The Apprenticeship Connections’ Mentor Workshop Series was created to give people the opportunity

to sample skills learned in niche disciplines under the tutelage of a Mentor. By holding the workshop at the Mentor’s

work space, individuals are able to intimately engage with the Mentor to gain insight into their specialty.

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Join us to learn from our Mentor Amanda Welch about starting a beehive, harvesting honey, making products using honey and beeswax, and more..

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Amanda Welch has been a beekeeper for over two decades, managing over 20 hives at her farm, Meeting House Farm. To ensure the well being of bees and maintain the purity of the honey and wax that is collected and sold, she refrains from using any chemicals in the apiary or on the farm. All the forage on her 60 acres is pesticide-free and the products from the apiary are officially “Certified Naturally Grown”.

Amanda sells the bees' excess raw, probiotic honey at the Charlottesville City Farmers’ market, a handful of local retail stores, and on her website: grubbygirl.com. She also uses the honey in her line of bath products, including the Farmer Person Soap, scrubs, and bath salts, while the beeswax collected during the honey extraction process is used to make some of her other products like lip balms and lotion bars. As an advocate for the plight of bees, Amanda teaches classes on beekeeping and shares information on her website about farms and apiaries’ best practices.

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