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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter January 2006 |
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Greetings from the President of the IHPA Dear Honey Producers; Another year is upon us, 2006. I don’t think I will make any New Year’s resolutions, but I do want to see if I can improve on a few things. I am one that sometimes procrastinates and I want to see if that can improve with this new year. I have good intentions, but something always gets in the way of progress! My life is full of little incidents that change my plans for the day. A phone call, a please come help me plea, a request for more honey, someone wants me to talk to a group, the list is endless. I never get the things done that I plan to do on a given day. I usually get plenty done, just not what I had planned on doing. So it goes with beekeeping. Good intentions are put in place at the beginning of the year. I am going to keep better records, I am going to make creamed honey more often, I am going to keep track of containers and supplies better. Does any of this sound familiar? I hope that I am not alone. Winter makes a great time to repair wooden ware and replace comb. It also is a time to get caught up on all the past magazines that went unread during the hectic summer schedule. I guess the winter months give me time to relax a little. Not as many craft shows or farmers’ markets to go to, but I should be making more candles and working on my inventory. It is too nice to come home after work and not think about the busy time I will have in the spring, summer and fall. We had the first board meeting with some new officers and directors. Please feel free to contact any of us if there is something that you wish to be done this year. We can’t do what the membership wants unless we know what specifically is needed or wanted. We would like to change the field day and want your input. What topics would you like to see covered or what would you suggest we do to get more participation? We have a vast array of knowledge in our membership, but we need to have volunteers to help. Would you like to be on a committee for the Iowa Honey Producers? Contact the chairman of the committee you would like to be on so we can have some well-rounded input and get the information that the honey producers of the state want. A list of committees and chairs is elsewhere in the BUZZ. Don’t forget to register your hive locations with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) for protection against pesticide spraying. When you register your bee yards, the commercial pesticide applicators are responsible for contacting you when they are going to spray in the area of your hives. They yard locations need to be registered each year. It is for your protection and the good of your bee hives. Remember to order queens and packages as early as possible. Check the ads in the BUZZ for local Iowa beekeepers purchasing queens in quantity or selling packages. If you received a certificate for free queens at the Annual Meeting, don’t forget to redeem it. You might also wish to check in the American Bee Journal or Bee Culture for other ads. Plan ahead. We had some very favorable comments about the speakers for the Annual Meeting. Thanks to all who filled out the evaluation forms. The information has been tabulated and is a basis for planning the next meeting. A lucky beekeeper will be chosen from the list of those that turned in completed evaluations for free registration at next year’s annual meeting. We will draw the winning name at the next board meeting. “Bee” Creative in planning for the new beekeeping year. Sincerely,
The Buzz Newsletter Submissions Please send submissions, classified ads, and photos
to Alex W. Ebert by email to TheBuzz@ABuzzAboutBees.com The Buzz is a monthly newsletter published by the Iowa Honey Producers Association which is an affiliate of the Iowa State Horticultural Society. IHPA Membership is only $10 annually. To join IHPA and receive your complimentary member subscription to The Buzz Newsletter, please contact:
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