Our short course was today. I haven't heard an official number, but I'd estimate there were 200 people there. It was held at the county high school in the cafeteria in the morning, then break out classes in the afternoon. I did a presentation on how to be a safe beekeeper. I started out with a sting and stinger, venom, histamines and anti-histamines, epi-pens, bee suits, veils, gloves, hive tools, smokers, splinters, and other things that can hurt you. I had an outline, pictures to pass around, epi-pen training simulator, etc. I went through my presentation and looked at the clock and a whole 10 minutes had gone by.
I had 45 more minutes to deal with! I gained a new respect for teachers today. I had an interested and attentive class. I can just imagine what it's like to have an apathetic or unruly class. Anyway, I opened it up for questions on beekeeping in general, and there were enough questions about hives, pests, extracting, etc., to fill up the remaining time. If anyone in the class took pictures, I'll try to post one or two.
But the 75-lb. super was a hit. Everybody wanted to try it.
I think many people were surprised.
I told them that I didn't want to scare them away. But I didn't want them to invest time, money and effort into something and then find that they can't physically do it, or else it's too hard or too much effort to do. I tried to be realistic about it. It's usually July and 90F in the sun and things have to be done.
I think I did ok. I tried to stress that safety isn't limited to beekeeping. People need to think about what they're doing and what could go wrong, no matter what they're doing.
