Honey Harvest Festival @ REAP!
Overview
A colony is a community. Tens of thousands of bees, each doing her small part, and by autumn the frames are full. On October 25 we gather at REAP to do what a colony does: share the harvest.
Join us for an afternoon of honey spinning, wax harvesting, beekeeping education, a walk through REAP's permaculture systems, and a community potluck. See how honey travels from comb to jar, meet the colonies that live at REAP, and learn what you can do for pollinators in your own backyard.
Families are welcome, and there is plenty to explore across the campus. If you've never been to REAP, this is a good first afternoon. Come meet the community, and say hello to the chickens and sheep.
What to Expect
Harvest Potluck - We begin at the table. Bring a favorite dish, something from your garden, or a treat to share if you're able. If you can't, come anyway; there will be plenty. Like a colony, a potluck is built from small offerings. Each of us brings a little, and all of us eat well.
Honey Spinning and Extraction - Watch this year's frames from the REAP hives get uncapped and spun, a season of honey running out of the comb. Learn how honey gets from the hive to the jar. The bees are settling in for winter, so the hives themselves stay closed today.
A Responsible Harvest - We take only what can be responsibly harvested from the bees. Every colony at REAP keeps sixty pounds or more of its own honey, enough to carry it through winter and into spring. Today we celebrate the bees and share in the sweetness of their work: millions of flowers visited, one at a time, to fill a single comb with honey.
Wax Harvesting - The bees built the comb. Once the honey is out, we'll clean the cappings wax and save it, so nothing they made goes to waste. The wax goes on to a second life in healing salves and candles.
Honey to Take Home - Every guest leaves with a small jar of this year's harvest, while supplies last. Larger jars are available by donation.
Bee 101 with Bay Beehives - Melissa McAndrew of Bay Beehives, REAP's Official Bee Partner, on the life of a colony: who does what inside the hive, how honey happens, and how we care for the bees that call REAP home.
Vermicomposting Workshop - Meet REAP's hardest-working decomposers. Learn how to tend a healthy worm population, care for a vermicomposting system, and harvest castings to return nutrients to the soil.
Walk the Land: REAP's Campus - Join a guided tour of the campus and the permaculture systems that shape it: how water, soil, plants, and animals work together as one living system, the way a colony does. The campus stays open all afternoon, so wander, see what's growing, and visit the chickens and sheep.
Workshop sign-up is on site, first come, first served.
What to Bring
A dish, snack, or beverage to share at the potluck, if you're able
A reusable water bottle
Comfortable, closed-toe shoes for exploring the campus
Layers and sun protection for an outdoor fall afternoon
Your curiosity, and your questions about bees, wax, worms, soil, and the harvest
A signed WAIVER
Tickets
This event is sliding-scale and donation-based. Every ticket includes the same afternoon; choose the rate that works for you. Higher tiers help REAP keep community programming like this open to everyone. There will also be a chance to give at the event.
Before You Come
Please complete the REAP waiver before arriving.
Everyone is welcome. Whether you've tended REAP all year or are visiting for the first time, there's a place for you at the table.