The Valley Hive
DETAILS:
Location: 10538 Topanga Canyon Blvd. Chatsworth, CA 91311
Hours of Operation: The beekeeping experience occurs on Sundays at 9AM. Check their website (provided below under “resources”) for availability. The Valley Hive gift shop & activity center is open throughout the week from 8:30AM to 5PM. Other classes, events, and services are detailed on their website.
Parking: Free parking lot on premise.
Cost: $75 for the beekeeping experience.
Time Commitment: Approximately 2 & 1/2 hours for the beekeeping experience.
There are several things that leave me in abject terror; Nickelback, dogs dressed in baby clothes, and the honeybee. And while you may never find me screaming, “Not the bees! NOT THE BEES!” like Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man, my irrational fear at the sight of these benign creatures sadly isn’t too far off. I’m not allergic and I’ve never been diagnosed with melissophobia, I’m just simply a coward. In truth, these winged angels are a vital part of our ecosystem, stimulating a good chunk of the world’s agriculture through pollination. To put this into context, here are just a few of the crops that would have a hard time existing if not for the honeybee; almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, coffee, cranberries, cucumbers, eggplants, peaches, pears, peppers, strawberries, walnuts, and for all you wine enthusiasts… grapes! Without ever realizing it (for most of us), we depend on these little guys to put food on our table. They are the actual embodiment of the bee’s knees!
So it’s rather disturbing that the world’s honeybee population has been dropping consistently throughout the years. This isn’t a science blog, so I’ll leave the hows & whys to those more qualified, but it’s safe to say that this situation is definitely worth monitoring. Thankfully, there are numerous organizations, both professionally and at the grassroots level, that are fighting the good fight in the hopes of reversing this trend. One such company is the Valley Hive in Chatsworth. On select Sundays throughout the year, you can participate in their beekeeping experience and interact with these amazing insects firsthand.
After a brief discussion prepping you for what lays ahead, you’ll don a familiar beekeeping suit and spend the next two hours in their working apiary to learn about the honeybee up close & personal, covering the broad strokes of many topics such as their life cycle, behavioral patterns, care & maintainability, pollination process, and last but not least, HONEY! You’ll help the beekeepers inspect each hive and assist in the harvest of any honeycomb that’s ready. The sweet climax (literally!) of this beekeeping experience ends with the extraction and sampling of honey that had been within these hives just moments prior. It’s a memory I won’t soon forget and made me appreciate the circle of life, on a smaller stage and in the grand scheme of things, much better than any Disney movie could. As the bees continued to swarm around me that day, harmlessly minding their own business, I was reminded of a fact I had known all along despite myself; if you don’t agitate them, they won’t agitate you. It’s a lesson we could use in all aspects of our lives.
