The Buzz Newsletter

October 2004

 

 

Page 4

Featured Beekeeper of the Month

This month’s featured beekeeper is Bill Pepper. He and his wife, Sharon, live in Swisher, Iowa and operate Bee-A-Pepper Apiary. Bill writes this story.

I became interested in bees as a young boy, as both of my grandfathers were beekeepers. My father had several books on bees and always talked about starting a few hives, however, he could not tolerate bee stings and decided not to keep bees.

It wasn’t until 1997 that I really got interested in trying my hand at beekeeping. I decided to take the beginning bee classes at the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, after talking with Russ Swenson, a good friend. Russ was teaching the classes at the Indian Creek Center at the time and invited me to visit the beginning class to see what it was all about. Well, it didn’t take long for me to see that this is something I wanted to try. I started out with one hive and over the next several years have tried to maintain three hives as a hobby beekeeper.

My best year was in 2002 when I extracted 30 gallons of honey from three hives. Last year was somewhat of a disappointment. I started into the fall with three strong hives and lost one before winterizing the hives in November. Then when I went to check the bees in late March, I found all the bees in the remaining hives had died during the late winter. I was able to get some extra bees from Russ Swenson and after ordering a new queen I was back in business.

After the experience of losing all of my hives, it feels great to be an active beekeeper again. I really enjoy working with the bees, assembling and repairing hive ware and being able to share the fruits of the bee’s labor with family, neighbors and friends. I have learned from my past experiences that keeping bees is a continual learning process and that I need to work at increasing my hive management skills. I have tried to stay actively involved with other fellow beekeepers by volunteering to help at the Indian Creek Nature Center Honey Fest, working in the apiary area at the Iowa State Fair and through my membership in the IHPA. My goal for this coming year is to become involved in a local beekeepers group and to attend the annual IHPA conference.

This past year we were blessed with the arrival of our first grandchild, Jaxson Jones. I tell everyone that Jaxson is one of the future beekeepers of America. I can only hope that my interest and enthusiasm in beekeeping, that began with my grandfather’s and father will have an influence on Jaxson.

Submitted by Ron Wehr