Meet

Your Instructors

where fun & education collide

JULIA COMMON, BSc & MSc Agriculture, Owner of Bees Actually, former Chief Beekeeper of Hives for Humanity

Julia Common is a BCHPA certified instructor, the BC Regional Director of the Western Apicultural Society, and a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists.  Julia has been involved in beekeeping since her university days. What started as a summer job became first a hobby and later a career. From 2012 through to 2019 she acted as Chief Beekeeper for Vancouver-based society Hives for Humanity, which she co-founded along with her daughter Sarah Common.

Urban beekeeping has led her to a number of epiphanies concerning the health and welfare of both bees and humans. She’s passionate about bees, teaching & life, and her courses stress the basic concepts of individual and colony biology, demonstrating how an understanding of these fundamentals can become the cornerstone of practical apiary management.

Since her retirement from Hives for Humanity, Julia has turned her focus to bee health and research through her new endeavour Bees Actually, started in 2020.

 

Check out some photos from the hands-in-the-hive mentorship series!