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MINUTES: NRVBA MEETING 7 JULY 2010 Meeting called to order 7:05pm Members present: 29 (as recorded at sign-in) Re Old Business: Pres. Jerry Borger reviewed business conducted at June’s meeting. Treas. Jack Price reported $4208.77 in club funds with unspecified amounts owed for the initial T-shirt order and to Dr. Fell for expenses related to the queen-rearing workshop. The status of the T-shirt order was unknown. Though it was believed some had been received, no one had spoken directly with Mark Chorba. Dave Mitchum reported on the success of the Certified Naturally-Grown workshop. Lynn Tobias summarized on behalf of those who attended the queen-rearing workshop at VT. Members Elizabeth McCormick, Chris Faith and Marie Goodwin were thanked for volunteering to make presentations and conduct bee-awareness activities for children from Camp Timber Ridge and the YMCA. The need for more volunteers to help with set-up and tear-down the days before and after our August 7th picnic was stressed. Volunteers should contact Sam Price. Re New Business: The annual meeting and election of officers will be scheduled for October 14. Procedures for reserving the club’s two extractors were reviewed. Both the Montgomery Co. and the Floyd Co. extractors can be reserved by contacting Jerry Borger. The call went out for one or two volunteers to man the observation hive and answer questions at the Montgomery County Heritage Day (Aug 21, 10am – 3pm). Our club has some remote members whose primary interest is the practical information exchanged via thehive. Because some of these mambers have expressed regret that they are now unable to view the full exchange of Q and A, Jack Price will survey the users of thehive to determine if the time is ripe to modify the Q and A procedure, i.e. continue with the current default “return to sender” or revert to the former “return to thehive.” We welcomed new members: Stephen and Janice McLaughlin of eastern Montgomery, Richard Cobb of Blacksburg, and Tiffany Gross. The evening’s program featured Gunther Hauk, gardener, beekeeper, teacher and lecturer with 40+ years of experience in Germany and the U.S. He currently manages the Honeybee Sanctuary at Spikenard Farm in Floyd. He is the author of Toward Saving the Honeybee. He spoke of his long years observing the decline of honeybee health by the widespread adoption of commercial beekeeping practices and recommended a return to natural, non-invasive, sustainable honeybee management. August’s meeting will be supplanted by the picnic on Saturday, Aug. 7. Our next regular meeting will be on the second Thursday in September, the 9th. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50. Chris Robinson, Recording Sec’y MINUTES: NRVBA MEETING 9 JUNE 2010 Meeting called to order 7:10pm Members present: ca. 36 (as recorded on the roster) Pres. Jerry Borger reviewed business conducted at May’s meeting as it related to tonight’s agenda. Treas. Jack Price reported $4294.27 in club funds, a portion of which represents paid T-shirt orders to be disbursed to the printer when acceptable proofs are presented. We continue to wait. Quick reminders: (1) Dr. Fell’s Queen Rearing Workshop will occur this coming Saturday, June 12 at Tech. NRVBA members and others will attend; (2) Two Certified Naturally-Grown workshops will be held at the Blacksburg library, Saturday 26 June and Sunday 27 June. The cost is $12 for each session. Register online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/109851 Sam Price urged all members, veteran and new, and their families to attend our Summer Picnic on August 7, from 2:00pm onward and gave a glowing description of the site at the foot of Buffalo Mtn, the live music, the food, the fellowship and games galore. All details are or will be posted on the NRVBA website. Volunteers, especially members who live in Floyd Co., are needed to set up the day before and take down afterwards. “Many hands make light work.” One or more volunteers were solicited to make short presentations to summer campers, aged 6-12, at Camp Timber Ridge near Radford on two Wednesdays, June 23 and July 14. The dates and times are negotiable. No brave volunteers immediately stepped forward, but it is hoped they are just “thinking it over” and consulting their calendars before making themselves known. Jerry reminded members of the location of the club’s two extractors and the procedure for cleaning them as extraction