This TCBA Community Educational Apiary will bring beekeeping out of the textbooks and lecture halls and into real life. We want to light a fire of curiosity about the natural world for primary school and middle school-aged children as well as engage people of all ages in the wonders of beekeeping.

The apiary currently houses six strong colonies of bees inside a protective fence to deter bears or curious non-beekeepers.  Future plans include splitting those hives to provide up to eight colonies in several different hive configurations. The club plans a regular series of hands-on events for groups interested in learning more about beekeeping and the importance of bees in agriculture.

Workshops to teach both basic and advanced beekeeping techniques will be offered, and school groups will be invited to bring students to visit the apiary for field trips and look inside the hives while wearing protective bee suits. A new project this year under the auspices of NC State University’s Apiculture Program, will be the Microbreeder Queen Initiative in which club members and others will produce locally adapted queen bees to help restore the bee population damaged by Helene flooding. 

Significant funds already have been contributed to this project by Mayland Community College, the Mountain Air Community Fund and the Toe Cane club. 

If your school group or civic organization is interested in attending Apiary events, please use the button below for inquiries.