University of Maine Cooperative Extension is offering separate online beekeeping classes for beginner and experienced beekeepers starting January 14 and February 25.

The five-session beginning class, for beekeepers with less than one year’s experience, meets Thursday, Jan 14 – Thursday, Feb. 11, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. With a focus on the basics of honeybee biology and beekeeping, the class can also act as a refresher for beekeepers going into their first winter. The fee is $100 per person, with required book; $70 if required book is purchased elsewhere. Register on the Beginner Beekeeping webpage.

The four-session intermediate class, for beekeepers with a minimum of two years’ experience, meets Thursday, Feb. 25 – Thursday, March 18, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. Focused on effectively managing a hobby apiary in Maine, topics include maximizing colony health, honey production and swarm prevention. The fee is $150 per person, with required books; $80 if required books are purchased elsewhere. Register on the Intermediate Beekeeping: Apiary Management webpage

All classes are taught by Eastern Apiculture Society Certified Master Beekeeper Erin MacGregor-Forbes.

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact 207.781.6099; rebecca.gray@maine.edu.

More information also is available on the program website.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension:

As a trusted resource for over 100 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine's land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county. UMaine Extension helps support, sustain and grow the food-based economy. It is the only entity in our state that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated. UMaine Extension also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H.

 
About the University of Maine:

The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state's land grant, sea grant and space grant university. It is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. As Maine's flagship public university, UMaine has a statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and community service. UMaine is the state's only public research university and among the most comprehensive higher education institutions in the Northeast. It attracts students from all 50 states and more than 75 countries. UMaine currently enrolls 11,741 undergraduate and graduate students who have opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research with world-class scholars. UMaine offers more than 100 degree programs through which students can earn master's, doctoral or professional science master's degrees, as well as graduate certificates. The university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campuswide to conserve energy, recycle and adhere to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine, visit umaine.edu.