At the Vacaville Museum Children's Party on Aug. 8, a walk-around Queen Bee (costume from the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program) will hand out honey sticks donated by Z Specialty Food, Woodland. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Vacaville Museum Guild's annual children's party--for Vacaville children ages 3 to 9--promises to be a honey of a party.

Themed "Fun on the Farm," it's an entertaining and educational event set for 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 8 in the museum courtyard, 213 Buck Ave.,Vacaville. 

Coordinators Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin said the children's party will include a walk-around Queen Bee handing out honey sticks, and a real "Queen Bee"--Ettamarie Peterson of Petaluma, known as the Queen Bee of Sonoma, who will display a bee observation hive.  Another Queen Bee, Amina Harris, has donated honey sticks.

The event also will include animals from the Vaca Valley Grange  (including goats, chickens, rabbits and a donkey), a costumed Mother Goose reading children's stories, face-painting by the Vacaville Rainbow Girls, and a ring toss with a hobby horse named Trigger (the work of Perry Shull and Georganne Gebers).  The youngsters will create sand art jars, craft paper crowns, plant seeds in a take-home container, and pose for photos behind a UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology California dogface butterfly cut-out banner. The School of Rock will entertain. Vacaville police officers, Solano County Sheriff deputies, and the California Highway Patrol will "meet and greet" and offer replica badges and other memorabilia.

The menu, free with the $3 admission, includes hot dogs, popcorn, chips, cookies and water. Tickets can be purchased only at the museum on Thursdays through Saturdays between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. 

Capsule information:

Ettamarie Peterson. She's a retired teacher,  a longtime beekeeper, a 4-H beekeeping leader and a great-grandmother who loves to talk about bees and show her bee observation hive at schools and special events. She'll point out the queen bee, worker bees and drones and discuss their roles. “I started beekeeping before I retired in 1998 from 37 years of teaching,” Peterson says. She has served as president and treasurer of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association (SCBA) and edits the  SCBA newsletter, The Monthly Extractor.  She collects swarms for her Liberty 4-H Club beekeepers. "I got involved in 4-H when my son wanted his daughters to learn how to keep bees. They are both parents now so I am hoping to teach the three great-grandsons, too!"

Peterson is also a longtime friend and supporter of UC Davis. She delivered a tribute to the late Eric Mussen (1946-2022), a 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty.

Queen Bee Costume. The queen bee costume is from the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program  (CAMBP), founded and directed by apiculturist/bee scientist Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of UC Cooperative Extension, and a member of the faculty of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.  CAMBP is "a continuous train-the-trainer effort," the website explains. "The CAMBP's vision is to certify Honey Bee Ambassador, Apprentice, Journey, and Master level beekeepers so they can effectively communicate the importance of honey bees and other pollinators within their communities, serve as mentors for other beekeepers, and become the informational conduit between the beekeeping communities throughout the state and UCCE (UC Cooperative Extension) staff." Program managers are Wendy Mather and Kian Nikzad.

Honey sticks donated by Amina Harris of Z Food Specialty, gleam in the light. They contain wildflower honey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey Sticks. The wildflower honey sticks were donated by Amina Harris, founding director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center who retired last year to return to her family business, Z Food Specialty and The HIVE, 1221 Harter Ave, Woodland.  The Hive is known as the largest honey and mead tasting room in California and is newly featured in Travel and Leisure. A community gathering place, The Hive "aims to educate and engage visitors in varietal honeys, mead, honey bees, and pollinators." A honey-inspired menu features local and seasonal farm-to-fork foods. A pollinator garden and musical presentations are also draws. Amina's husband, Ishai Zeldner (he passed in 2018 at age 71), founded the business. Amina serves as the Queen Bee; son, Josh Zeldner is the nectar director, and daughter, Shoshana Zeldner, is the director of brand strategy.  See more about the family and its business here.

Be a Butterfly. Attendees will pose for pictures behind the cut-out California dogface butterfly banner from the Bohart Museum. They also will see Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas' macro images of the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. The California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, is the state insect, as designated by State Legislature in 1972. The butterfly is found only in California from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to the Coast Ranges and from Sonoma south to San Diego. Its habitat also includes Gates Canyon, Vacaville. The male butterfly, which sports a yellow silhouette of a dog's head on its wings, is known as "the flying pansy." The female is mostly solid yellow except for a single black spot on its upper wings. 

