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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter October 2007 |
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Featured Beekeeper This month our featured beekeepers are John and his wife LuAnn Reese and their daughter Megan. They live at Laurens, Iowa. Megan’s Hunny is the name of their business and they market honey and wax.
John and Megan stand next to one of their hives. Megan “wanted something different for a FFA project”. John writes, “My daughter Megan wanted something different for a FFA project. She wanted to do honey bees. A long time friend and beekeeper Melvin Runnenberg got us started and made it possible. In the spring of 2004 Megan got two hives. In June one swarmed out, and 1 produced about 40 lbs. In 2005 Megan purchased four 2-pound packages, two swarmed and 2 produced 350 pounds of honey. Megan wintered 2. By the spring of 2006 the two wintered hives produced 1 nuc and she bought 5 packages putting us to 8 hives. Some did well, some swarmed, and some produced 750 pounds of honey. Fall of 2006 wintered 6, all survived. Spring of 2007 Megan graduated from High School and was out of beekeeping, but I was hooked on beekeeping so I bought 5 packages, made splits, and ended up with 15 hives. 20007 started slow, looks fair. It is fun to work with one of nature’s finest achievements.” John also tells me he loves the outdoors, hunting and fishing. Beekeeping is just another way to enjoy the outdoors, and since he does a lot of woodworking he makes a lot of his own bee equipment. His future plans are to have 25 colonies and market honey locally.
John Reese and his daughter Megan show us their extracting station. John is the newly elected vice president of the Northwest Iowa Bee Association (NWIBA). The group tries to meet monthly to support each other as well as have beekeeping classes.
Thanks for your story. It’s always interesting to hear other’s stories about how they got “hooked” on beekeeping. Submitted by Ron Wehr
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