives kept on multiplying along with Adams’ deep interest for the magic world of bees. He has been incredibly fortunate to be working with and learning from natural beekeeper Tim Malfroy in his apiaries in the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains for the past seven years, as well as assisting on Tim’s Natural Beekeeping courses with Milkwood Permaculture.

Adam has hives in backyards across Sydney and his main Apiaries in Faulconbridge and Hazelbrook, in the mid Blue Mountains. He is particularly interested in working with “wild” colonies in the hope that their genetic diversity will provide increased resilience when the Varroa mite arrives in force to Australia. He is also addicted to making wild fermented mead.