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Greetings from the President

Another month, Another President’s message. I’ll let you figure out when this was written. I’m sure it won’t be too hard to figure though, because I am writing about the Annual Meeting.

The 99th Annual Meeting of the Iowa Honey Producers Association is complete and I heard comments from many people saying this may have been the best one yet. I’m not sure about that because looking back there has been some pretty good ones. One thing that I am sure of though, when people attend as many meetings as Kim Flottum or Jerry Hayes say that “You have something Special here” or “Something to be Proud of” you can believe them.

Having an exceptional meeting like the one that just took place, doesn’t just happen and it can’t be attributed to any one person. It is the collective effort of a lot of good people. An Efficient Registration, Interesting Silent Auction, Well Run Program, Informative Speakers, Productive Youth Program, Delicious Cooking and Photo Contest, Entertaining Banquet, Appreciative Awards, Lucrative Queen Auction, Historical Display, and a Well Filled Vendor Room. I may have missed a few things but you get the point.

The one link in the chain that I didn’t forget but left off this list is the Iowa State Fair Sales Booth, our manager, Donna Brahms has expressed to us in no uncertain terms that there is a problem here. If you were at the Fair and worked at the booth or didn’t, let me know what you think about your experience. I guess I should review the issues raised. Approximately $300.00 worth of unused admission tickets and left over pretzels because the lack of volunteers to be able to give out samples of honey. The income from the State Fair Sales Booth has been consistent to increasing so the work is getting done but that burden may be falling onto a small portion of the membership. Again, I would like to say that if you were at the State Fair and have comments and concerns please get in contact with me by phone, e-mail cbronny823@aol.com or even an old fashioned hand written letter. If you didn’t work a shift at the Fair and are unhappy with some aspect of our sales booth then I especially want to hear from you. Getting volunteer help to participate in an organizations fund raising event is a tough thing to do but I’m certain it’s not a problem unique to the IHPA. I don’t like to preach and dwell on a negative issue so I’m done but again want to welcome any comments or suggestions on how to solve the problem. Pat gave you all who attended the annual meeting a chance to give comments and suggestions by attaching an evaluation form to the meeting schedule but I welcome any questions or concerns about how the meeting was run or any of the committees or programs of the IHPA.

The Annual Meeting, to me seems to be kind of the end of the year for IHPA activities, but that means it is time to look forward to hopefully the biggest year yet.

THE 2012 100TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR OF THE IHPA

I think it would be nice to have a Beekeeping Question and Answer section in the Buzz, so if you would like to submit a Question please e-mail to cbronny823@aol.com and use the Subject line Buzz Question and Answer. It will help me with ideas for subjects to write about for my Presidents Column.

Thank You.

Have Fun, Work Hard, and Bee Involved.

Curt Bronnenberg

2011 IHPA Awards

Sweepstakes was presented to Pat and Peggy Ennis. Herman Bickle Award was presented to Pat and Peggy Ennis. Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Beverly Powell, Doris Ramsey, and Duane and Melanie Bower. Education Awards were presented to John Johnson and Pat Ennis. Outstanding Youth Awards were presented to Renae and Greg Beard.

New IHPA Cookbook!

The cookbook is becoming a reality! I have received several recipes from members, so keep them coming. We will be accepting recipes until the end of January. Ideally this is a “slower” time for beekeepers, so we decided to extend our deadline to accommodate everyone having time to gather them, print them out and send them to us. The recipe form is on the website for your convenience or you can make copies of the form that was printed in the BUZZ. Please submit lots of recipes so we will have the best cookbook ever to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Iowa Honey Producers Association. Send recipes to Donna Brahms, Peggy Ennis, Julie Swett, Regina Hoy, Louise Johnson or Deb Nielson. [Recipe form is on page 8 of this issue.]

Honey Lemonade

Honey lemonade is a huge draw for any event. If you are interested in serving honey lemonade at your event, the IHPA has lemon juice to help you bring in the customers. The board decided that a case of 12-30 oz. cartons is $50.00 or if you prefer just a couple of 30 oz. cartons, the price is $5.00 each. The recipe is one-30 oz. carton of lemon juice, 26 to 28 oz of honey and enough water to make two gallons of lemonade. If you want to purchase some lemon juice, please contact Donna Brahms, (712) 778-4256 or (402) 677-2460 for phone numbers or email: mbrahms@netins.net The lemon juice is being stored in Mike and Donna’s freezers. We could use the room!