Tom Hebert came back this past July 2016, again as a volunteer through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program, administered by Partners of the Americas. Tom’s mission was to support the island’s new top bar beekeepers and to present sustainable top bar hive beekeeping to the more than 100,000 attendees of the Denbigh Agricultural Exposition, Jamaica’s largest annual…
Tag: beekeeping
Robins Bay Bee Club’s First Hive Donation
Former Peace Corps Volunteer Ann Bruce, Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer Tom Hebert and Yerba Buena Farm collaborated to start this natural beekeeping club in 2012. The training apiary was made possible through a grant from the USAID/Peace Corps Small Project Assistance program. This is the only sustainable top bar beekeeping cub in Jamaica. It has been wonderful…
Women Bee Farmers Association Mead Making
In September 2014, we started the Jamaica Women Bee Farmers Association. This organization supports women beekeepers who are interested in making their operations more economically and environmentally sustainable. So far, we have had monthly trainings that covered Top Bar Hive Management, Colony Health Assessment, Value Added Products and Making Honey Wine. The trainings are led…
2013 Intern Emily Erickson’s Honey Harvest
2013 Intern Emily Erickson is a star! Here she is, harvesting honey from her top bar hive in California. Great job, Emily!
Beautiful Hives
One thing we like to do is to always try to improve the hives that we use in our apiaries. If something is difficult or irritating about inspecting, moving, or using a hive, we make a note of it and change the design of future hives. The booklet that we give to people, How to…
Kaat!
Kaat Byrd (sounds like “Cat Bird”). This intern’s name gives you a clue to her character: she is unique, really special. Kaat is curious, open, steady and even sparky, with a bright mind that searches and collects and goes deeply into the nooks and crannies of an experience or an idea. Living and working with…
Cody and Christy Kerr!
Cody and Christy Kerr, avid swing dancers from Kentucky, came as a couple for our summer 2013 internship. Our top bar beekeeping training is part of their self-designed sustainable agriculture program that includes a permaculture certificate program in Costa Rica and forest farming and nutrient dense food preparation in New Zealand. At our farm, along with…
Yerba Buena Farm Jamaica 