By Sarah Rupprecht

After a severe bout of winter weather, the University of Maryland’s Beekeeping Club held its first meeting of the spring semester, emphasizing the importance of community building, new products and their shared love for bees. 

The club welcomed new and returning members Feb. 10 in the Plant Sciences building. It also established activities for the upcoming semester, like conducting regular hive checks and craft workshops. 

Beekeeping club generally meets every Tuesday, where members are invited to give informational presentations about bees, watch bee-related movies, enjoy food, socialize and more. The club’s workshops, which are held every Saturday at the UMD Research Greenhouse, are the most popular event. Members use bee products like wax to make craft items. 

“I really like smashing bricks of pure wax. That’s a lot of fun,” said Connor Brown, a junior environmental engineering major. 

Brown has been involved in bee club for over a year now.

“There’s instantly too many cooks in the kitchen, but it’s kind of my favorite thing about it, because you’re just talking … being like ‘yeah, this weekend has sucked, but it sucks a little less now,”  Brown said. 

The club uses beeswax harvested from the three hives they tend to on campus to make a variety of craft products. Making and selling candles is a primary source of fundraising for the club. On Tuesday they announced that they are bringing back additional products this spring, like soap and chapstick. 

Norah Hannum, a sophomore psychology major and returning club member, is looking forward to workshopping these new products. 

“When it’s the wintertime and it’s cold, a lot of it’s working with candles [and] working with beeswax, so I’m excited to try stuff that’s a little different with the soap and the chapstick,” Hannum said.

Beau Carter, a junior biology major and club member, discussed the shift in the club’s activities this spring.

“It goes from more crafty to more ‘bee’ when it thaws,” Carter said. 

As the seasons change from winter to spring, the Saturday meetings will begin to shift from indoor workshops back to regular hive checks, which are also popular among club members. The bees are able to survive the winters with a little help from the club. 

“We have little jackets we put on them. It’s kind of cute, and it’s awesome. They’re just like tiny little square jackets that we just throw on them, and they insulate them. So the bee colony actually stays pretty warm and … they’re just less active,” Carter said.

Brown expressed how unique of an opportunity it is to be able to check on the hives.

“I really like the hive checks because I had a lot of experience with it, so I was able to help out … it takes a lot of equipment, a ton of capital, a ton of knowledgeable people to keep you safe,” Brown said.

Regardless, there’s space for everyone in the bee club as they welcome and teach new members. 

“It’s a very welcoming place, no matter [the] education level about beekeeping, which is something that requires a lot of effort. Everybody’s always welcome to try,” Hannum said.

Featured Image: A picture of the cover slide at UMD Beekeeping Club’s first meeting on Feb. 10. Photo by Sarah Rupprecht.