Buzz grows in Regina over urban beekeeping

Dennie Fornwald has been keeping bees in Regina for four and a half years.

The Regina pre-kindergardenteacher says she's always been interested in the natural world so it wasn't a stretch when a friend asked her to go to a beekeeping workshop in Craik, Sask.

"The workshop made it seem more accessible than I thought and safer and easierand I was able to connect with some experienced beekeepers right away." Fornwald said.

A week later, Fornwald connected with theRegina and District Bee Club.She was able to hook up with a mentor and order supplies and a starter colony.

The next step was to speak to her neighbours near ReginaGeneral Hospital about her new backyard project.

"They are all really reasonable people and they heard me out. I told them if they had any concerns to let me know," said Fornwald.

The last step was to make sure she could handle being stung. Fornwald got a jar of bees and she and a few other aspiring beekeepers did "controlled stings".

"The bees really had to be encouraged to sting," Fornwald explained, "I took a bee out of the jar and put it on my arm and I had to poke at it to get it to sting me."

Fornwald admitted she has been stung about eighttimes in the last fouryears, mainlywhen she's stepped on a lost bee. However, Fornwald said none ofher neighbours have ever complained about being stung even though they've frequently spotted busy bees in their own yards.

She says there are some sweet perks to having bees as neighbours.

"It helps with the pollination of any blossoming crop, whether that be fruit treesor vegetables. They are also so interesting. They give you something to talk about with your neighbours, and of course there's the honey."

Fornwald said Saskatchewan is one of the best places in the world for honey production. The last few years Regina beekeepers have averaged about 90 kilogramsof honey per hive.

"After my first honey harvest I took a little jar to each neighbour and thanked them for being a good neighbour and not being reactionary."

Fornwald knows of about 10 other urban beekeepers in Regina, but suspects there may be more. She suggestedpeople don't have to get their own colony to be a friend to the industrious insects.

She offers these bee-friendly tips:

• Plant bee friendly crops: clover, fruit trees, flowers with nectar
• Don't pull the dandelions early in the spring, that's the best first nectar source for bees.
• Reduce use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers which can kill the bees.

Fornwald will be presenting "An Introduction to Urban Beekeeping" at the Regina Public Library May 7 at 7p.m.