The Buzz Newsletter

March 2010

 

 

Page 8

Back to Basics Bee Club Scholarships

Back to Basics Bee Club has awarded their ten scholarships to the following youth, Madeline Webb, Darby Bean, Cody Leydens, Kendal Marshall, Lyman Marshall, Bracken Taylor, Logan Kates, Mason Ogbourne, Jessica Loftis, and Hayden Hostetler. The applicants had to attend and successfully complete the beginning beekeeping classes, give a short progress report during the year at two Back to Basics meetings, keep a written record complete with dates, photos, and other pertinent data to assist in sharing the scholar’s bee keeping experience with others, successfully keep a colony of bees throughout the year, present a final report to the Back to Basics Bee Club at the October meeting.

They will receive: woodenware consisting of three medium hive bodies with frames and foundation, bottom board, inner cover, and a top cover, a three pound package of bees, smoker, hive tool, hat and veil, and gloves. They will also have a mentor they can use throughout the year, and a one year membership to the Iowa Honey Producers Association.

The grant was funded in part by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the USDA Specialty Crops Grant, and the Iowa State University Extension, Marion Co. If you have any questions give me a call.

Thank you,
Craig Greene 641-842-2112

Are You a Beekeeper?

With the long winter and snow, I could use a bit of humor. We found ourselves relating to many of these, maybe you do too!!

The following is from John’s Beekeeping Notebook http://www.outdoorplace.org/beekeeping.  Content from John’s Beekeeping Notebook may be used for any non-commercial purpose except internet duplication, providing the source is acknowledged.  Created by John Caldeira; Dallas Texas, USA john@outdoorplace.org.     Thanks John!!

You know you’re a beekeeper when….

By John Caldeira; with contributions from many others.

The windshield of your vehicle has at least two yellow dots on it.

You have answers ready for questions about Africanized bees and the value of local honey in preventing allergies.

You eagerly await the phone call from the post office asking you to pleasecome pick up your bees.

You check out all the honey labels and prices at the supermarket.

You’ve gone through the supermarket checkout line buying nothing more than a big load of sugar, and maybe some Crisco.

You’ve estimated just how much money you spent to control mites.

You pick up matches at restaurants, even though you don’t smoke.

Your friends and neighbors think you are the answer to every swarm and bees-in-the-wall problem.

You are keenly aware of the first and last freezes of each winter.

There is propolis on the steering wheel of your vehicle and the bottom of your boots.

There is a bucket of something in your garage that can only be good for smoker fuel.

You are called “the Bee man”, or “the Bee Lady” by a lot of people who don’t know your name.

You know the bloom period of more local flowers that the state horticulturist.

You welcome a rainy weekend if it will stimulate nectar production.

You don’t mind driving home with a few honey bees inside your vehicle.

Your family and friends know exactly what they’re going to get for Christmas.

You don’t mow the lawn because the bees are working the weeds.

You drive down a road and find yourself evaluating the roadside flowers for their honey producing potential.

You pull over and check the bees on the wildflowers just to see if they are YOUR bees, AND – you can tell the difference.

You come home smelling like a camp fire, and you haven’t been camping.

You saw “Ulee’s Gold” and didn’t think there were enough shots of the bees.

You overhear your 9 year old daughter explaining to her friends how to tie a trucker’s hitch.

The school principal calls to ask that you never again let your child take a drone tied with a thread to school for show and tell.

Your never stop marveling at these wonderful creatures.

Excerpts from the above list were published in American Bee Journal (December. 1998), which prompted the following responses from readers:

You know you’re married  to a beekeeper when……

You spend at least one day a week on your hands and knees with a sharp knife scraping wax and propolis off your kitchen floor.

You’ve ever used bee boxes as furniture in your house, for coffee tables, chairs, night stands, and storage boxes.

You mow around mountains of bee equipment that never seems to make it to the barn. 

You plan wedding, child birth, surgery and funerals around honey extracting time

When buying a new truck, your spouse checks weight loads and measures the bed to see how many hives he can fit in it.

You get stung by the bee that was clinging to your husband’s bee suit when you picked it up to wash it.

Submitted by Peggy Ennis
IHPA Historian