Dartmouth youth to become beekeepers

A group of north Dartmouth teens will become beekeepers this summer through a program called the Healthy Honeybees Project.

There will be six active "queen bee" teens, who will help raise the bees, extract the honey, sell and market it, and another 10 or 15 "worker bees," who will help out where they can.

They'll have two experienced beekeepers involved to oversee the progress and look out for any safety issues.

This social enterprise is the brainchild of Stewart Zaun, program coordinator with Family S.O.S., a non-profit organization that helps out both parents and youth with in-class and after-school programs.

Up and buzzing by June

"We were trying to come up with some kind of enterprise project, and the usual ideas, like bracelets and bake-sales, were going around," he said.

"My cousin's a beekeeper. I was sitting on her porch watching the bees flying around, and it came to me."

The teens, who meet at the Dartmouth North Community Centre, will be spearheading the project with community partners, such as the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Education, and Development and Scotian Bees and Honey, who are donating one of the hives.

Two hives will be located at The Guy Jacobs Community Garden in Dartmouth.

Zaun says the city has all but signed off on the project. He's expecting the hives to be up and buzzing by June.