The Buzz Newsletter

March 2010

 

 

Page 6

IHPA Members Attend ABF Convention in Orlando

Several Iowa Honey Producers Association members attended the American Beekeeping Federation meeting held in Orlando, FL from January 12th through the 16th, 2010.  Here is a photo of the Iowa delegation.  Those in the photo are Mike and Donna Brahms, Bill and Louise Johnson, David and Darlene Hayes, American Honey Queen Diane Jurchen, Iowa Honey Queen Shiliah Spaudling, Lois Spaulding, Cecilia Patterson, LuAnn.   Not present for the photo but attending the meeting were Manley and Linda Bigalk.

Submitted by Donna Brahms

 

Beekeeper's Record & Journal

The following was reprinted with the permission of the estate of Richard Taylor.
The material was taken from the book, “Beekeeper’s Record & Journal”,
Text by Richard Taylor, Designed and Illustrated by Cynthia Diamond.

Enjoy! Peggy Ennis IHPA Historian

March

The willows turn yellow, against the still grey background of the lakes and meadows, signaling the approach of spring.  Their roots are deep in the earth, where seasons are unknown, but the trees respond to the slowly increasing sunlight as winter reluctantly withdraw.  Now the precipitous skunk cabbages bust forth, contemptuous of the very real threat that winter still poses.  Those bleak skies are no bluff, and avalanches of snow are not only still possible, but very likely.  Still, we know, with the whole of nature, that we are at the threshold of spring.  The pollen that the bees are already bringing in on those rare warm days is the unmistakable harbinger.  Pollen is food for the bees, but to the plants whose still inconspicuous blossoms yield it; it is the generation of new life.  Everywhere that life begins to stir again.  It was never really still.  It was only relaxed, and somewhat concealed by the overwhelming snow.  This month it begins to reassert itself.

There is sealed brood in those hives, lots of it.  The bees have not been waiting.  Even a few drones may have been started, in anticipation of swarming, when there will be new queens in the air eager to mate.

But March in not a very safe month for the bees.  If the beekeeper was too greedy in his harvesting in the fall, now is when the bees are most likely to feel it.  A thousand hungry larvae can consume very quickly what stores there are, and the bees, desperate to keep alive those young on which the destiny of the colony rests, forge everywhere for whatever trace of nectar of pollen they can find.  If you put a few pounds of dry white sugar on the inner cover of a hungry colony you can usually ward off starvation.  The bees will gather moisture to dissolve it, and thereby save the day, until enough dandelions bloom to put them back upon the secure dependence of nature.

Spring is coming fast.  The bees are determined to fulfill their role, which is to fill the air with swarms, thereby ensuring that not just the colony, but the species itself, will survive.  For them, gathering honey is only the means to this.  But the beekeeper is ready to fulfill his role, too, which is to subtly trick the bees into pouring all their energy into honey getting, and somehow avoid even the preparations for swarming.

Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor was born 1919 and passed away October 30, 2003 in New York.
He earned his PhD at Brown University and taught principally at Brown University, Columbia, and University of Rochester.

He was an American Philosopher, renowned for his dry wit and his contributions to Metaphysics. Although it is well known he was a philosopher – he was far better known as a beekeeper.  It is often said – I have never met a beekeeper who has not heard of Richard Taylor. He owned 300 hives and from 1970 produced mostly comb honey. His significant contributions to beekeeping are authoring many books on beekeeping - among these are the two; “The comb Honey Book” and “The Joys of Beekeeping”, and regularly writing articles for bee journals.

His near legendary honey stand at the roadside in front of his country home operated on the honor system, secured only by gentle solicitations to honesty posted on its walls.

                                                                          to “bee” continued next month……