Sunday, May 10, 2015

The Bee's Knees


This is Ray, who is the Man at the National Agricultural Center 
and Hall of Fame, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. 

That's his fiancee, Judy, with him. 

I am privileged to volunteer there... I started last week. 
The Center was closed last year, it is 50 years old, but 
had fallen on hard times. 

The new (part-time) director is trying hard to get 
the place rolling again. I am in awe of her, because she is working almost full time hours to make things happen. 

So, back to why Ray and Judy are pictured here. 

Ray is an apiarist, and that's a bee-keeper. 

Recently, he worked with the second grade class at 
Delaware Ridge Elementary School, of Bonner Springs, Kansas, 
learning about bees and bee-keeping. 

They built two hives under his supervision, and also decorated them. 

Ray then built an area at the Ag Hall so that people can 
safely watch the bees going to and from from their hives. 


It was made of cattle panels with chicken wire attached to them, so no little fingers can get through. 

The "door" has a window in it so that you can stand there and watch the bees going in and out of their hives. 


First, he put on his "bee jacket", as he called it. 


And then took the first hive from the back of the truck. 


And carried it to the display area. 


Here, Ray is setting the second hive. 


Then, he removed the wood pieces that closed the 
entrances to the hive with his hive tool. 


Can you see the bees boiling out?  

You can click on it to make it bigger. 

I was standing back a ways (!) and the camera
was focusing on the fence instead of the bees. 



He placed the door back on, and secured it. 


And then calmly and deliberately walked a short distance away, 
followed by a lot of bees!  He stopped there, and watched them for a while. 

He told me that it would take them about an hour to settle down and orient themselves to 
where they live now. 


This is a tiny view of the beautiful grounds. 


I'll have better pictures later this week. 

On Tuesday morning, the class that made these hives will be at the Ag Hall to 
meet the Master Gardeners. 


The hives are sited near the Master Gardener's Display Garden, and the kids 
are going to plant bee-friendly plants.  I'm going to run over and take 
pictures of the proceedings, which I'll share with you. 

If any of you travel to the Kansas City area, I hope you'll visit the 
National Farming Center ... and I hope to share a lot of it with you in the months to come. 

I took many, many pictures of nature this weekend... I hope to share those with you this coming week! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! 


So does Lil! 


8 comments:

  1. Very cool!

    We have never been there.

    Hop you had a great day!

    M : )

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  2. My gosh Mary Ann,,,, your photos that you take to describe where you are,,,, are fantastic!
    love
    tweedles

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  3. Your pictures of the bee hive brought back some fond memories for me of my grandfather tending his hives He didn't have a fancy bee jacket but did wear a hood that draped over his shoulders. The honey they produced was delicious and I do love honey to this day.

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  4. Good for you Mary Ann. You'll have so much fun there. Plus you'll learn so much about bee's. Wish we could get that kind of expert help, then we would have our own hive set up. We have the box. Just don't have the experience necessary to maintain a healthy hive.

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  5. What a lovely site! I hope your pictures will help spread the word.

    Lily obviously doesn't mind getting a little wet :)

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  6. Oh that looks like such a nice place to work, and of course Mary Ann your pictures are just beautiful..you have such a good eye.
    stella rose and momma

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  7. That place is a treasure! I hope a lot of people are able to visit, and enjoy it.

    ~K.

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