This workshop is part of the Garden Museum's new Branch Out programme, a series of free events and activities exploring gardening, art, floristry, plant science, history, design, and more!
Join beekeeper instructor Spencer Drake for a series of drop-in seminars on all things apicultural. Participants will learn how a beehive operates using an observation frame, receive an introduction to honey-tasting across the seasons, and learn of the deep history of beekeeping, encouraging participants to appreciate how bees may further attune us to the natural world and its biological diversity. Surveying the grand diversity of beekeeping culture across the globe, Spencer will open a conversation on beekeeping as a cooperative endeavour across species lines and with nature. Throughout these seminars, participants will have the opportunity to learn the first steps towards keeping their own bees, and how to be more conscientious of the insect world which surrounds us.
These seminars are informal, with no prior experience required. Participants may drop in and out as desired, and all demonstration materials and tasting honeys will be provided.
Our Branch Out programme has been made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England.
Banner image: The Beekeepers, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, ca. 1568
Session Leaders
-
Spencer Drake
Spencer Drake
Spencer Drake is a professional beekeeper and beekeeping instructor of seven
years experience, having kept bees in New and Old England with a diverse range
of patrons and students. Spencer first worked with the Tea House Theatre in
Vauxhall, London to establish a rooftop apiary and train the proprietor as an
independent apiarist. Four years and five hives on, this apiary continues to
provide the business with honey and mead for sale. Spencer has established and
maintained similar apiaries at the Cape Cod Lavender Farm, and for private
clients in London and Cambridge, among other endeavours.
Above all else, Spencer stresses the empathetic connection between
humans and bees as fundamental to good beekeeping practice and biodiversity
stewardship. Spencer is a member of the British Beekeepers Association, and is
available for consultation. Spencer’s seminars are adapted from activities
undertaken at the University of Cambridge with the John’s, Darwin, and King’s
College Beekeeping Societies.
