MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota Bee Lab provides free beekeeping education for Minnesota veterans through their Bee Veterans program.
The program fosters community through hands-on beekeeping training while promoting the recreational and professional benefits inherent in working with honey bees.
The Bee Veterans program is a partnership of the UMN Bee Squad and the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The Bee Veterans Apiary is located near the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.
Bee Veterans was founded in honor of veteran and beekeeper Michael Roche.
Roche believed strongly in the therapeutic benefits of beekeeping for returning veterans.
Workshops for this year's program are monthly each year — May through September.
Thanks to a partnership between the U of M's Bee Veterans program and the Michigan-based Heroes to Hives program, the first-ever Heroes to Hives Conference will come to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Bee Center on June 27 and 28.
Ben Ziegler, who served in the U.S. Air Force until 2012 and Joshua Muñoz, who served in the Marine Corps until 2014 are both instructors in the Bee Veterans workshops, which are a program of the Bee Lab/Bee Squad at the University of Minnesota Entomology Department. They joined KARE 11 Noon to about the program and the conference.
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