The Beekeeper Visit

         Last quarter, Ms. Dietz had a special guest.  A beekeeper came to visit the class, and the shocking part was that he brought his bees with him!  In a special observation hive, we got to see the origin of the saying "busy as a bee."  All of the worker bees know their job, whether it is taking care of baby bees (called larvae), building the hive, or finding food.  The queen gets taken care of by the worker bees, she has babies and is the most important member.  All of the worker bees are female.  The males are called drones, they mate with the queen. 

         Honey bees are very interesting.  They are so important because they pollinate flowers, and that provides us not only with beauty, but also our fruits and vegetables!  They are also gentle and only sting if someone bothers their hive or them.  If they sting you, it may hurt you, but it kills them!  There is a dangerous type of bee, the Africanized bee, that is very aggressive and will chase you over long distances or corner you under water!

         The beekeeper taught us really cool things about bees, but not only that, he let us sample some honey!  Now we really love bees.  When we see them in our garden, we will know to leave them alone to do their work, and we will say thank you to those tiny hard working girls!

Radishes!

Radish mature quickly, so they are the first crop students get to sample from the garden.  How do they like them?  Well, it was mixed results.  The radishes from our garden tend to be very tender, with a slightly sweet taste, then they get a little HOT!  It was a little more than many students bargained for!  Most of the radish went to our classroom taste testers, but we also reserved some for teachers who love our fresh veggies.

John Loyd Coastal Clean Up!

It was a lovely day to pick up garbage:)  John Loyd Park, located in Dania, is a great protected coastal wilderness area.  In order to keep it great, 4H sponsored a Coastal Clean Up Day!  I picked up a tan while doing wildlife some good.  I got to see flowers, old sea turtle eggs, and stingray in Whiskey Creek.  Here are some typical flowers that love the sandy coast.