The Bees’ Knees: Bobcats Field Trip to Community Garden
In June, the Unity Charter School Bobcats traveled to the Morristown Community Garden on Early Street to learn about bee keeping. In addition to the community garden plots, Farmer Shaun keeps bees at the far end of the Early Street plot.
The Bobcats started with a lesson from Farmer Shaun, complete with photographs. He described the queen bee, the drone and the worker and their respective roles in a colony. The Bobcats then had a spirited discussion over the relative merits of drone and worker bees.
After his presentation, Farmer Shaun brought the Bobcats down a narrow path on the overgrown back half of the lot. In the furthest corner were two beehives. Farmer Shaun ordered three pounds of bees by mail to start the colony. Who knew one ordered bees by the pound? His colony is now up to 60,000 bees.
The beehives stood on an old cement foundation in a lot overgrown with brush. Farmer Shaun told us that we were standing in an abandoned scrap metal yard. It had been reclaimed by nature, so to speak. It’s possible that in the not too distant future, the back lot will be cleared to provide additional garden plots for the neighborhood.
Peter Minde is a father of a Unity 5th grader. A member of Unity’s Board of Trustees, he chairs the Whole School Viability committee. He is a freelance writer and a personal trainer.