Olympia Beekeepers Association Keeps Honeybees Buzzing in Thurston County and Surrounding Areas

The nonprofit association of experienced and new beekeepers meets monthly in Olympia. The association provides education, training, and support for beekeepers in Thurston County and surrounding areas including Mason and Grays Harbor counties.

This help for honeybees is also crucial to the planet’s welfare. “Bees are essential pollinators that play a critical role in our ecosystem and food system,” Save the Bee reports. “Honeybees are responsible for pollinating many crops that provide us with food, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Unfortunately, honeybee populations have declined in recent years due to habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and disease. This decline has significant implications for our food system and the environment, making it crucial to raise awareness and take action to protect honeybees.”

Luckily, people in Thurston County and surrounding areas can turn to the Olympia Beekeepers Association to learn more about how to sustain and expand the honeybee population.

Honeybee Education is Key Role for the Olympia Beekeepers Association

The association says its members geek out on the details of honeybees and beekeeping and are excited to share their knowledge with the broader community. Education is a key role for the Olympia Beekeepers Association. The members conduct classes at the Swantown Inn Bed & Breakfast in Olympia, staff a booth at the Thurston County Fair, provide speakers, and maintain a library.

The association offers a free Beginning Beekeeping two-hour class as an introduction to the basics of being a hobbyist beekeeper. This class educates interested people before they decide to invest time, energy and money in setting up an apiary of beehives. “We tell you enough so that you can gauge whether you really want to do it, and why,” says Allan. “Do you want to pollinate your garden? Do you want to pollinate the neighborhood? Do you want to make honey? Do you want to save the bees?”

a person in a bee suit removing a bee tray for a hive — Persons interested in learning more about becoming a beekeeper can take a free Beginning Beekeeping class through the Olympia Beekeepers Association. More information is on the association’s website. Photo courtesy: Olympia Beekeeping Association

The more advanced Apprenticeship Class of six two-hour sessions is geared to association members who are new to beekeeping, want to start beekeeping, or want to refresh their beekeeping knowledge and skills. And association members can access a library of beekeeping books and equipment.

This year the Thurston County Fair was all about bees with its “Buzz on Down” to the fairgrounds theme. The fair’s bee-focus provided a terrific opportunity for the Olympia Beekeepers Association to enhance public education at its rejuvenated Bee Booth where its members provided information to hundreds of people. Several association members submitted honey for official judging at the fair. In addition, fairgoers participated in the association’s first-ever blind tasting of honeys produced by members’ bees. Honey colors varied from dark to light, with tasters reporting flavors such as blackberry, barley, alcohol, molasses and maple. Allan says most of our area’s honey carries the taste of wildflowers. While the 2024 fair has ended, you can still buy local honey at the Olympia Farmers Market and the Swantown Inn.

jars of honey for judging at the Thurston County Fair — Olympia Beekeepers Association members submitted honey for judging at the Thurston County Fair this year. The association also staffed a Bee Booth with educational materials and held a blind tasting of honeys produced by members’ bees. Photo courtesy: Olympia Beekeepers Association

The association also gives Beekeeping 101 community presentations when invited, at a variety of locations such as the Hands On Children’s Museum, Timberland Regional Library, organizations’ meetings, and in schools. “The schools will be a big thing, especially in elementary schools,” says Allan of the association’s outreach plans. “We can work with the teachers to make sure it fits in the curriculum.”

Allan says the Inspire Olympia program funds that the association received this year enable enhanced educational outreach at the improved fair booth and aid their plan for more teaching sessions in schools.

Need to Move a Honeybee Swarm? Contact the Olympia Beekeepers Association

The association provides another public service, which is removing unwanted swarms of honeybees at no cost. They do not remove wasp nests. “Most swarms happen in April to May,” explains Allan. He says the swarms typically occur when honeybees outgrow their space and look for a new home.

If your property houses a swarm of honeybees that you want moved to a more hospitable setting, you can contact the association’s swarm coordinator. The coordinator will need the street address, how high the swarm is off the ground, a telephone contact number, a description of access to the swarm, and any other pertinent information.

Keep Up on the Buzz About Honeybees Through the Olympia Beekeepers Association

Contact the Olympia Beekeepers Association to begin your beekeeping journey, learn how to become a member, discuss removing a honeybee swarm, or arrange for a speaker. Visit its website and Facebook page to keep up on the beekeeping buzz.

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