Fabulous Mentor Program
I am a first year beekeeper and took part in the 2024 BBC. To help me get started I signed up for a mentor and am so glad I decided to do that. My mentor, Nick Rowan, has taken the academic understandings I gained from the beginner’s course and helped me turn that into practical, hands-on applications. He has guided me through the initial set up, inspections, finding my queen, adding a honey super, testing for and treating Varroa mites. He’s had me over to his house to observe his hives and given me some great ideas about hive stands. Nick advised me to split my hive to avoid swarming and walked me through the entire process. Now I have two very productive and happy hives. Nick is quick to answer my questions, he regularly comes over to my house to check things out, provides me with outside resources and invites me to get involved in HBCA and ESA. In short, he is a terrific source of knowledge and experience. And, in our case, the mentor connection goes beyond honey bees - he and my husband have lots of common interests, too. Because of HBCA, we have a new family friend.
Big shout out to Nick Rowan, and all the other hard working volunteer mentors!
Thank you so much. you are too kind. This post makes volunteering rewarding.