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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter July 2007 |
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Greetings from the President of the IHPA Dear Honey Producers, We have had a new development at our house since the last letter I wrote for this publication. We received 7 inches of rain overnight on May 24th and we spent the entire Memorial Day week-end going up and down our basement stairs! We had water come up through our drain in the bathroom. Now I question why we finished the basement. We had to remove the carpet and pad from the main family room, plus all of the "stuff". One thing it has done is made me do some deep cleaning and I can say that two trailer loads of things were thrown away. We have to remove the bottom part of the drywall in two rooms because of mold. I don't think that we will have time to work on getting it back to normal until fall. I am getting accustomed to the new look and the furniture is all on one side of the basement so it looks large again. Now that we had so much rain, we need rain again. We have missed any of the rain lately and the top soil is extremely dry and the cracks in the ground are very visible. Wouldn't it be nice to just have a "normal" season again. Beekeeping has become and extremely challenging hobby around here. I went to put supers on some of our strongest colonies a couple weeks ago. I was noticing the great array of flowers blooming and was getting excited about the prospect of honey. As I drove up through the orchard, I wondered why I wasn't seeing any honey bees flying. I got out of the pick up, put on my veil and gloves and then I got a real surprise. Not a single bee was to be found in any of the colonies. That brings me to the next item. Not all of the information that is being talked about on television newscasts, newspaper and magazine articles and radio information shows is correct. The experts still don't know for sure what is causing the honey bee problems. I get asked at all five of the markets that I go to about the problem with honey bees. Some of the questions concern the cell phone report, some just ask what are we going to do about getting enough honey. I answer with, even though we enjoy honey, the most critical aspect of all of this is the lack of pollination. Most people don't even think about the pollination and the necessary work by honey bees to help provide our food. I am still getting calls for interviews from publications. At least we are getting attention. If you would like information concerning CCD, please go to the Penn State website. They are leading the nation on research for this matter. We are still needing members, family and friends to help in the Iowa Honey Producers Association sales booth during the Iowa State Fair. Please let me know if you could work a shift or two for us. We need at least 21 people a day for the entire 11 days of the fair. I will be contacting people soon. We have some slots filling up. If you want a specific day or time, let me know soon. Thanks to some volunteers we should have enough help to renovate the IHPA spot in the Ag building at the fairgrounds. We have had several volunteer to help. If you would like to help, let me know. We are still interested in ideas and suggestions. I need to get things ready for my Farmers' Market, so I better get going. Have a safe 4th of July holiday and keep our military personnel in your thoughts and prayers. Remember, we have members of the IHPA in the military. BEE Safe out there. Sincerely, IHPA Award Nominations It is time to think of who should receive one of the Awards that the IHPA presents at the Annual Meeting banquet. Please review the categories and submit your suggestions along with a short letter explaining why you feel that this candidate should receive an award. The categories that we present are as follows: 1. Pioneer Award- for having been involved for 50 years or more and still active in beekeeping. 2. Distinguished Service Award- for assisting other beekeepers, willing to share information, and /or serving the association. 3. Education Award- teaching beekeeping classes, speaking at service clubs, giving presentations to school children or speaking about beekeeping on radio or T.V. 4. Promotions Award- for promoting honey and beekeeping, promotions for the state association or promoting their own product. 5. Friendship Award- for being a friend of the association. This could be someone who has displayed at the annual IHPA trade show, a state official who has assisted or encouraged beekeeping, someone outside our industry producing honey. 6. Youth Award- for a young person who has shown commendable involvement in such things as helping the state fair, successfully keeping bees for at least one season including wintering, writing, making a float for a parade, speaking, etc. If you would like to nominate someone, please send the information to me by the deadline of September 1st. : Donna Brahms
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