4th annual Philadelphia Honey Festival

All the details about the Philadelphia Honey Festival are here at the website.

Media advisory: Philadelphia Honey Festival

Note: I'll share more as I get it.... DATE: August 5, 2013 WHAT: Fourth Annual Philadelphia Honey Festival WHO: Bartram’s Gardens Wyck Historic House Wagner Free Institute of Science The Philadelphia Beekeeper’s Guild WHEN: September 6, 7, 8 WHERE: Bartram’s Gardens Wyck Historic House Wagner Free Institute of Science HOW: This 3-day festival is free, educational, and open to the public! DESCRIPTION: The mission of the Philadelphia Honey Festival is to raise awareness about the importance of bees to our environment, the impact of local honey on our economy, and to promote urban beekeeping and gardening. All festival events are free. This year’s festival will feature brand new ways to catch the buzz about urban beekeeping and the importance of honeybees! We have a little something for everyone from educational activities and our Be A Bee pageant to hive talks, honey extractions and our Honey Happy Hour. This year we also have the privilege of showing the recently released, award-winning documentary “More Than Honey.” A press release including a full schedule of events and festivities is forthcoming.

News release: Free events about bees in SE Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jim Bobb 610-584-6778 chairman@easternapiculture.org Two FREE Events All About Honey Bees on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, 7 to 8:30 pm Well Bee-ing: Your Move and Kids & Bees at West Chester University, Sykes Student Union Theater FREE Kids’ Activities • Learn How Honey Bees Make Many Foods Possible & How to Help Them! Zach Saul, State College, PA dressed like a beekeeper at a recent Kids & Bees presentation. (PHOTO ATTACHED) West Chester, PA – What does the price of an apple, your backyard, and children’s health have in common? Honey bees! Everyone’s invited to two free family events, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 from 7 – 8:30 pm, at West Chester University’s Sykes Student Union to learn about honey and honey bees, when the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) presents Well Bee-ing: Your Move as well as Kids & Bees. Hear from experts about how you can help honey bees stay happy and healthy, just as they do the same for us. Families can choose either simultaneous event, or kids can enjoy the supervised Kids & Bees activities while adults attend Well Bee-ing: Your Move. Without honey bees, many of your favorite foods would cost a lot more – or disappear altogether. Honey bees are vital to our economy and food supply. By pollinating, they make everything from apples to pumpkins possible. The multi-billion dollar almond industry alone is totally dependent upon honey bees. These two events on August 7th are a fun way for everyone to find the answer and learn a few simple things anyone can do to help the honey bees stay healthy. Well Bee-ing: Your Move is a program and conversation to update us all on the progress of solving the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder, responsible for a worldwide decline in the honey bee population. The panel for this event includes: Brian Snyder, Executive Director of the PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture; Douglas Tallamy, professor and author of Bringing Nature Home which helps us understand how simply adding native plants to our yard welcomes so many more birds, butterflies and bees; and Dennis vanEngelsdorp, world-renowned honey bee expert. All three will be in town for the EAS Annual Conference on Beekeeping http://www.easternapiculture.org/conferences/eas-2013.html being held August 5 – 9, 2013. Free Baby Sitting? Sort of! Kids & Bees: Also from 7 to 8:30 pm, hands-on fun for kids aged 5 to 13 to learn: How does a bee make honey? Why do bees buzz? What does a beekeeper wear so she doesn’t get stung? Grown-ups take part or check in their children to enjoy these activities (while adults attend Well Bee-ing: Your Move). Outstanding young women selected as Honey Queens by the Pennsylvania Honey Queen program will supervise children through activities they’ve designed to share their knowledge about beloved honey bees. All this fun is free of charge, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, Dutch Gold Honey, Giant and the Pennsylvania Honey Queen Program. Contact Rachel Bryson, at honeyqueen@pastatebeekeepers.org for more information about the Kids & Bees event. Eastern Apicultural Society www.easternapiculture.org is the largest noncommercial beekeeping organization in North America, with 26 member states/provinces in the eastern U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1955, EAS is an international nonprofit educational organization for the education of beekeepers, Master Beekeeper certification, and excellence in bee research. ADDRESS FOR BOTH EVENTS: West Chester University, Sykes Student Union Theater, 110 West Rosedale Avenue, West Chester, PA 19383 ### END ###

Honey production down in US for 2012

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report on honey production in the United States for 2012. It noted that honey production was down 1 percent over the previous year, and, naturally, prices rose to record levels.