Each one Teach one...
Beekeeping is a fascinating and rewarding craft that requires dedication and discipline to advance successfully. Fortunately, within the beekeeping community, there is a culture of sharing knowledge and experience, which has been a guiding force for many beekeepers, including ourselves.
Despite the competitive nature of the commercial context, we have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of other beekeepers who have freely shared their knowledge and experience with us. This support has been instrumental in helping us make it through our first few years of beekeeping, which can be particularly challenging. It is often said within the beekeeping community that if you can make it past your first 3-5 years, you stand a reasonable chance of being successful.
At the heart of our beekeeping philosophy is the idea of 'Each one Teach one', which embodies our passion for teaching and our commitment to sharing our knowledge and experience with others. Over the years, we have had the privilege of working with both youth and adults, sharing the joy of working with honey bees. We offer a range of opportunities for new beekeepers to learn, including hosting new beekeepers at our educational bee yards, field days with youth groups, introductory workshops, multi-day beginner beekeeping courses, LFI Garden Guru workshops, and mentoring new beekeepers.
While Revelstoke currently does not have a formal beekeeping club, the Revelstoke Local Food Initiative has a beekeeping committee that meets quarterly with local beekeepers, and our beekeeping community has a closed Revelstoke Beekeepers Facebook group for sharing and discussions between local beekeepers. If you are interested in joining our LFI Beekeeping Committee Meetings and/or the Revelstoke Beekeeping Facebook group, please feel free to Contact Us for more details. You can also follow our BeeKind Honey Bees Facebook page for ongoing honey bee and beekeeping information.
We are grateful for the support and generosity of other beekeepers, and we are committed to paying it forward by sharing our knowledge and experience with others. Whether you are new to beekeeping or an experienced beekeeper, we invite you to join us in our mission to promote the craft of beekeeping and to support the growth of the beekeeping community in Revelstoke.
Mentorship
At BeeKind Honey Bees, we are committed to sharing our beekeeping knowledge and experience with others. Beekeeping is a complex discipline with various layers of knowledge, from foundational skills to interpretive best practices that can be situational for a specific region or location. We offer beekeeping mentorship to beekeepers interested in learning about our best practices as we apply them to our commercial operation, based on the amount of time we have been beekeeping.
Our mentorship program is designed to support beekeepers in advancing their knowledge and skills in beekeeping. We teach courses based on common foundational skills, and our approach is based on our own experience and what has worked for us. We offer support and advice to our nuc customers throughout the season, encouraging them to connect with us, share photos and videos of their colonies, and ask questions about seasonal best practices.
We are also open to anyone interested in advancing their beekeeping knowledge, and we offer various options for mentorship. We can visit your bee yard to provide guidance and support on issues such as queenlessness, laying worker, introducing a new queen, swarm management, and more. Alternatively, you are welcome to visit us at one of our yards to see how we do things and when.
Our goal is to help you succeed in your beekeeping journey, and we believe that mentorship is a valuable tool for achieving this. If you are interested in advancing your beekeeping knowledge, please feel free to Contact Us to learn more about our mentorship program. You can also follow our BeeKind Honey Bees Facebook page for ongoing honey bee and beekeeping information.
Mentorship Questions
That depends on the situation. Sometimes it is best to see what stage of development your bees are at, and work with what you have got.
Other times it is nice for you to see how we are doing things.
We are flexible with either option.
No. We volunteer our time to educate beekeepers interested in developing their experience. This is our way to pay forward the kindness and generosity that we experience from our mentors.
Yes, and no. We are limited somewhat by our available time, keeping our commercial operation running as our main priority. Otherwise, we have not worked with anyone yet that is asking for more mentorship than we are available to provide.
Sure. If we can make it work with our schedule and priorities, we certainly don't mind checking in on your local bees while you are away, and completing any time sensitive management.
Yes. We are a growing commercial operation, actively looking for additional help during our busy periods between Revelstoke and Armstrong, from April to September each year, and expect to train most people as they go. Some experience is an asset.
Depending on your availability, you can volunteer your time in exchange for the work experience (and probably some raw honey).
Or, you can apply to one of our paid part time positions for a more formal role on our Employment page