Visit our new site: www.tennvalleybeekpers.org
Education
Short Course
TVBA offers a beekeeping short course for bee-ginners every other year during the month of March. The twelve hour course introduces interested persons to the world of beekeeping through lecture and hands-on demonstrations. Instructors include talented local hobbyist beekeepers, local commercial beekeepers and queen raisers, and state and university instructors.
The TVBA Short Course is held on four evenings and concludes with Saturday morning in a beeyard. The next short course will be held March 2011. Check this site for registration information in December 2010.
Field Exercises
Occasionally, throughout the year, we gather in a member’s beeyard to observe their hives, assess the health of the bees, and perform seasonal activities. TVBA members are more than willing to share their knowledge with bee-ginners as well as more experienced beeks. These periodic activities are announced at monthly meetings.
Mentoring Program
TVBA is offering a Mentoring for New-Bee Beekeepers course. The eight-month long course will include classroom instruction but will primarily consist of field instruction in a beeyard.
Interested persons are encouraged to attend a three-hour long Basic Beekeeping class on February 18th at 7pm. The class will be held at the Homebuilders Association of Southern Tennessee at 3221 Harrison Pike, Chattanooga, TN. There is no charge for the Basic Beekeeping class
Experienced beekeepers will serve as mentors and instructors for the course. There will be a limit of 3 classes or 30 students. Each class will consist of 10 students and 2 mentors.
The cost of the course is $300 which includes one complete hive with bees plus basic beekeeping equipment. The New-bee beekeeper will need to purchase their own protective equipment. The hive and tools will remain the property of the student. During the course of instruction, all class hives will be located in one loaction to enhance field instruction. At the end of the course, the student will take their hives home.
For registration information please send e-mail to beemailus@gmail.com.
Monthly Meeting
The Tennessee Valley Beekeeper’s Association meets monthly except for September (club picnic) and December. The meeting location is at the Hamilton County Cooperative Extension Service office building located off Bonny Oaks Drive at 6183 Adamson Circle. The association meets at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month.
Typically, we have a local speaker talking about seasonal issues with our bees. Topics have including using integrated pest management (IPM) to manage bee pests, bee nutrition, native plants as local nectar sources, and many similar timely topics.
All beekeepers, potential beekeepers, and persons interested in promoting honey bees and pollinators in the Chattanooga area (Tennessee/Georgia/Alabama) are welcome and invited to attend.
