You, too, can be a beekeeper

RIVERVIEW, Fla. (FOX 13) - Harvesting your own honey is like a little slice of farm life in the city. There's a place in the Bay Area that will teach you all about bee hives.

A Simpler Place Farm and Market in Riverview hold classes once a month to help people learn how to safely become beekeepers.

“We do a little bit of a talkie-talkie section, then you get all dressed up [in beekeeper gear], then we’ll come out here and look at some of the bees…you’ll sample a little bit of honey and off you’ll go,” instructor Paul Rabaut explained as he pulled the lid off a hive.

“I can hear the roar of the bees,” FOX 13’s Chip Brewster joked.

Rabaut demonstrated how to pull frames out of a hive to harvest the honey while not harming the bees, which play a crucial role in pollinating crops like the ones grown at the farm.

Renee Raley started the operation five years ago when she was looking for a good source of organic food.

“I started to reach out to local farmers and we began aggregating from them and making it conveniently available to people in our local community,” she explained. “Since then, we’ve expanded and grow here ourselves on about three and a quarter acre.  We call ourselves a suburban farmette.”

The beekeeping classes are offered on the first Saturday of the each month at 10 a.m. 

LINK: For more information, visit them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aSimplerPlaceInTime/