Puget Sound Beekeeping Association Field Day

webmaster May 15th, 2008

Hello fellow beekeepers.

This e-mail is to remind you of Field Day on May 17 at the Arboretum.
Our guest speaker will be Randy Oliver. He is a well known beekeeper and scientist. He writes monthly for a beekeeping magazine and is in high demand as a guest speaker.
His experience and knowledge span decades.
He will address “Beekeeping in the 21st Century” and provide information beneficial to all beekeepers. Of course he will address diseases, including the latest findings about the collapse disorder we all have experienced.
There will be a “Question and Answer” time and he will join us in opening up and observing the Association’s hives (weather permitting).
For those interested, he will bring his microscope and teach how to dissect a bee to find if it is affected by Nosema. If you wish to bring your bees to learn, they need to be harvested in a particular way.
Refer to April’s newsletter for the website to go to in order to do a proper harvest. 
The PSBA website is www.psbees.org and there you can find the newsletter.   It will also tell you the time of the meeting.
It is truly a great opportunity and I would like to encourage all to participate.
The fee will be $10.00 per individual or family. You can pre-register by sending a check to PSBA c/o Ambra Wadley, 13623 SE 232 St, Kent, Wa 98042 or you can pay the day of the event. In that case I suggest coming a little earlier to take care of that.
The event is open to all, members and non-members for the same fee. If you have friends or acquaintances interested in attending they are welcome.
Again, this is a unique occasion. Normally you would have to attend much larger and expensive events to benefit from Randy’s experience, likely to hear him for an hour or so. He will be with us for about five hours and, personally, I cannot wait.
I am looking forward to seeing you on May 17th.
Don’t forget to bring a sack lunch and your bee suit if you wish to inspect the PSBA’s hives.
Again, this is a unique occasion. Normally you would have to attend much larger and expensive events to benefit from Randy’s experience, likely to hear him for an hour or so. He will be with us for about five hours and, personally, I cannot wait.
I am looking forward to seeing you on May 17th.
Don’t forget to bring a sack lunch and your clothing if you wish to inspect the PSBA’s hives.

Looking forward to seeing you there.
Richard T. Sirota,
President, Puget Sound Beekeepers Association

Dr. Steve Sheppard Guest Speaker for March 5th

webmaster March 1st, 2007

Dr. Steve Sheppard

Our General Meeting this month is honored to welcome our guest speaker, Dr. Steve Sheppard.
You might say he has bees in his blood; Steve’s great grandfather was a beekeeper in Savannah, Georgia and Steve started keeping bees in 1974 while an undergraduate at the University of Georgia. He maintained about 35 colonies until he left for graduate school. He has a Bachelor’s in Zoology and his Masters work was in Pollination Biology. His Doctorate work was on Honey Bee Population Genetics and Evolution and he has been involved in various aspects of beekeeping for about 3 decades. He is a Professor of Entomology at WSU and works in the areas of population genetics and evolution of honey bees, Selection and Breeding of honey bees and a number of other areas. We are privileged to have him come share his wisdom with our group, I hope every member will make an effort to be at the next meeting to hear him. Our meeting starts at 7:30PM THIS MONDAY, March 5.

Beekeeping Classes

webmaster December 1st, 2006

The new Apprentice Class is starting in January and it is only $10 for 6 months of classes. We meet at 6:30PM before our General Meeting and there is a lot of great information taught to go along with the take home booklet. Jody is an interesting and involved teacher and you will be glad you took the
class. We also have classes for Journeymen and even a Master Beekeeper Program, so if you have already completed your Apprenticeship Classes, why not take the next step in your beekeeping education? Not only is it fun…but it’s profitable. See Jody for more details on the advanced classes. You’re never too old or too young to learn something new. If you have any questions, call Louis Matej at 253-921-5612.

Apiary

webmaster November 21st, 2006

As you know, we have a new apiary on site and it is going well so far. We are looking for members to be a part of our Apiary Team who would be willing to manage the hive from Jan. - Dec. 2007.  The more folks we can have on the team, the easier the work goes for everyone. Would you consider signing on to be a part of this team? Contact Louis Matej with questions or if interested.