The Buzz Newsletter

Page 12

Featured Beekeeper
of the Month

This month our featured beekeeper is Tova Jessen. She is another participant in our Youth Beekeeping Partnership Program. Tova is the oldest of six children in the Jessen household. Her parents are Tim and Karen and they live at 34052 120th St., Mapleton, Iowa 51024.

Tova’s father is a contractor and wrestling coach and her mother is a homemaker and her teacher. Tova is home-schooled. The name of their school is Hossana Hall and she is a senior in high school and involved as the wrestling manager. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and talking on the internet MSN.

Tova has also been in 4-H for 8 years. Her favorite things in 4-H are being the historian and the county fair. After she graduates she plans to go to a massage therapy college in Sioux City and become a masseuse.

Cecilia Patterson is Tova’s mentor. She took her beekeeping training in Spencer along with her mother. They found it very helpful and interesting. Her Grandpa and Mother inspired her to keep bees. “My Grandpa kept bees until he found out he was allergic to them. He kept telling us how much fun he had so that made me decide it would be fun to do myself” says Tova.

“One of the interesting things that happened to me was that my hive made a queen cell. It was really cool to see a queen cell up close and personal. Also the bees really like my brother Isaac. He goes out and helps me sometimes and it seems like the bees just swarm to him. He has only gotten stung a couple of times! When he got stung the second time we put honey on it and the swelling didn’t get as bad as the first time he got stung. That was really cool that honey can do that. My future beekeeping plans are to have my parents take over the hive until after college until I have a place of my own. Then I will take them back and bee keep again.”

Thanks for your story.

Submitted by Ron Wehr

Detecting Foulbrood &
Varroa Mites

Beekeeping can be a wonderful experience. Weather you are a beginner with one or two hives, or a seasoned veteran managing one or two thousand, there is always something new to learn. For the beginner or intermediate beekeeper, just keeping the bees alive is often a lesson learned the hard way. Both Foulbrood and Varroa Mites will wreak havoc on a hive if left unchecked. In Detecting Foulbrood & Varroa Mites we follow beekeeper Phil Ebert as he examines beehives for Foulbrood and Varroa Mites. Learning to identify these two afflictions is a must for the health of the hive and an enjoyable beekeeping experience.

Introductory  DVD offer $15.00
Make checks  payable to: Iowa Honey Producers Association
Send orders  to:
The Buzz
c/o Phil  Ebert
14808 102nd  Ave. E.
Lynnville,  IA 50153