Looking out over the courtyard within Trinity College (one of the colleges on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto) at 8:45 am this morning, it was hard for me to remember that this is actually a busy site. With most students either already in class or sleeping in, the area was deserted - it's the bees who are doing all of the work! I met up with three members of "UofT B.E.E.S." (Beekeeping Educational Enthusiast Society) to visit the hives perched atop the College roof. We checked up on the healthy bee colony that has been living on campus since this spring; this year's bees replaced the ones that, sadly, succumbed to the cold of this past winter after calling Trinity their home since May 2010. Coming up in late October, I hope to help winterize the rooftop apiary and give the bees a better chance at surviving the cold months ahead. Meanwhile, here are some of the photos I snapped this morning:
I'm sorry that most of these images were taken at weird angles with my own shadow in the frame - with so many bees buzzing around me, I wasn't keen on standing in their flight path just to get the perfect shot. I've never been stung and hope to keep it that way!
To learn more about UofT B.E.E.S., check out their FB page. To learn about other projects of the Dig In! Campus Agriculture Network, visit their website.
