This past year the Bullitt County Extension Horticulture Porgram collaborated with the 4H Program and the Bullitt County Beekeepers' Association to begin a 4H Youth Beekeeping and Bee Ambassadors Program. The 4-H Bee Ambassador Program addresses key concepts related to bees, pollination, beekeeping, and honey. Horticulture and 4-H agents, the Horticulture assistant, and Beekeeping Association volunteer leaders incorporated lessons and activities related to bees and honey, pollinators and native ecosystems in a series of monthly meetigns with hands on demonstration in our Extension Apiary.  

In it's first year this new club completed enough activities, such as a honey tasting, pollenator garden waystation planning and hive inspections to become certified as "Bee Ambassadors".  This club also built hives from kits, painted them and auctioned them off at a National Beekeeping conference to raise mney for the club and awareness of beekeeping. The most exciting success of this club in the past year is in introducing beekeeping to youth who otherwise would not have any access to bees.  One club member reported that he joined because he wanted to conquer his fear of bees by learning about them.  After several lessons, I am happy to report that by the end of the summer he had overcome his fear and performed a hive inspection with the help of adult volunteer leadership.  He even allowed us to photograph him with a bee on his face mesh.