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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter April 2005 |
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Book Review One of my customers gave me this book. She got it from the local library. They gave it to her because no one ever checked it out. I loved it. It is the story of John and Cecilia Hendricks homesteading in Wyoming from 1917 to 1934. They were beekeepers. Cecilia had been an English professor at Indiana University and wrote almost daily letters home to her family. The book is a collection of her letters. John had served in the Spanish-American War and had been wounded in the groin. As a young man, he was forced to use a cane and later in life a crutch. John proposed to Cecilia by letter when she was in her early thirties. She couldn’t remember who he was. Finally he won her over. They left Bloomington, Indiana, for Powell, Wyoming. This book made two big impressions on me. The first was how hard they worked. They farmed the ground, built their own house, grew most of their own food and kept around 600 colonies of bees. The second was that their beekeeping problems were the same as mine. They had competition from cheap foreign honey, they needed better breeding stock and they needed better markets. Initially, they moved their bees with a horse and wagon. Later they had a Model T truck. There is a picture in the book with the truck loaded up with deep supers stacked six high. Crutch or not, John was a still a stud. They prospered until the late 20’s. As the depression deepened, Cecilia was forced to return to teaching in Indiana in 1934. John remained on the farm in Wyoming. They saw each other during holidays and school vacations. John passed away in 1936. He was 62, an old man for the time. This book provides a great picture of some self sufficient people when times were a lot different. One of their big treats was riding the train to Billings and going to the drug store. It’s not a book about beekeeping but it provides a nice backdrop to the story. Submitted by Phil Ebert
IMPORTANT IHPA DATES TO REMEMBER April 23, 2005 CIBA Auction Harry Hunter’s - Des Moines July 16, 2005 Field Day - Ames Plant Introduction Station July 16, 2005 Board Meeting – Ames Aug. 11-21,2005 Iowa State Fair - Des Moines State Fairgrounds Sept. 24, 2005 Board Meeting - Des Moines Nov. 17, 2005 Board Meeting Marshalltown Nov. 18 & 19, 2005 Annual Meeting Marshalltown If you have a date that needs to be added to the list, contact the editor of the BUZZ: thebuzz@abuzzaboutbees.com
North Iowa Bee Club Meeting The North Iowa Bee Club met Saturday afternoon, February 12th, at the Pat and Peggy Ennis home. This was only their second meeting but they plan on having another one in April.
Arvin Foell started off demonstrating the do's
and don'ts of putting together frames, cross wiring, and installing
foundation. Thank's to Donna Young, who inheirited an electric
wire embedder she had never used, we all learned how it worked
together.
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