CANTON -- A workshop describing the basic biology of the honey bee for beginning to advanced beekeepers will be held on Saturday, May 19 at 3 p.m., near Canton.

The workshop "Bee-ology" was inspired by a request from a "newbee", a beginner beekeeper participating in the area's informal monthly Bee Discussion Group sponsored by the Local Living Venture. In response to this request, expert beekeeper Mark Berninghausen will share what a honeybee looks like close up, examining what makes a honeybee distinct from other insects.

Owner of Squeak Creek Apiaries, Berninghausen has been keeping bees since 1976 and has been providing local sourced honey for the North Country since 1988 through his Squeak Creek Apiaries based in Brasher Falls, NY. He has been by maintaining more than 500 colonies of bees across the St. Lawrence River Valley, which are also used to pollinate apple orchards in the region each Spring. Overwintering his hives in South Carolina allows his bees to be ready for early Spring pollination needs as well as the production of nucleus colonies for use by local beekeepers.

There is a suggested donation of $10-20, $5 student, benefiting the non-profit LLV, with scholarships available upon request. The workshop is located at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm Classroom at 2043 St. Hwy 68, 2.3 miles from Rt. 11, near Canton.

For questions about Squeak Creek Apiaries, contact Mark at 315-769-2566. For directions or information on this or other LLV events, contact 315.347.4223, write to SustLivingProject@gmail.com