season approaches. We again welcomed new members. Three were present to introduce themselves: Tom Martin and family of Radford, Bryan Godwin, and a college student, Alex Hawes, who expressed a strong interest in starting a queen-rearing operation. Nothing could have provided a better segue to our speaker’s program. Dwight Porter, who raises and sells Russian Queens from his bee yards in central South Carolina, gave a fascinating description of his entry into the business of rearing queens, his fourteen years in the business, and insights into the labor-intensive process that is his working life from February to October as his schedule is governed by the fixed schedule of the bee’s gestation. From the number and pertinence of the questions asked, many members were clearly intrigued by the mysteries of managing a colony’s instinct to raise multiple queens. It remains to be seen how many may try their hand at the process in a small way. Jerry Borger was observed scribbling notes – he probably was not the only one. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, July 7, when the speaker will be Gunther Hauk from Spikenard Farms. His topic will be sustainable beekeeping. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 for refreshments prior to a raffle for two Russian queens. Chris Robinson, Recording Sec’y 13 MAY 2010 NRVBA MEETING MINUTES
IMPORTANT: June and July’s meetings will be held the day before second Thursday of the month, that is, Wednesday 9 June and Wednesday 7 July. Next month’s speaker will be Dwight Porter who raises Russian Queens in South Carolina.
The meeting was called to order just after 7:00 p.m. with 32 members signed in.
Pres. Jerry Borger read the minutes of the April meeting, and presented the Treasurer’s report in Jack Price’s absence. The club’s total cash (bank + bag) $4,157.82 with some of this money earmarked for the T-shirt printer.
Unfinished business:
Mark Chorba brought us an update on the printing of club T-shirts. In brief, the proofs presented by the printer were not acceptable but Mark was promised proofs printed by a different method within two weeks. We wait-and-see.
Marie Goodwin has volunteered to do a bee presentation for the Adventure Club to 5-12 yr old day camp kids this summer.
Dave Mitchum, an NRVBA member who works in VT’s Forestry Dept. has volunteered to honcho arrangements for two workshops on natural beekeeping methods. He gave an enthusiastic pitch for Certified Naturally Grown, a certification program aimed at small operations (farms, honey producers, etc.) as a simpler alternative to USDA organic certification. The two presentations will be at the Blacksburg Library: (1) Getting Started with Natural Beekeeping, 1200-1700 on 26 June and (2) Natural Beekeeping in Action: Managing Pests, Disease & other Challenges, 1300-1700 27 Jun 2010. Cost: $12 each day. Register online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/109851
Jerry reminded us that Dr. Rick Fell will be conducting a Queen Rearing Workshop for beekeepers and other interested parties on 12 June at 220 Price Hall on the Virginia Tech Campus. Sign-in @0830, class 0900-1600. $30, max 30 students, open to all, not just NRVBA. Register using the NRVBA web-site or take cash or a check to the staff at the Montgomery County Extension Office in the Municipal Bldg at 755 Roanoke St., Suite 1G, Christiansburg, VA 24073.
New Business:
Margaret Gallagher has again graciously offered to host the NRVBA Summer Picnic. The date will be 7 Aug and the Back Street Band will again play for us. A message through TheHive will make an appeal for a volunteer to be overall picnic coordinator and seek a firm commitment from members to help with planning, arrangements, setup and tear down if the picnic is to happen. Starting next summer the annual picnic’s location will rotate. A site in Montgomery Co. is already under consideration.
Seven new and prospective members were welcomed: Bruce Moses, Joe Watson, Matt McCormick, Pam Edmonds, Lawrence Sewell, Karen Logan, and Pat Bower.
After a brief break, the podium was turned over to the night’s speaker, Mike Weaver, Director of Virginia Tech’s Pesticides Program. The Pesticide Program trains commercial and individual appliers of pesticides in Virginia and includes protocols to protect honeybees and all pollinators.
The meeting was adjourned just minutes before 9:00 p.m.
Submitted: Chris Robinson, Recording Sec’y
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