The Farms: Hive Visit

Experience Level: All levels/ages

Take an exclusive peek at Allerton’s bee hives during a Hive Visit on Saturday, May 2 from 2-2:30 p.m. Meet in the Mansion Gallery.

Beekeepers Maggie and Steve will lead participants outside to the Allerton bee hives in the Herb Garden, as they explain the basics of hive management, bee safety, and how to keep bees healthy throughout the year.

The Hive Visit is free and registration is not required.

This class is part of The Farms Spring Market, featuring additional folk school instructors talking about and selling their creations. Learn more here.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the Instructor

When Maggie Wachter began her social work degree at the University of Illinois in 2008, she had no idea that she would become a beekeeper. As for honey, she kept a single jar in the back of her kitchen cabinet for recipes. Today she is a master beekeeper who never eats sugar.

Maggie received her first hive as a gift in 2008. By 2010, she was enrolled in the Master Beekeeper course at the University of Florida. From there, things happened quickly to turn her life around. In 2012, she started teaching beekeeping for Parkland Community Education and today she is a beekeeping teacher, honey judge, mead maker and master beekeeper.

She has also participated in honeybee research at the University of Illinois and the USDA.