VO 22 #10

OCTOBER Report

Our last meeting brought out 60 beekeepers and friends.  I have just finished the Fair and the rest of this letter is just ramblings.

All in all we had a good Fair, not a many kids as we have had in the past and not as well organized.  We handed out to the students about 1600  honey sticks.  Total handout was around 3000. Lots of kids came back with the parents. As you know we moved to another building, so hopefully next year will be better.

Handed out lots cards and Beginners class brochure. We all answered lots of questions about what has happen to the bees, maybe the public is going to get interested.  We generally had plenty of help and I want to THANK everyone that made an effort to work our booth.  As always we got lots of comments about how great our booth is, and everyone really loves to see the bees and particularly the QUEEN.

Don’t forget this meeting and the next are your last chance to donate to the BEE LAB.  I need to take any monies to the state meeting.  Which is November 8,9, and 10 in Galveston.  Of course your are welcome to come.

Also remember October is a Auction/Raffle month.  November is our Honey tasting month, not to early to start planning.

Well folks, what do ya know, it's time again for another wonderful meeting of the ETBA. Thanking the Good Lord for his wonderful creation the honeybee. I do hope that we may become the stewards we need to be through diligent investigation (checking of hives) ,feeding if necessary, testing for varroa mites, pests and other malfunctions. Making sure the hives are strong now to make it through the winter. The goldenrods are in bloom now and the ladies should be bringing in some orange looking pollen and nectar for to make a surplus for the cold days coming up. Have you noticed that when it cools down a bit that the time goes faster, or is it just me? So much to do, so little time. I do need to thank all those who have volunteered for the fair once again this year. It seems to be the usual suspects again and this is for hoping that in the future we can have some new faces pick up the proverbial ball to help the others.  

I asked Mike at the Fair to write something, here it is .

The October Rookie Times

By Mikael Rappazzo

The other day I got my first swarm call. Well, sort of. A person in our church had just moved and had a “bee hive.” It wasn’t an empty box (hive) but bees in a tree. The bees are 8 in off the ground. It looks pretty strong and they aren’t feisty. The tree is approx. 20-30 feet high. I hope to get them out soon because the lady and possibly her kids are allergic to stings. Oh, that reminds me. Allergenic people should NEVER go over to Mr. Counts’ house on requeening and removing super day. Just ask me how I know. I appreciate Mr. Bobo for filling my hives with bees.  They are going strong. My mom thinks we should buy stock in Imperial sugar at the rate they guzzle that sugar syrup. If you didn’t make it over to ETBA’s booth at the fair, you missed an excellent booth! I hope I can work next year. See you at the meeting.