When: March 8th 2026

Where: Johnsons Home and Garden

Beekeeping 101 – Honeybees and Beekeeping

Unveil the fascinating world of Apis mellifera, the common honeybee, and unlock the secrets of their intricate, buzzing society. This introductory course, Beekeeping 101, is your first step into becoming a confident and connected beekeeper. We’ll be exploring the basic biology of the individual honeybee. We'll explore the essential equipment—including frames, hive boxes, protective clothing, the smoker, and hive tools—giving you the foundational knowledge to confidently interact with a hive. You'll learn how your efforts directly support bee health and contribute to the broader beekeeping community.

Beekeeping 201 – Hive Inspection & Logs

You will be learning the fundamentals for performing a hive inspection. We will focus on minimizing both the damage to the honeybees and the hive equipment as well as the signs to look for in a healthy colony. Images will be used to demonstrate typical and healthy hives. We will finish with the importance of hive logs and tracking your data over time.

Teaching this class is Professor Danny Najera, a leading voice in bee health and a full-time instructor at Green River College. With a Ph.D. in Entomology and Ecology from the University of Kansas, Professor Najera has dedicated over 15 years to extensive research on honeybee colony decline. He founded the Green River Honeybees program and has made a measurable positive impact on local colony survival, bringing real-world, cutting-edge data directly to the classroom.