What do actor Morgan Freeman, poet Sylvia Plath, former first lady Michelle Obama and the Von Trapp family from “The Sound of Music” all have in common? They have all kept bees. And now you can learn how, too.

The Rhode Island Beekeepers Association offers an annual Bee School for novices, and 2025 sessions begin in late January.

“These courses are designed for beginners, for somebody that knows absolutely nothing about bees or beekeeping,” says Bee School Director Betty Mencucci.

“By the end of the five weeks, you’ll know how to buy the equipment and how to buy bees, and what personal equipment you’ll need so you don’t get stung. You’ll learn all the lingo, too. There’s lots of terminology.” Other subjects covered include the life cycle of the honeybee, assembly of the hive, how to catch swarms, hive inspections and bee diseases and pests.

So how does someone buy bees?

“Bees come in three-pound packages, and the packages are only available in April and May, which is why we run the Bee School in January and February,” Mencucci said. One bag is around 10,000 bees. The price changes, but last year a bag was about $180.”

The weekly classes are taught as lectures because weather can be unpredictable and there’s not a lot to see when the bees are wintering, but Mencucci believes in the power of visuals. “You’re not just looking at slides and pictures,” she says. “We bring equipment in and give people a chance to pick things up. Woodworkers can measure things if they want to make their own hives. It’s always better to see things in three dimensions.”

Anyone who signs up for the class receives a membership to the Rhode Island Beekeepers Association, where they’re invited to attend meetings and participate in year-round educational opportunities. The Beekeepers Association has about 500 members, and a Sunday afternoon meeting might draw between 75 and 100 members.

Mencucci caught the beekeeping bug when her father passed, inheriting 10 hives of bees from him. A teacher by day, she also began teaching beekeeping for beginners roughly 30 years ago.

When asked what most surprises students, Mencucci says they are frequently amazed at how much there is to learn. “They think bees are just an insect. Big deal! But there’s a lot of science involved, and people really like it. There’s so much fascinating information about honeybees, a lot of students wish the class would keep going.”

Unlike wasps or hornets, honeybees sting only when they sense immediate danger. “The big difference between them is that if a honeybee stings you, the bee dies,” Mencucci clarifies. “Their stinger is barbed and they can’t pull it back out. Hornets and wasps will sting you because they want to, and they’ll do it over and over again. Honeybees are more like bumblebees.”

The biggest threat to honeybees right now is varroa mites, two species of tiny insects that wreak havoc on bee populations worldwide.

“It used to be even 100 years ago you could put a box in your backyard and go back in the fall and collect your honey,” says Steve Burke, another Bee School instructor and former president of the Rhode Island Beekeepers Society. “Now you need to be paying attention in order to keep them healthy.”

Burke has always been interested in animals. “I was always the kid who had the spiders and snakes in the basement that his parents didn’t know about,” he says. He got a zoology degree from URI in 1976 but ended up becoming a lawyer. Beekeeping became a way to stay sane.

“When you come home and work with bees,” he says, “it has this effect of lowering your blood pressure because you change your focus and you can’t think about the office.”

Burke says the commitment for a novice with one hive could be as little as an hour or two a week. Unlike farm animals, the bees mostly take care of themselves. The hive and the protective suit can set beekeepers back a few hundred dollars, so it’s not for everyone. Burke encourages people who lack the time or the money to get involved by planting pollinator gardens. Bees get protein from the pollen in certain types of flowers, so the gardens are like feeding stations.

According to the National Park Service, at least 75% of all the flowering plants on Earth depend on bees and other pollinators. And a third of the world’s food production also depends on bees, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Working with bees is like studying an alien civilization, Burke muses, noting how completely different they are from humans. Bees give directions by dancing. They vibrate for warmth. The males are born from unfertilized eggs. There are thousands of workers for every one queen. The list goes on.

“It’s a challenging hobby to be in,” says Burke, “but it’s a rewarding one to succeed at. I get 50 gallons of honey a year!” He laughs. “If you like to learn new things, “bees are great, because they only let you make a mistake once.”

The five-week course is available at both Rhode Island College (on Fridays or Saturdays) and the University of Rhode Island (on Thursdays or Saturdays). Mencucci teaches the RIC classes and Burke leads the sessions at URI. Tuition is $100. Because beekeeping can be a fun family activity, discounted tuition is available for additional members of a household. Learn more at https://ribeekeeper.org/bee-school/