Beekeeper Ettamarie Peterson holds a handful of newly emerged honey bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. She will display a bee observation hive (glassed-in) at the Vacaville Children's Museum Party on Aug. 8. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

"I have decided I do not want to be the queen bee because she never ever gets to smell the flowers!" the Petaluma resident said. "I would much rather be a worker bee! The queen bee has a short life which I have already avoided, of course, and plan on many more years in the garden."

Ettamarie, in her eighth decade, is a retired teacher who taught school for 37 years, has kept bees for 30 years, and has volunteered as the leader of a 4-H beekeeping project for the past 25 years. 

A worker bee, she is!

The Vacaville Museum Children's Party, open to Vacaville children between the ages of 3 and 9, will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the museum courtyard at 213 Buck Ave., Vacaville. Tickets, limited to 250, are $3 for children (same price for adults accompanying them). Tickets must be purchased at the museum on Thursdays through Saturdays between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. 

Coordinators Pamela King and Diana McLaughlin said the event, themed "Fun on the Farm," will include Grange animals (including goats, rabbits, chickens and a donkey), a walk-around Mother Goose, face-painting, and a ring toss with a hobby horse named Trigger (the work of Peter Shull and Georganne Gebers), Among the many other activities, the youngsters will create sand art jars, craft paper crowns, plant seeds in a take-home container, and pose for photos behind a Bohart Museum of Entomology dogface butterfly cutout banner.  Lunch, on the house, will include hog dogs, popcorn, chips, cookies and water.

But back to Ettamarie Peterson. 

“I started beekeeping before I retired in 1998 from 37 years of teaching,” she said.  “My teaching career was mostly in special education, following a few years teaching second and first grade. I became one of the first resource teachers in California back in 1980 after getting my master's degree in special education."

Active in the beekeeping industry, Ettamarie has served as president and treasurer of Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association (SCBA) "for many years" and edits the  SCBA newsletter, The Monthly Extractor. 

She loves "talking bees." She shows her glassed-in bee observation hive at schools and other venues. She collects swarms for her Liberty 4-H Club beekeepers. "I got involved in 4-H when my son wanted his daughters to learn how to keep bees,” she recalled.  “They are both parents now so I am hoping to teach the three great-grandsons, too!" 

Her interests also include bee photography, raising chickens, growing vegetables. and planting flowers “for the bees and butterflies. My granddaughter and I have a special garden in front of my house for bees and butterflies."

Ettamarie is also a longtime friend and supporter of UC Davis. She delivered a tribute to the late Eric Mussen (1946-2022), a 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty.

She and her husband, Ray (a non-beekeeper), enjoy life on the Peterson Ranch. "We've been married for 65 years and have 3 children, 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren! What a wonderful life I have!” 

Just don't call her a queen bee, please. She'd rather be a worker bee!

Beekeeper-scientist Randy Oliver shows bees to the group. Ettamarie Peterson is in the foreground. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It was the third day of the Western Apicultural Society's 40th annual conference, and Oliver was there to show beekeepers how to determine the levels of Nosema or Varroa mite infection in their hives. He brought along his microscope, his  four decades worth of beekeeping experience, and his humor.

His credentials: He owns and operates a small commercial beekeeping enterprise in the foothills of Grass Valley, Northern California. He and his two sons manage approximately 1000 colonies for migratory pollination, and they produce queens, nucs and honey.

Oliver holds two university degrees (BS) and master's (MS), specializing in entomology.

He is an avid scientist. He researches, analyzes and digests beekeeping information from all over the world in order not only to broaden his own depth of understanding and knowledge, but to develop practical solutions to many of today's beekeeping problems. He then shares that information with other beekeepers through his bee journal articles, worldwide speaking engagements and on his website, www.scientificbeekeeping.com. Oliver says on his website, "This is not a 'How You Should Keep Bees' site; rather, I'm a proponent of 'Whatever Works for You' beekeeping." He is never without a research project; he collaborates with the nation's leading bee scientists, and is a stickler for data. "I'm a 'data over dogma' guy, and I implore my readers to correct me on any information at this website that is out of date or not supported by evidence."

But back to his presentation. Got bees? Yes.

Oliver calmly reached into a hive and brought out a handful of nurse bees (the foragers were out foraging) as Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association newsletter editor Ettamarie Peterson watched. A longtime beekeeper and 4-H leader, she owns Peterson's Farm, Petaluma, a certified bee friendly farm. She marveled at the bees on his hand.

Seeking to share the bee-utiful bees, Oliver handed them over to her as photographers chronicled the encounter.

"See, they don't sting!" he said.

They did not. Here's proof!