Minutes of the VT State Beekeepers Meeting, January 25, 2005
Mike Palmer called the meeting to order at 10:00 am. This was a well attended meeting and I forgot to count the numbers but would estimate at least 75.
We started with the secretary’s report given by Ingrid Boette.
Next John Tardie came to give us the treasurer’s report but first he had a few other things for us. He told us about the magnificent candle that he makes for the church containing 12 lbs. of beeswax and he and his candle were featured in a local paper. He also has an interesting facts sheet with bee information that he was willing to share with us.
As for our checkbook, it stands at 4,059.07. Total expenditures from July 31, 2004 to January 25, 2005 were $1,651.10.
The Apiary Inspector’s report with Steve Parise came next. Steve told us that this was his 14 th farm show and bee meeting. He told us of the winners in the honey entries at the Farm show and in Class A Bill Mares won for his comb honey and in class B,C, D and F the winner was Mike King. Bill Mares won best of show.
Steve also said that there are 1,591 registered beekeepers in the state with 1,980 registered apiaries and 10,181 registered hives. He inspected 1,978 hives for small hive beetles and found 900 of them positive for SHB. He found American foulbrood in 87 hives. There are 770 hives certified for moving. Beetles were found primarily in hives near migratory bees. Steve has his yard near migratory bees and his nuke with swarm lures for bees, were first found by the beetles. Just recently, however, he found dead beetles at hive entrances so they still are not comfortable in our climate. Again, he said not to let dead hives sit around for they attract them, and to extract honey quickly.
Steve reminded us that if we have nukes for sale, to have him inspect them or at least a portion of them.
We found out that we can now buy bees from NZ and Australia but he warned us that we have been trying to breed our bees in this country for Varroa resistance so the ones coming in from there would be cannon fodder for Varroa. We can buy packages and queens from Canada but not nukes.
Next, we had John Stein come to speak to us from the Department of Agriculture. He
presented us with a very interesting look at the process of trying to get an agent
approved to control diseases and mites. The EPA wants a lot of information so that
our food sources and hives stay safe. Most of his information can be seen on our
web site at vtbeekeepers.com. He also reminded us that home remedies are just that-
Another great treat for us that morning came by having the Secretary of Agriculture, Steve Kerr speak to us. He is also a hobby beekeeper who enjoys making comb honey but does not appreciate the big black bear that came after his hives!
Mr. Kerr stated that one of the big projects for the department for the year is manure handling. Act 250 was passed to charge the developers impact fees, which is part of Vermont’s attempt to discourage sprawl. They need to be extremely vigilant since animals can transmit diseases and so far Vermont has been doing a good job of keeping things in check.
We also tackled the GMO battles that are going on and there were a lot of comments from the floor! Jumping of the species barrier seems to worry a lot of people. Mr. Kerr did an excellent job of calmly explaining things to us and assured us that GE technology is well regulated.
Even though we then stopped for lunch at 12:15, Mr. Kerr stayed around and answered a lot more questions.
Maye Joan Whitcomb and friends again served up an excellent lunch with all the dishes people brought in and we even got to vote for our favorites.
At 1:30, Mike called us back to our seats and we continued with the committee reports. Mike gave the Apiary Committee report and we learned that the Yankee Kingdom yard is on land that is for sale. It was also suggested that workshops be held on separate days so that more people have a chance of attending at least one of them.
Next came Bob Eastman with the Fair committee and he wants us to prepare early for the Addison County fair so that we can be sure to have Vermont beekeepers there with their products. Last year the fair had to get beekeepers from NY because no Vermont beekeepers were willing to go there.
Sharon Zecchinelli gave us a web report. She has been doing a lot of work with our web site and organizing it so that more beekeepers can benefit by it. Local clubs can be posted, a library page is available and so is the inspector’s report. You can also ask the webmaster questions and submit contributions. There are also recipes available.
Lynn Lang came next with the Honey Promotion Board and he told us that the funds from cook book sales will now go directly to our beekeepers club and he talked about the Farm Show cooking contest.
Mike Palmer mentioned that in the summer meeting we will elect new officers and we need to think about serving and nominating people. We need to elect a new president, a new recording secretary and a new writer for Flight Path.
We had a gadgets and gizmos section next and Peter Grant talked about his electric fencing that he invented that does not injure people, does not attract or get injured by lightening and it deters what it needs to deter. If someone is interested, he could come to him for more information. Another interesting exhibit was from Mike Palmer who enjoys replicating old beehives. A friend sent him a pattern of an original Langstroth hive found at the Cornell library that he was able to build. It required a week of constant labor and $200 worth of lumber so unless you are an antique beehive buff, you may not find this hive to your liking.
Rick Drutches talked to us briefly about the American Honey Producers meeting that he attended recently. He informed us that out west, half of the honeybees got wiped out and the almond producers are in desperate need of hives, which has beekeepers from all over the country coming to CA for an extra income. Also, American honey prices are down again because of Chinese dumping their product into our country.
Steve Parise talked to us again about methods of checking for Varroa. He described both the sugar roll and the ether roll method and also in the summer to check drone brood. He stated it is more important to check trends rather than the actual number of Varroa.
After our door prize raffle, we had our guest speaker. Jean-
This was a long and very informative day, well worth attending.
Respectfully submitted,
Ingrid Boette
