This school is for learning about honeybees

The school run by the Mecklenburg County Beekeepers Association has been around at least 12 years, and Jodie Rierson is Bee School principal.
It takes a special person to aspire to that position. Rierson, who’ll welcome a new class of students Jan. 13, has been fascinated with honeybees since childhood. The honey she now harvests from her four backyard hives is one reason she continues to enjoy them. And she finds much more to admire about these communal creatures.
“It’s how smart they are,” said Rierson, 51, an association member for three years. “It’s incredible to me that they take the nectar from flowers and they cure the honey, they fan and evaporate the water out of it, they ripen it and cap it. How do they do all of that?”
Honeybees also pollinate plants that produce our food. Colonies have been declining, so Rierson was pleased to welcome more than 100 people – grade-schoolers to seniors – to the school last year to learn how to care for bees and manage hives of their own.
The class costs $70 and will take place 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 13-March 17, at Providence Baptist Church, 4921 Randolph Road. To sign up, register online at www.meckbees.org.
Build, Remodel and Landscape Expo has returned 
The 16th annual Build, Remodel and Landscape Expo continues Jan. 10 and 11 Saturday and Sunday at the Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St. More than 10,000 people are expected to attend the show, which started Friday.
The show includes hundreds of exhibitors (remodelers, designers and landscapers), along with seminars and demonstrations. For more information, visit www.HomeShowCenter.com.

Karen’s blog: http://homelifeclt.blogspot.com; Twitter: @sullivan_kms