Beezotted runs educational workshops and programs to suit all ages, from hands-on half-day workshops to full-day programs for schools or community groups.
Mini workshops in the bee shed
Spring 2023 workshops are scheduled for three Saturdays: November 18, November 25, and December 2
These popular mini workshops can be tailored to meet participants’ needs or skill requirements. They run from 9am to 1pm, with a maximum of 10 participants per workshop, and include morning tea with home-cooked damper. The bee shed is in Mooloolah Valley, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Workshop topics and activities may include anything from how to educt a hive from a log or a box, how to make a box, how to carve your log, extract ‘honey’ the bee-friendly way, learn general bee knowledge, attract solitary bees, pest management, how to find native bees in the bush or in suburbia, story telling and didgeridoo performance, and ‘honey’ tasting.
Cost $65, includes fresh damper and a cuppa. Bookings phone Matthew 0499 886 899. Group bookings welcome.
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- Great bee workshop. Happy participants, happy bees.
“Recently, I attended a native bee workshop hosted by Matthew Middleton of Beezotted. Matthew has an obvious affinity with these little creatures and his familiarity with them is quite extraordinary. During the session Matthew covered the importance and history of bees presently, as well as to the original inhabitants of Australia and nearby countries together with his personal experiences. His explanations of the possible pitfalls during hive transfers were enlightening. The care with which handled the bees and hives did not go unnoticed. I have attended quite a number of native hive workshops and yes I have learnt something at all of them. If I was only ever able to attend one workshop then this would be the one; it is the whole package. Thank you Matthew.” — Mario
School and community workshops
Matthew loves holding native bee workshops for schools and community groups. In the past few years he and Juliet have run workshops at scores of Queensland, WA and NSW day care centres, kindergartens, primary and high schools, as well as community groups such as Landcare. There are some of the principals’ testimonials on our testimonials page, and lots of pics and more testimonials on the Beezotted Facebook page. For example, Fairholme College in Toowoomba is still buzzing from its BeeZotted performance, and the following link gives a great visual of Matthew’s tour of 12 schools in three days across two States: Waggamba Landcare
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In PNG we found hives in many interesting places, from an old sewing machine to a tea pot and this discarded clay cooking pot. -
Matthew was jubilant to find numerous A. Cincta bees, which are rarely found in Australia.
Matthew has run community workshops in NSW, WA and Queensland, championed by Landcare, local gardening and environmental groups, and enthusiastic individuals. From 2018-2020 Beezotted also facilitated numerous village workshops in Markham Valley, Papua New Guinea, for the Switpela Bi Hani project run by PNG Biomass.
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A quick taste before transferring log hive into box. -
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Workshops are tailored to the customer’s requirements. School workshops tend to be shorter and more action-packed. A typical running sheet for a day-long community workshop may include some or all of the following:
What: Learn bee care so they can care for you and your garden
Topics include:
- What’s all the fuss about Australian native stingless and solitary bees?
- Bees found in the area and latest information on their care
- Solitary bees: what are they and how to attract them to your garden
- How to quickly identify a bee or insect
- Pollination, predators: the good, bad and ugly
Hands on:
- How, when and why to educt a boxed or log hive
- Transfer a hive from (damaged) log to box
- How to find bees in the bush
- Box designs and bee rescue
- ‘Honey’ tasting and story time