Honeybee Trio to Perform at UC Davis 'HONEY!' Event

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Special to Dixon Patch

The Honeybee Trio of Vacaville will perform at the “Honey!” event on Friday, Oct. 21 at the UC Davis Conference Center, a public celebration sponsored by the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

“It is  fitting that the Honeybee Trio will perform at our upcoming event on honey,” said Clare Hasler-Lewis, executive director of the institute and coordinator of the event. “Enhancing the quality of life is an important part of the vision of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.  I have no doubt participants will have their quality of life enhanced by the Honeybee Trio!”

The popular group, comprised of three teenage girls, performs classics from the 1930s and beyond in three part-harmony. Their website is at http://www.honeybeetrio.com/.

The public celebration of honey and bees, set from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. will feature speakers discussing the wonder of bees, how bees cooperate to make honey, historical uses of honey and its nutritional aspects.  Also featured: tastings of honey and mead (wine made from honey), a honey-focused lunch, displays and music. The conference center is located across from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The event is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.

The program will begin at 9 a.m. light refreshments, served until 10 a.m.  The morning speakers will include three scientists from the UC Davis Department of Entomology:

-- Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will discuss “The Wonder of Honey Bees. 

--Assistant professor/bee biologist Brian Johnson, who specializes in the behavior, genetics and evolution of honey bees, as well as apiculture, will speak on “How Bees Cooperate to Make Honey and What they Do With It When We Don't.”

--Emeritus professor/bee scientist Norman Gary, an author and professional bee wrangler, will cover “Hobby Beekeeping in Urban Environments.”

Afternoon speakers, both from UC Davis, are Louis Grivetti, professor emeritus, Department of Nutrition, discussing “Historical Uses of Honey as Food” and Liz Applegate, professor, Department of Nutrition and director of Sports Nutrition Program, “Sweet Success—Honey for Better Health and Performance.”

Honey tasting, coordinated by Mussen, takes place from 3 to 3:45 p.m. Mead (wine from honey) will be served from 4 to 5 p.m. by Rabbit’s Foot Meadery of Sunnyvale and Sky River Meadery. Sky River Meadery of Sultan, Wash.

At the reception, set from 5 to 6:30 p.m., guests can enjoy honey and mead tasting and listen to the music of the Honeybee Trio of Vacaville and Jazz Nuances of Davis.  Norm Gary will sign and sell his newly published book, “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.”  On display will be bee observation hives by Brian Fishback of Wilton, past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility; beekeeping equipment from the Laidlaw facility; and bee and book products by Rev Honey (http://www.revhoney.com).

Recently reduced prices are:  industry members and the public: $50; UC faculty, staff and Friends of the RMI: $35, and UC students, $15. Reservations may be made with Kim Bannister at kbannister@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-5171. 

More information, including the agenda and online payments, is on the website at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey