I have made the fee for vendors $20…if we are to “borrow” money from the club then we should make enough money to AT LEAST pay it back. At our July BASF meeting I will be requesting $250.00 from club funds to be used as needed and with the intent to pay the club back with the money earned from the event vendor fees.

I plan on having a meeting the week of 20th…the exact day, time and place is still to be determined. I will keep you updated.

Thank you.
Kim

Once again my family has had a very busy week…my parents were in town from Wed until today (Tues) for my niece’s 16th birthday…so thank you for your patience regarding my email responses…

Thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to open their home up for our meetings… I will be putting together that calendar and will contact those of you who offered and “plug” your home into the schedule.

For this week I would like to meet at Panera Bread in Fort Myers on US 41 and Boyscout/Fowler Street….Thursday 5/26 at 7pm….

I am hoping to have some volunteers, volunteer this week for those committees I need and that we will have an update of information from these committees…as well as I am hoping that we will have some info on vendor spacing and from the educational committee to share with everyone…

Claudia (from the Ext. Services) is working on putting together the exhibitor/vendor form as well as a map of the facility…

We do have some details to iron out that are very important to finalizing that form as well as press releases…please come and share your ideas…

Hope to see you then.

Kim

As you could tell we are in the infant ency of planning this event. There were A LOT of great ideas (thank you).

We are hoping to have a meeting every 2 weeks until the event, so please attend as you can (for those of you who want to just work the event let me know if you want to be kept in the email loop during the process leading up to the meeting). I am hoping that we can have committee members volunteer their home as well as use the Extension Office location and other locations. If you can volunteer your home for a meeting please let me know ASAP…I’d like to put together a meeting calendar…(plan, plan and plan some more)

It’s possible we have a home for this Wed. 5/25…I’ll keep you posted…if not I am looking into the alternative location. I know many of you drive from quite a distance…and other means to meet were discussed…it’s possible that these type of arrangements can be made, but for now…we’ll just have to meet in person…

We are in need a several sub-committees:

Children’s arts and crafts
Raffle/Baskets
Bake Sale
PR (Rebecca Wilson, Debbie Vega and ….)
Food
Education (Beth and Don and…..)
and possibly more
Let me know where your talents lie and I will find a joy for you…

Right now I need the leg work done for these committees…making phone calls, gathering budget info, etc.

Thank you, Thank you!

Kim

Registering your hives is a very big plus for you and helps beekeeping as a whole. It only costs a total of $10 per year total for up to 10 hives (so, if you have 10 hives, then that is $1 per hive per year). Once a year the inspector will come out and inspect your hives to make sure you are not having problems or contributing to the industries problems (particularly with pests and disease). It allows the industry to know which areas are experiencing certain types of problems, give friendly, helpful advice on how to treat or otherwise control, correct, or remedy problems which may spread through your apiary… or become a new industry threat… a heads up (warning/alert) system for the rest of us. The inpector is almost always friendly and very helpful. He is available for questions at time of inspection and will answer questions between inspections and is always there if you need him to help make your hobby or business a success. In short, “apiary inspection plays a vital role in Florida Agriculture as inspectors work to prevent the introduction and establishment of honey bee pests and diseases. A healthy and secure Florida honey bee industry is valuable to all.”

I know that many out there think everything that comes from the government is a control issue, buy my inspector gives more than takes… a real bargain and a real asset to my hobby/business.

“I agree. This is an old document that one of our master beekeepers is trying to revise. In the meantime, “hive a swarm” and “remove a hive from a building” should be removed from this list as both are activities no longer recommended in Florida. Thanks, Jamie”

Quote from:
Fitzroy B. Beckford (Roy)
Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent
University of Florida, IFAS
Lee County Extension
3406 Palm Beach Boulevard
Ft. Myers, Florida 33916
Phone: 239-533-7512
Fax: 239-485-2305
E-Mail: fbeckford@leegov.com
E-Mail: fbeck@ufl.edu
Website: http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/AgNatRes/AgNatResHome.shtml

“Some of these topics have been on the 4-H list since the 1960’s. Since then times (and species hybrids) have changed. Obviously it is time to recommend that topics such as ‘remove bees from buildings’ be itself removed from the list of chores.”

I have posted your request for help. As you already know, I question the logic and wisdom of the 4-H including “removing bees from a building” and “capture a swarm and install in a hive” for reasons previously explained, but briefly summed as follows: Bee Removal from Buildings is another highly specialized profession and unrelated to Beekeeping. Capturing swarms and installing in hives is a practice not recommended for our area, since we are Africanized Honey Bee territory… capturing of swarms may relate to beekeeping in instances where beekeepers may be recollecting a swarm split off from their own colonies.