Earning Young Cultivator Merit Badges

Garden Gate

9. Bees R Us

Beginner Level

• Read about different kinds of bees—honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter bees—and their cousins—wasps and hornets—and learn to identify each kind.
• Once you’re armed with your new knowledge about bees, try to get over any anxiety or fear you have about them. (Now you’ll know which ones to watch out for.)

Intermediate Level

• Visit a local flower farm and see if you can identify the different pollinators that are buzzing around the flowers.
• Learn about the different kinds of honeybees in a hive and how each kind has a different job.
• Learn about honey and find out why local honey is best.

Expert Level

• Read our article about beekeeping in the Aug/Sept 2016 "Lollygagging" issue of MaryJanesFarm Magazine. (The magazine required for this badge is available on loan from MaryJanesFarm; contact library@maryjanesfarm.org.)
• Plan a visit to a local beekeeper with your mentoring Sister, suit up in a beekeeping outfit, and get an up-close view of the hive. Have the beekeeper show you the honey supers and ask if you can help harvest it.

January, 2017 Edition