Community Outreach

March 16, 2024

SAZBA at the Tucson Organic Gardner’s Spring Fair

The Tucson Organic Gardner’s Spring Fair was a big hit, and SAZBA was there!  Once again the observation hive was the main attraction and source of many questions, insights and entertainment.  In addition to sharing information on pollinator plants and beekeeping we had honey, beeswax, and bee themed jewelry on sale.  This event is always well received and this year was no exception as we estimate we interacted with approximately 300 visitors.  Special thanks to Will, Monica, Carl, Dave, Susan and Brent for volunteering for this event.

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March, 2024

"Walkabout" book club in Sierra Vista

The "Walkabout" book club in Sierra Vista contacted SAZBA for a speaker. They are reading "Mad Honey" by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. They decided to set up an adventure around bees based only on the title.  Mad Honey is a novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind. The characters in the book have each had a change of life forced upon them. Olivia never dreamed that after her messy divorce she would find herself back in her sleepy New Hampshire home town, living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father's beekeeping business. Ava is also in search of a fresh start, moving to Adams with her daughter Lily, who is in her final year of high school. Sounds like an interesting read. SAZBA member, Alan Hillhouse, volunteered to provide a talk to the group of ten about bees and beekeeping. Alan said, everyone wanted the recommended pollinator plant list flyer! 

November 21, 2023

JOHNSON PRIMARY School

SAZBA was invited on NOVEMBER 21 to the JOHNSON PRIMARY School to participate in their STEAM event. During this event they celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math in a fun atmosphere filled with games, puzzles, and activities focused on STEAM. Teachers and organizations from the community had demonstrations of activities and strategies to use at home to support the students. Students and their families got to learn about honeybees and see an observation beehive. SAZBA member, and Board of Director, Carl Hilber, manned the tables to answer questions. Carl says, "The marked queen was the star of the show. Her red marking made it easy for people to find her, and the kids got pretty excited when they spotted her. There was also a lot of interest in honeybee lifecycles. Many were surprised by their relatively short lifespan. The lifecycle poster was very helpful in allowing me explain their “jobs” in the hive as they aged. There was also quite a bit of interest in swarming and colony reproductive cycles." Carl estimated attendance to be around 30-40 people, SAZBA also provided handouts for the kids and also a recommended Pollinator Beneficial plant list flyer.

October 23, 2023

Tucson Organic Gardeners

SAZBA members set up today at the Tucson Organic Gardeners fall festival. There was great community participation, and we reached talking to around 175 people all about bees! They got their questions answered, got to meet the bees in the observation hive, and took handouts about what to plant during a dearth for the pollinators and about the Southern Arizona Beekeepers Association.  Volunteers included Will, Susan, Dave, Carl,  Jill, and Monica.

September 16, 2023

Pancake Breakfast in Arivaca

The small town of Arivaca has been a strong supporter of SAZBA and over the years has contributed to our fundraising efforts by supporting several pancake breakfasts hosted by member, Christine Stockwell, as well as donating to a passive collection jar in the General Store. As a means of showing our appreciation the club put on a free pancake breakfast in the Arivaca Community Center. In addition to enjoying a delicious pancake breakfast, SAZBA President Will Fitz and Vice President Monica King each provided educational sessions on Southern Arizona Beekeepers Association, Africanized bees and recent beekeeping history in S.AZ, Pollinators & Pesticides and Tucson backyard bees.  The event was enjoyed by approximately 100 guests.  Christine stated that she "appreciates the club for coming out to help with the pancake breakfast.  If it wasn't for everyone's help it wouldn't go as effortlessly as it does. Continue Beeing who you all are; I love working with you all.  To Both Susans Thank you for keeping the batter ready. You both Rock".

There were a number of volunteers:  In the picture: Dave, Edita, Christina, Susan, Kalo, Monica, Will, and Susan.     Not in the picture:  Michael, Tom, Patrick, and Dottie.   More pictures of the event are in Our Gallery.

