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Featured Beekeeper of the Month

This month’s featured beekeeper is Gordon Powell. He and his wife Beverly live in Des Moines, Iowa and operate Autumn Apiaries Inc. I should also mention his granddaughter, Ellie, who we have watched grow up at the Iowa Honey Producers Meetings.

Gordon tells me he grew up keeping bees with his mother during WWII, and had his first hive of bees when he was 12. He found a bee tree and got his oldest brother to help him get the bees using a screen wire cone. At the height of his beekeeping career Gordon had 175 hives and provided pollination services and honey to sell at a large orchard near Norwalk. They sold mostly liquid honey, but did produce some comb honey, creamed honey and beeswax. Even though he has so much fun beekeeping, Gordon says now he only keeps 15 to 20 hives for pleasure and to provide honey to give to friends and family. Gordon and Bev have sold bee equipment for hobbyist and package bees and queens for about 25 years. They enjoy meeting other beekeepers and helping other people get started in beekeeping.

Gordon has some interesting plans after here retires. He tells me he plans to travel and see the rest of America he hasn’t seen and go to Alaska on June 20th some year to see the sun never set. Now that’s too long a day Gordon.

Gordon belongs to the Central Iowa Beekeepers Association. He was present at the first meeting in June 1971. There were 12 people present now there are less 6 members of the original group living. CIBA has an annual auction and promotes beekeeping by pooling orders for queens and supplies. Gordon’s role is to attend the meetings and voice his opinion about various matters that come before the membership.

In IHPA Gordon serves as treasurer and assists with the Iowa State Fair and the Clay County Fair.

I can’t believe it, but Gordon says he is just a novice beekeeper and doesn’t have any interesting experiences to tell me about.

Thanks for your story Gordon. It’s always interesting to know what other people have done with this industry and you know why I wrote your story!

Submitted by Ron Wehr

For Sale:
Dadant 12 frame extractor, $500;
Chain uncapper, $400;
600# SS tank with lid and gate valve, $150;
Dadant mini melter, $200;
Also many shallow supers with comb,
large solar wax melter and lots of miscellaneous.

Contact Dave Clark in Monroe 641-259-2630

Summer Field Day

Date: Saturday, July 17, 2004
Time: 9:00 to 3:00 (?)
Place: The North Central Region Plant Introduction Station in Ames.
In the morning and after lunch there will be the following topics or workshops meeting at the station.

• Non-Apis Pollinators – Steve Hanlin
• Mead making – Presenter TBA
• Comb honey production – Presenter TBA
• Small/Hobbyist Beekeeper – Presenter TBA
- What type of equipment can be used and cost.
- Solar wax melters and how to use them.
- Equipment used for extracting.

In the afternoon there will be a group discussion on “where to buy and sell bee equipment and bees locally”. For questions contact Steve Hanlin at (515) 294-1936 or sjhanlin@iastate.edu

Directions:
-Travel to Ames.
-Take the highway 30 exit and travel on 30 (ISU Campus).
-Take either the Elwood Dr. exit or the Dakota Ave. exit.

-Elwood Dr.
-Travel north on Elwood to the first stoplight (Mortensen Rd.)
-Turn left (west) on Mortensen Rd. and travel until you come to a 4-way stop sign (State St.)
-Turn left at the stop sign and then turn right into the station.

-Dakota Ave.
-Travel north on South Dakota to the first stop-light.
-Turn right on Mortensen Rd. and travel until you come to the 4-way stop sign (State St.).
-Turn right on State St. and then right into the station.

-You can either park in the front of the main building or in the southern parking lot and come through the main front door.

A Day In The Field –
From Northwest Iowa

On June fifth Bill Eickholt, John Johnson, and Jim Strachan held a field day for the class of beginning beekeepers from Northwest Iowa. Dwight Rutter provided the location and the bees for the event. The Bee Gods were smiling on us that day. We drove in light rain most of the way there that morning. By afternoon the sun came out with nice temperatures and a slight breeze. Perfect weather to work with the bees. We had about fifteen attend. Bill, John and I each opened separate hives with the new beekeepers split to observe. Each person was able to find the queen, drones, workers, capped brood, young larvae, and eggs. We answered many questions. The weather in Northwest Iowa has been quite cool so there was very little food for the bees. We stressed the importance of feeding in situations like that. On the way back John commented on how much later the season is there compared to the Ames area.

Submitted by Jim Strachan