The Buzz Newsletter

July 2005

 

 

Page 1

Greetings from the President of the IHPA

Dear Iowa Honey Producers;

This week has been extremely busy for me. All the Farmers’ Markets that I attend are now in full swing. As I was driving to Des Moines thinking about what to put in this article, I was passed by a semi with the following saying. It said: We the dedicated, Do the impossible, For the ungrateful. I started thinking that this could apply to several situations. The segment of our population that comes to mind right now is the consumer of fruits and vegetables. Most grocery shoppers take it for granted that the foods that they want to purchase will be in the store. We, as Beekeepers, know that without the work of the honey bees there would be one third less. We are keepers of an invisible ingredient in the food chain. Without food, water and pollination food cannot get to the grocery store. We can all work to get the information out to the public. The national news also helped us get the plight of the honey bee out to the consumer by telling about the mite situation. We need to continue the story when asked by interested people.

We have good news. Thanks to the hard work put forth by this organization, we have an inspection program in place to begin in July. The legislature appropriated a budget of $40,000.00 for the Apiary Inspection Program to be administered by the Department of Agriculture. In the early stages of the budget process, the IDALS budget was approved with the Apiary money in it and then it was removed when fine tuning occurred. We lobbied again and Senator Black made sure that the Apiary inspection money was in place and the budget passed with the inspection budget line-itemed. If you happen to see your Senator or Representative out and about this summer, please thank them for the Iowa Honey Producers. Contact IDALS to set up an appointment with the Apiary inspectors. Let’s keep our fingers (and toes) crossed that this will not be an ongoing battle.

It is time to set up scheduling for the Iowa State Fair. Please contact me if you are able to work at the fair. I am anticipating the weather will continue to be a little cooler than normal. With that in mind, we could need more workers than usual. The fairgoers seem to really turn out in large numbers if the weather is cooler. The sign-up information is located elsewhere in the BUZZ.

I hope everyone is having a bumper crop of honey this year. We have so much white Dutch clover in our yard that Mike decided not to mow for a couple weeks. We also have lots of sweet clover around and farmer’s that don’t mow their alfalfa very often. Makes for great tasting honey. Don’t miss the deadlines for entries at the fair. We need to show the public that we are “alive” and working on any problems facing our industry. Lots of people come to the fair to see the entries and the observation hives, purchase honey and of course get the best tasting honey lemonade on the fairgrounds. Let’s not disappoint the Iowa public. Rumor has it that the Iowa Honey Queen and our local Queens will be attending most days.

Thanks to Iowa Honey Queen, Teresa, for attending the Farm Bureau Teacher’s Academy in Marshalltown. I went to the one in Neola and am always amazed at the positive response that I get from the teachers.

Enjoy the summer activities, but don’t overdo it. We have a busy fall ahead of us.

Sincerely,
Donna Brahms, IHPA President

 

 

The Buzz Newsletter Submissions

Please send submissions, classified ads, and photos to Alex W. Ebert by email to TheBuzz@ABuzzAboutBees.com
or by mail to The Buzz, c/o Phil Ebert, 14808 S. 102nd Ave. E., Lynnville, IA 50153.
The deadline for submissions to The Buzz is the 15th of each month.

Gordon Powell, IHPA Treasurer

4012 54th St.

Des Moines, IA 50310

Phone : (515) 278-1762