Monday, September 11, 2017

Bayer Bee Research Center in Durham NC

Always on the hunt for free, fun, and educational field trips, I jumped on the chance to visit a local bee research facility.  By the way, if you can't get there in person you can take a virtual tour of it by visiting this link: https://beehealth.bayer.us/home

After a field trip I always regret not getting more pictures that really tell the story of our experience.  But between watching the littles, managing the camera and also trying to learn something myself, photos often become an after thought.

Anyway, here's a bit about our experience:


The tour starts with a great 10-15 minute presentation describing the pollination process, different kinds of bees in the hive, threats to bee health, and what we can do to help bees thrive.  Above you can see our youngest volunteering to be one of the bees that takes care of the baby bees.  Older sister is there for moral support.


We then moved outside to the screened in observation area.  There was a cool praying mantis on display for our enjoyment as well!  Gotta love NC insect diversity!



It was a pleasant day indeed.  Mid 70s with a gentle breeze; felt like a bit of PNW home.  What a pretty setting.



Our tour guide geared up and went outside to hunt for the queen bee.  We couldn't find her.  The guide explained that the "cold" weather was forcing her to stay warm inside of the clumps of bees where we couldn't see her.  Oh well.  But we could see she had been busy! there were lots of new eggs and larvae.



This year my oldest is taking an early morning seminary class that starts at 6am Mon-Fri.  She's still adjusting to the schedule, as you can see here.  What a great day for a little nap in a rocking chair by a beautiful garden.



Exploring the garden!  There were lots of bees.  Made me a tad nervous.



Lovely.


So, I wish that I had pictures of the kids enjoying their free honey samples, free honey sticks, free fuzzy bee stickers, and free squishy sunflowers.  Lots of free goodies after the tour.  Wish I had some cute pictures of the friends who made the trip with us.  And it would have been cool to get some pics of the cool research facility.   Wow, it's really a neat facility with beautiful grounds! I wouldn't mind working there myself!

In summary: Feed a bee so they can feed you!  Plant flowers today :)