2013 marks my 7th year of presenting at the ROM

The ROM’s poster this year wasn’t entirely accurate…I’m certainly not a PhD candidate, and don’t plan to be one for a long while! I do however, have a couple of great ideas for a project that would require several years of research.

This is probably one of the most exciting and rewarding jobs I will ever do. I wouldn’t miss it for the world, and am honoured that the ROM asks me back every year so far. This gig happens once a year for the ROM’s Pollinator Appreciation Weekend, where I don my Bee Lady hat and talk to museum visitors until I can hardly think straight. I bring all sorts of visual aids, such as empty brood chambers and honey supers, bags of pollen and propolis, chunks of beeswax, and all sorts of other hands-on stuff. The ROM’s Hands-On Biodiversity gallery has an observation hive that serves as a great visual aid. This “hive” is actually 4 frames of bees stacked vertically on top of one another and enclosed in plexiglass. The bees access the outdoors via a clear tube, and can be seen coming home with their pollen baskets (corbicula) packed with pollen from the beautiful maple and chestnut trees nearby.

using a “picture hive” to explain honey bees to a young fella

My favourite activity is getting children to pretend they’re bees while I wear my beekeeping veil and chase them around with an unlit smoker. There are also some really cute questions that are asked by kids: “Are there any king bees?”, “why is the queen bee born with different colours on her back?”, “can I take a bee home with me?”.

the Bee Lady in her glory

I sincerely enjoy being an interpreter of citizen science. Much like the honey bee’s compound eye, the story of the honey bee is multifaceted, and I never run out of conversation material, even after talking for 7 hours straight, for two days in a row.