~ BURGH BEES COMMUNITY APIARY ~: March 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Apiary Workday 1

- - - Christina Neumann's original architectural rendering of Burgh Bees Community Apiary

What a great way to celebrate the first day of Spring! Saturday was our first official Workday at the new Burgh Bees Community Apiary in Pittsburgh's Homewood/Point Breeze neighborhood. And it was a huge success. Working together from 9 AM until around noon - when our neighbor and corporate partner The East End Brewing Company opens for Growler Hours (strictly coincidentally) - fifteen Burgh Bees members and volunteers spent Saturday morning staking out the fencing that will eventually enclose the apiary's hives, plotting the Infinity Path that will lead visitors around the hives and each of the pollinator garden's designated plantings or "nodes," and picking up trash (including one mysteriously strangulated airborne gray squirrel). A colony of Mason bees, donated by member Christina Neumann, was also introduced to its new home on Saturday, in a sheltered corner of the apiary close to the busway fence.

Take a look at the photos below, send us your comments and questions - and please join us for our next official Workday at Burgh Bees Community Apiary:

When: Saturday, April 24, 2010 from 9 AM to 12 noon

Where: Burgh Bees CommunityApiary, 6945 Susquehanna Street, Homewood/Point Breeze, 15208

Who: Volunteers needed! Email us at burghbees@gmail.com for more detailed information and to let us know how you can help.

What: Here's the scoop from the Bulletin: "With the Mayor’s Green Team, we will be turning the vacant lot across from the East End Brewery into an apiary and demonstration pollinator garden that will serve as a hands-on classroom for beekeepers in training. We will be installing the basic infrastructure and first round of plantings in April . . . And we may just end up at the East End Brewing Company for Saturday Growler Hours afterwards."

Like to know more?
* Check out the Burgh Bees web site at http://www.burghbees.com/ for information about our parent organization.
* Join the conversation about all things bees on the Google Groups' site http://groups.google.com/group/burgh-bees?hl=en.
* Subscribe to the Burgh Bees Bulletin by sending a line to us at communication.bb@gmail.com.
* AND . . .

FOLLOW THIS BLOG . . . for the latest buzz on Pittsburgh's most unique, new, green and growing venture.

Below are the Workday photos from the new Burgh Bees Community Apiary at 6945 Susquehanna Street. Burgh Bees members and volunteers hard at work on Saturday included directors Meredith Meyer Grelli, Jennie Wood, Robert Steffes, Joe Zgurzynski, and Steve Repaskey. Apiary Committee members and volunteers giving a hand were Christina Joy Neumann, Jeff Irwin, Linda Rathburn, Anna Kim, Roberta Jones, Mike Madonia, Frank Carr, Woody Shaffer-Carr, and Annabelle and Luca Zgurzynski. Heartfelt thanks go out to all.

Workday 1 Photo Post 1

Burgh Bees members and volunteers celebrated the first day of spring at the new Burgh Bees Community Apiary in Pittsburgh's Homewood/Point Breeze neighborhood. Pictured are: directors Jennie Wood, Meredith Meyer Grelli, Robert Steffes, and Steve Repaskey; Apiary Committee member Roberta Jones; and our volunteers Frank Carr, Woody Shaffer-Carr, and Annabelle and Luca Zgurzynski.

1) Jennie as bag lady :-)
2) Steve, Roberta, and Robert take a break
3) Our peerless leader, Meredith Meyer Grelli
4) Frank Carr and son Woody Shaffer Carr pitch in
5) Luca and Annabelle say cheese for the camera

Workday 1 Photo Post 2

Our first official Workday at the Apiary was spent staking out the fencing that will eventually enclose the apiary's hives, plotting the Infinity Path that will lead visitors around the hives and each of the pollinator garden's designated plantings or "nodes," and picking up trash (including one mysteriously strangulated airborne gray squirrel). In the lineup: Anna Kim, Christina Neumann, Jeff Irwin, Meredith Meyer Grelli, Joe Zgurzynski, Jennie Wood, Robert Steffes, Luca Zgurzynski, and Mike Madonia.

6) Considering how grade and drainage will affect apiary placement
7) Anna, Christina, Jeff, and Meredith stake out the chosen location for apiary fencing
8) Found treasure: Anna, Joe, Jennie, Robert, and Luca make use of the onsite chip pile
9) Christina, Meredith, Robert, Luca, Anna, and Mike chip in to mark the Infinity Path
10) The Mystery of the Dead Squirrel

Workday 1 Photo Post 3

A good day's work!

