I agree that education is key. Our beeclub always maintains a booth at
local fairs for education, and the larger hobbiests sell their excess honey
at them so it is a good source of education, resource management, and also
a way of recruiting new hobbiests. (Important in this urban area, where
there are no crops to motivate people to keep bees.)  We get lots of
curious folks who ask the same questions over and over, but they all buy
honey and listen to the answers.

For myself, I drag any neighbor or acquaintance who is mildly interested up
to my backyard and plant them directly next to me in front of the hive for
a carefully rehearsed monolog on the virtues of beekeeping.  There is
nothing like people standing in front of a hive, and NOT being stung to
convince them that honeybees are a wonderful asset to our community.  (I
know right where to stand them so they are out of flight path.)

And I agree with Carol that I have learned more about beekeeping in the
past 2 months that I have been reading this list, than in all my last 20 or
so years of being a hobbiest.  Thanks everybody.

Vivian


>The bottom line here is education/information.  I have learned an incredible
>amount from reading this list lately, but the general population does
>not suscribe to this list and for lack of information, they don't give
>a damn about bees!
>Carol K. Malcolm
>[log in to unmask]

>Hi all
>>   I'd love to read a thread about how the general public regards
>>bees and beekeepers.