Beekeeping Apprenticeship
Start this Fall → Have Bees by Spring!
With Advanced Master Beekeeper Tiffany Harelik & Friends
Are the bees calling you? Come learn beekeeping in online classes, plus get your hands in hives for an in-person component to gain confidence with your beekeeping skills before your bees arrive next Spring.
What You’ll Learn

  • Build confidence before your bees arrive with hands-on experience
  • Setting up your apiary & equipment
  • Installing your bees
  • Hive biology, genetics & pheromones
  • Feeding, pests & seasonal care
  • Honey harvesting & bottling
  • Swarm prevention & splits
  • Medicinal hive products: beeswax, propolis & more
Why Join?

  • Learn pesticide-free beekeeping for West Texas in Langstroth & Top Bar hives
  • Benefit from two seasons of training — Fall learning & Spring hands-on work
  • 30+ hours online + in-person hive days in Abilene
  • Monthly office hours for direct mentorship with Tiffany
  • On-demand access to recorded workshops with optional exercises, reading and videos
  • Ideal for new backyard beekeepers, all levels are welcome
  • Compatible with the Texas Master Beekeeper Program Content
Key Dates

  • Oct 18, 2025 – Enrollment closes
  • Oct 22, 2025 – First online session
  • Oct 26, 2025 – First hands-in-hives day
  • Feb–May 2026 – Spring inspections, splits & bee installation
Join the Apprenticeship - online and in person
October 2025 - May 2026
This is the link to pay in full for both the online and in person components. It is a discounted rate of $1250 and includes:
  • all online classes and replays
  • all hands-in-hives experiences
  • two nucs
It does not include your suit, smoker, hive tool and optional reading materials (please purchase those from our preferred list).
Early Bird Pay in Full - online and in person Payment Plan over 8 months
Join us from anywhere with the online-only option $299 Oct-May
Lessons are recorded and the replays will be emailed to you.
Join us for the online apprenticeship!
Workshop Schedule
Please note: Our schedule is always subject to the weather, and the changing lessons available to us through the bees during the course of the program. For example, we may get a swarm or removal call that you'll be able to join in and learn hands-on experiences that we cannot plan. I invite you to embrace the wild nature of what's possible when you say yes—to the bees—through apprenticeship.
Getting Started
Getting Started
Session 1: Online Wednesday, October 22, 2025 5:30p-7:30p CT
Equipment and Tools, Setting up your Apiary, Buying Bees, Hive Biology & Genetics, Two Seasons of Bees, & Bee Sting Safety.

Optional Online Office Hours: Friday, October 24th 12p-1p: Hive Inspections 101, What to Wear Beekeeping + Your Questions

Hands in Hives: Sunday, October 26th: 12p-4p (weather pending)
Lighting your Smoker, Familiarization with Colony set ups, Hive Inspections for Winter Prep (Robber Bees), and Your picture in the Bees (Buffalo Gap, Texas). Bring your suit and smoker.
Beeswax and the Medicinal Hive
Beeswax and the Medicinal Hive
Online Session 2: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 5:30p-7:30p CT
Jobs of the Worker Bees, Pheromones, Beeswax & Propolis, the Medicinal hive

Optional Online Office Hours: Friday, October 31st 12p-1p:
Your Questions

Optional Work Weekend: Sunday, November 2nd
11a-12:30p: Working with Beeswax (making lip balms and salves in Abilene)
1:30p-4:30p: Equipment clean up (in Cross Plains)


Becoming a Bee Veterinarian
Becoming a Bee Veterinarian
Online Session 3: November 5, 2025 5:30p-7:30p CT
Honey Bee Nutrition, Pests and Diseases, Feeding Fall Bees
Honey!
Honey!
Online Session 4: November 12, 2025 5:30p-7:30p CT
Pollination, How Honey is Made, Honey Crystallization, Creamed Honey, Bottling and Labeling Honey
Winter Break
Getting Ready for your Bees
Getting Ready for your Bees
Online Session 5: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 5:30p-7:30p CT
Preparing for your Bees: Installing Nucs + Packages, Catching and Baiting Swarms, Preventing Swarming, Spring Feeding options
Getting Ready for your Bees
Getting Ready for your Bees
Online Session 5: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 5:30p-7:30p CT
Preparing for your Bees: Installing Nucs + Packages, Catching and Baiting Swarms, Preventing Swarming, Spring Feeding options

Optional Online Office Hours: Friday, February 13th, 12p-1p: Your Questions

Hands in Hives:  Dates TBD based on weather
Saturday, February 14, 2026 10a-2p
First Spring Inspections & Feeding (Buffalo Gap)
Sunday, February 15, 2026 12p-4p
First Spring Inspections & Feeding (Cross Plains)


Spring Dynamics
Spring Dynamics
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 5:30p-7:30p CT
Understanding Nectar Flows, Making Splits and Combines

Optional Online Office Hours: Friday, February 20th, 12p-1p: Your Questions

Hands in Hives:  Dates TBD based on weather
Spring Inspections & Feeding (Buffalo Gap)
Spring Inspections & Feeding (Cross Plains)


Advanced Topics
Advanced Topics
Online Session 7: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 5:30p-7:30p CT
Advanced topics: Removals, Queen Splitting

Optional Online Office Hours: Friday, February 20th, 12p-1p: Your Questions

Hands in Hives: Dates TBD based on weather
Making Splits
Making Nucs & Honey Sensory Celebration
Installing your Bees: Based on bee readiness and individual student locations


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