March 4 & 5, 2023

SAZBA was invited to set up with Friends of the Desert Legumes at the Tucson Festival of Books, Science City Tent. This was our second year at this enormous event with over 150,000 people attending! According to a clicker being used, we interacted with over 2,000 visitors! This year we received approval to bring an observation hive. The bees were a huge hit! Our little corner was continuously busy with her royal highness laying eggs right in front of guests. Volunteers included: William Fitz (President), Monica King (VP), Susan McClintock (Board of Director), Michael Shipman (Tech Advisor), and Jacqueline Soule.

March 16, 2023

SAZBA Vice President, Monica King, spoke to the Southern Arizona Arborists Group, with around 11 people in attendance, about Honeybee Health, Pesticides & Herbicides, and Citrus Greening.

March 9-10, 2024

University of Arizona Festival of Books Fair

Southern Arizona Beekeepers Association participated in the 2024 University of Arizona Book Festival.  The observation hive was on hand and drew many bee-interested visitors to our tables, BIG HIT, where SAZBA volunteers answered questions and explained the unique world of beekeeping.  We were located in Science City and interacted with approximately 2000 visitors.  

 

A copy of Tom Seeley's unreleased/newest book "Piping Hot Bees & Boisterous Buzz-Runners" was on display and visitors were offered a code for a 30% discount on purchase. 

 

Plans are already underway for SAZBA to return to this great event next year!  Thanks to Will, Monica, Carl, Dave, Susan, and Tom for volunteering for this worth-while event.  See you all there next year!

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March 4, 2024

Splendido

On March 4th, 2024, SAZBA Director, Monica King, spoke about "Pollinators, Pesticides, and Africanized Bees"  at Splendido. Part of Monica's presentation always includes the "Four P's" of Colony Collapse: Pesticides, Parasites, Pathogens, and Poor Nutrition. In discussion of how to "save the pollinators", we recommend providing safe water and high quality, pesticide free foods. Monica shows examples of flowerless landscapes, not just agricultural areas but houses with rock and gravel. Recommending planting pollinator forage instead, a participant excitedly responded that rock and gravel landscaping is Xeriscaping and due to water issues we should not plant because we would use valuable water. Local native plants that once established require little to no water were discussed. For more information on our recommendations for pollinator forage please click on this link. (of course not all plants on this list are native but are the most valuable for when the environment is experiencing a dearth). Participants also mentioned, the word needs to get out! How do we educate everyone? By exactly what we are doing today. Splendido had around 20 participants, if each of those 20 tell 20 more....the word spreads, then look at everyone we have reached!  Splendido, Thank you for having us!

November 11, 2023

Arizona Honeybee Festival in Phoenix

On November 11th SAZBA hosted a table at the Arizona Honeybee Festival in Phoenix.  Monica King, Christine Stockwell, Dave and Susan McClintock and visiting beekeeper Linda Miksa interacted with approximately 220 attendees.  We had the added bonus of getting to know the other Arizona beekeeping clubs 🐝. Monica taught a class on "Disaster Preparedness for Beekeepers.". Overall the event was a huge success!

October 3, 2023

Girl Scout

SAZBA VP, Monica King, visited with a small Girl Scout Troop of 6 girls, ages 6-10, to talk bees. It was only fitting as the troops crest is the Bee, symbolizing hard work & industry. The bee can show that the girls want to inspire others through their words & deeds. They got to hold a drone, see and name a queen bee, taste honeycomb, see through bee goggles , put together bee anatomy, touch drone & worker bee brood and much more! One of their younger brothers also attended and became a honey monster devouring several pieces of fresh honeycomb Monica brought from a removal she did the night before. 🤩

March 2, 2023

SAZBA President, William Fitz, spoke to the Flowing Wells High School Culinary Club about Honeybee Biology, Beekeeping, and Honey Production.

March 11, 2023

SAZBA attended the Tucson Organic Gardeners Spring Fair. Our estimated outreach was around 350 people! This was a wonderful event and plant addicts paradise! We handed out flyers recommending pollinator beneficial plants for periods of dearth. Volunteers included: William Fitz (President), Monica King (VP), Susan McClintock (Board of Directors), Cheryl Dierks (Secretary).