September 2015

Earlier this week we had asked Southerlands if they'd donate some wood to us, and they rejected our offer. The struggle to find fencing material continues. I suggested that we ask FCI Construction out in Palisade next, and that we all meet up there together to explain to them our offer. Everyone agreed and we met up at FCI Construction. Jared was the only one who ended up actually negotiating with the director, but it was good that we all were there to show initiative. 

FCI ended up not being able to donate to us either, so I suggested we meet again during lunch where we discussed what to do next. We came to the conclusion that we would try to fund raise at an upcoming game so we might be able to afford all the material instead. 

August 2015

This month I brought up the idea during one of our lunch meetings that we should put together a group chat. I realized that when it comes to things in terms of organization for the group, planning is one of my strengths. I'm able to come up with things that might be able to help us communicate better or help us organize ourselves better. Apart from the group chat I also brought up the possibility of making a website. That way we could document our progress and get our name out to the public. It's important for me that we record our progress because I want to make sure we're making significant progress and helping the bee-population as we're working.

But I've also found that actually communicating with people hands-on is not so much my strong suit. We were all researching different ways in which we could become a non-profit, and many of these ways require speaking to someone who has the power to deem us and organization, such as the senator. I could work on my people skills seeing as it seems that it's what we will have to do if we want to find out more about becoming a non-profit.

July 2015

This month has been quite slow.

Jared has been keeping us updated on the bees and we're keeping an eye on them. We also did research on some orchards that might take our honey once they start making it.

June 2015

This month, Jared went out of town for a few weeks and wasn't able to watch the bees, so we set up different times that each of us would show up and feed the bees. I learned how to make sugar water for the bees to eat for now, and roughly how much they should consume in two days. I also learned that the best time to approach the hive is when it's cooler out, so early mornings and late afternoons would be a good time to go feed them.

When I went in to feed them on my turn, I opened the box and realized that the bees were building the comb in the wrong direction! We asked Howie (the man who helped us build the boxes) why they weren't building the comb on the frames, and he said it's because there is too much space that need to filled with more frames, so we have to work on filling that space and making sure the comb starts building right.

We also discussed how we were going to transition the bees over to the school and I made a list of things that need to be done before we can take the bees into the outdoor classroom. After discussing the situation with Mr. Bollinger, he gave us the essential conditions that need to be met in order to put the bees behind the school.

May 2015

This month our group finally received our bees! At first, it was very annoying because the person who was delivering our bees was not very professional and wasn't clear on the time and place to pick up the bees, so we kept missing him. Nonetheless, it turned out fine because now we have bees!

The apiary is also set up. We got together to set it up and put the boxes that we had painted together and now the bees have a home. We've decided to keep them at Jared's house, the home with the most space for the bees to roam and look for flowers, while we're still figuring out how to set them up at the school. There are no frames yet, but I ordered those and they're on their way. I made sure to order the cheapest to save our money, but we'll need to get together again to put the frames together and into the apiary boxes.

April 2015

The Home Depot manager thought that our project was a very good cause and donated lumber to the group! Bee Boxes have been made thanks to the help of Howie, a very experienced bee keeper in our community. He taught us how to make the boxes and let us each build one. The visit with Howie was actually pretty inspiring. He was so passionate about what he does and he was so eager to teach us about bee keeping. Even though i did learn a lot from Howies visit, I came to realize that there's a lot about beekeeping that I don't know, I have to catch up on my research!

The next step was to paint the boxes, before the bees aarrive. This was fun because I got to work with some of my group members one on one.

March 2015

We have begun writing up a apiary proposal for the school district, and we have been told that it is missing some parts to it. We have to go back and revise the proposal, and add information as to how the bees will be maintained on school grounds, and how we will handle the kids who might be allergic. We had to consider the fact that some people may be hurt by the bees and whether or not it was ethical to actually have the apiary on school grounds because it could potentially hurt some students. I thought it best to have it be in a more secluded part of the outdoor science classroom with the fence surrounding the bee hive, that way it'd be safer for the students and others who come visit the bees. Mr. Bollinger signed off and Mrs. Hellman agreed to carry an epi pen in her classroom once the fence gets put up, all we really have to do is revise the proposal now.

This has been a rough month so far for the group. On the bright side, we have ordered the bees. In the mean time (while we wait for permission from the district) they will stay at Jared's house, he has the space for them.

Unfortunately, we probably could have thought through things better, because Jared's lumber proposal is going to take a lot longer than expected, so basically we don't have wood to build the boxes for the bees that are going to be here in two weeks.

Perseverance is key!