Friday, July 6, 2012

ECWBA Newsletter - July

1. The meeting dates and places for 2012 have been scheduled in.  Here’s the schedule for the remainder of 2012:
  • Saturday, July 21, 2012, 9:30 am.  Fond du Lac Public Library, 32 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI.  Downstairs in the Eugene McLane Room.
  • Saturday, September 8, 2012, 9:30 am.  Ripon Public Library, 120 Jefferson Street, Ripon, WI.  Meet in the Silver Creek Room (downstairs).
  
2. Thank-you to Charles Crites for hosting this year’s field day.  Charles gave a very informative talk about his top bar bee hives which he constructs himself.  Charles works closely with Barb Beregszazi who also keeps top bar hives in the same vicinity.  Both Charles and Barb did an excellent job answering questions and providing information about top bar hives.  The field day finished up with Charles giving the attending members a tour of his bee yard and demonstrating the inner workings of his hives.  Thanks again to Charles for hosting the 2012 ECWBA field day.
  
3. The July 21 meeting will feature a briefing from Denise Palkovich about the association’s blog and website.  Please feel free to bring your own laptop computers and other internet connected devices for an interactive lesson about logging into the blog and posting questions, answers, comments, photos, etc.  We will also have an open discussion about the current state of beekeeping – nectar flows, pest management, preparing for honey harvest, and any other beekeeping issue anyone would like to talk about.
  
Beekeeping Notes:
  • For the new beekeepers, start planning the honey harvest.  If you plan for a liquid honey harvest, start shopping for extracting equipment.  Or find an existing beekeeper that will help you out with extracting.
  • You may want to buy honey jars in advance.  When there is a big honey crop, sometimes the suppliers run short of jars.
  • Start thinking about fall pest treatments and over-wintering strategies.
  
Best of Beekeeping,
Jeff Champeau

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