11) Apiary staked out for fencing, within one loop of the Infinity Path
12) Infinity path marked out with wood chips; proposed planter bench locations marked with tires
13) Jenny, Luca, and Annabelle at the water cooler

Workday 1 Photo Post 4

Christina's Mason bees bee-ing introduced to their new home:

14) Mason bees ready to emerge from their cocoons
15) Newly emergent Mason bee
16) Mike prepares the Mason bees' new home

Like to know more about Mason bees? Check out the NC State University website page on raising Mason bees: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Other/note109/note109.html

- - - or watch any of the YouTube videos you'll find under "Mason bees." Here's a good one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He3Nuy1FSqY&feature=related

OUR COLUMNISTS

Linda Rathburn ~ Linda set up the original Burgh Bees Community Apiary Blog and served as its first general editor, from March through July of 2010, and as one of the contributing columnists and photographers. She also worked with Mary Anne Watson to produce the monthly Bee’s Eye View Kids' Page. "I've done time as a college English instructor, an art school librarian, and a public school teacher. I've been a paralegal, paraprofessional, and now, in the spirit of quasi-ness, a parablogger. Among my favorite educational experiences are substitute teaching a welding class and learning to start a backfire in a wildlife management class (ahh - playing with fire). I've taught online and onground, GED and GRE prep, Remedial Math to Alcosan employees and the relevance of Orwell to college students. I've never taught my cats a thing. My current goals in life are to open The Bigass Hardware Store (where my husband and I sell really BIG items like BIG snow shovels and BIG self-watering flowerpots) and to publish at least one of my books before I die. And - to get the hang - really the hang - of beekeeping.

Roberta Jones ~ Roberta has taken on the daunting task of coordinating fundraising efforts for the apiary - and for writing the monthly G R A C I A S column to provide members and donors with feedback on fundraising and events. Roberta will also be lending Burgh Bees her video and podcasting skills to get the word out about Pittsburgh's newest green venture. Roberta received her BSN from Carlow College and currently works as an Operating Room Registered Nurse. She worked her way through nursing school painting, wallpapering, and refinishing decks; past jobs include working as a Coating Sales Rep. She became interested in bees through her father, who has a small farm in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and registered her father, herself, and her brother for Burgh Bees' original 2009 beekeeper's class. Roberta's dad has been diagnosed with the first stages of Alzheimer's: "Beekeeping is keeping his mind sharp. I was impressed with the dynamic nature of Burgh Bees and jumped in - LOVE it."

Vivienne Shaffer and Frank Carr ~ Viv and Frank are currently residents of North Point Breeze and will be featuring newsworthy events and personalities, and their impact on our Homewood/Point Breeze neighborhood, in their monthly column, Neighborhood Buzz. Frank graduated from Pitt in 1982, and has worked as a community organizer, an editor, and a political organizer. Vivienne has a BS in Music Education from IUP and an MS Ed in museum leadership from Bank Street College. As a full-time homeschool mom, Viv is having a great time exploring new worlds, like the world of beekeeping, with her son. She has worked as an educator and museum director, and she currently volunteers at the Heinz History Center and at The First Tee of Pittsburgh. She is a Commonwealth Speaker for the PA Humanities Council, with a talk entitled "Rachel Carson, Pennsylvania, and the Nature Discovery Treasure Chest." An enthusiastic gardener, she is looking forward to welcoming the Burgh bees that will be buzzing across the busway to visit her yard.

Woody Shaffer Carr ~ Woody will be assisting Viv and Frank as a contributing reporter for the Neighborhood Buzz column. Woody is beginning his last year of high school in the fall of 2010 and works as a volunteer at Creative Nonfiction; among his interests are golf, ringing church bells, recycling, and of course, bees: "There's a lot of happiness in bees."

Mary Anne Watson ~ Mary Anne writes the monthly Bee's Eye View Kids' Page. She is a member of Burgh Bees' original 2009 beekeeper's class. As a second grade teacher at Fairless Elementary in Braddock, Mary Anne is uniquely positioned to deliver interesting and instructional mini-lessons to kids, and to understand the inner workings of bee behavior. Mary Anne also keeps two of her own hives in the backyard of her home in Wilkins Township and will be serving as one of the apiary's mentors to beginning beekeepers. "Every time I open my hive, I learn something new about bees. Every time I sit and observe bee behavior, I learn something new about myself."

~ BURGH BEES COMMUNITY APIARY ~

Monday, March 22, 2010

Apiary Workday 1

Workday 1 Photo Post 1

Workday 1 Photo Post 2

Workday 1 Photo Post 3

Workday 1 Photo Post 4

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