 |
Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter February 2006 |
 |
|
Please Welcome the 2006 Iowa Honey Queen
January 2006 Another year has come and gone along with the Annual Meeting held in Marshalltown. All of those who attended can attest when I say it was a weekend worth while. Many ideas were tossed around and tips passed down including the reign of the Iowa Honey Queen. During the banquet, I was crowned the 2006 Iowa Honey Queen. For those who don’t know me, I will give you a brief background. My name is Elizabeth Macken and I live on a small acreage outside of Readlyn. For those who care to know, our town phrase is “857 Friendly People and 1 Old Grump”! I attend Wapsie Valley High School were I am currently a senior. During the school year I am involved in various activities including dance team, golf, FFA, class Vice President, and working the sports concession stand for athletic events. Outside of school I am involved in piano, youth group, LYO board member, and the Rainbow Clovers 4-H club. I also work at the local Boy Scout camp during the summer and at the Iowa State Fair. After graduation I plan to attend college during the fall either at the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, or Central College majoring in Anthropology. I began raising bees in May 2004 as an SAE project through FFA. After learning some intriguing facts about these insects, I was hooked. I bought a single hive from Ken Nuss. He and Al Buenning have been influential mentors through out this whole process. They taught me a lot about bee keeping basics but that wasn’t enough. There are some things that can only be learned through trial and error such as preventing swarms and remaining calm after being stung. Though things didn’t always go as planned, there were never any terminal problems, thank God. By the end of my first season I extracted 37 pounds. Looking back, even though it was not a lot of honey, I am just glad it was a pleasurable learning experience that I was able to earn some money from. The winter season passed smoothly and the next honey season was about to start. My original hive had become so strong that I decided to make a split, not once, but twice. My dad also got into the beekeeping business. On our acreage, we had a combined total of four hives, two each. At this time I joined the newly formed NE Iowa Honey Producers club and was also elected to represent the NE District. It is nice to be able to have a “support system” especially if you are a newbie. To say the least, this past year wasn’t the most pleasant when it came to working with my hive. It was definitely a learning season focused on how to work with an aggressive hive. Though the bees weren’t the most fun to work with, I was amazed at how well they did at the end of the honey season. By the time I extracted, I collected 151 pounds from only my original hive. Beekeeping is a hobby or career where one can never know what to expect or know all there is to know. I am excited to be able to represent Iowa as I continue to learn more from others and share what I have learned. I look forward to seeing you through out this upcoming year. Until then, keep warm and enjoy this short break. Sincerely, Elizabeth Macken February 2006 Winter is almost over so it is time to start taking an inventory check which includes plans for the upcoming season. This was one of the topics of discussion at the NE Iowa Honey Producers meeting. It was the first meeting of the year for this new group and 28 people showed up. Of them, there were several people who came to see if beekeeping was something they would be interested in starting. Ironically enough, the topic that we talked the most about was disease. That’s a sure fire way to get their attention! After thoroughly confusing our guests, the focus
of the meeting switched to starting up a new hive. We were taught
several ways to which a queen can be introduced along with the
pros and cons of each method. They even provided us with a visual
demonstration of how it should be done. Sincerely,
|
|
|
 |