The Buzz Newsletter

September 2010

 

 

Page 12

Featured Beekeeper of the Month

This month our featured beekeeper is Matt Upah. He is participating in the Iowa Honey Producer mentor program. He lives with his sister, Kristen, and parents Tom and Janice Upah at Chelsea, Iowa. His family supports him with his project, however Kristen uses her camera on zoom because she doesn’t want to get too close.

Matt attends South Tama High School and is in the 11th grade. He is in basketball, soccer, speech, school play, marching band, jazz band, pep band and TATU. Reading and playing sports are his hobbies. During his freshman year Matt joined the Future Farmers of American and has been a member since. After graduation, he is thinking about attending Iowa State University or the U.S. Air Force Academy. His plans are to keep his bees through his first year of college then turn them over to his mother and grandpa who are willing to give it a shot.

Dennis Nielson is Matt’s mentor. Even though the wet weather conditions last year resulted in his hive not to yield any honey, Matt says his beekeeping experience has been a good one. He increased his colony number by two due to Dennis helping him capture two swarms. Matt helped at the Iowa State Fair and took his beekeeping class in Marshalltown under the instruction of Phil Ebert.

One experience Matt and Dennis had was checking out a swarm sighting in a friend’s yard. Instead of honeybees, the swarm turned out to be a bunch of angry mud wasps that chased them away with their stinging.

Good luck with your beekeeping and school Matt and thanks for your story.

Submitted by Ron Wehr

HONEY COCOA COOKIES

Printed from COOKS.COM

1 c. butter
1 c. honey
2 beaten eggs
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. chopped nuts

Cream butter. Add honey gradually and beat well. Add beaten eggs. Add sifted dry ingredients, rolled oats and chopped nuts and mix well.

Drop from a teaspoon onto an oiled cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes in 350 degree oven or just until cookies begin to brown. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.