Kearsarge Beekeepers Association

Kearsarge Beekeepers
Association
Sept./ Oct. 2011
Next Meeting:
Fri. Sept. 9th 7pm
At the Marklin Candle
Design company in
Contoocook, NH
Officers:
President
Troy Hall 252-9564
Vice President
Bob Naylor 863-1136
Treasurer
Mary Lloyd-Evans
735-5058
www.kbanh.org
Volume VIII Issue 5
Next Meeting
Our next meeting on Sept. 9th at 7pm will be at the Potluck spread under the tent.
Marklin Candle factory in Contoocook for a tour of
the factory with the owner Martin Marklin who is
also one of our club members. We are looking
forward to seeing the inner workings of this factory
which makes the highest quality liturgical candles as
well hand dipped and hand decorated beeswax
candles. You can visit their website:
Marklincandle.com for more information and a
video. There’s a map on the last page of the
newsletter.
Minutes from Last Meeting
Our summer picnic was great fun as usual, meeting
new people, seeing old friends, eating delicious food
It’s raffle time again.
and learning more about bees. The picnic was hosted
Secretary
by Dick and Deane Shores at their home in
Gayle Bates 938-5325
Springfield. Their extended family from as far away
as Cyprus pitched in to help. We thank them for
Contents:
Calendar, Thank you’s & generously providing the meat and barbecuing it to
perfection, providing plastic ware and supplies,
other news page 2
colorfully decorated tables and a Port-O-Potty! This
Articles later pages
is the 2nd year they have extended their hospitality to
our club and they really go all out.
KBA’s newsletter is
Troy opened up their hives and everyone got to see
published 6 times per year. and discuss what was going on. It was great to see so
The newsletter is included in many young people there having fun and many of
the yearly dues for members. them interested in beekeeping themselves.
For a sample copy send your
name and address to:
Gayle Bates
Frames of bees get a good going over.
PO Box 421
South Sutton, NH 03273
Co-treasurer
Robin Gray 927-4127
Dues for 2011 are $15.00.
Mail to:
Mary Lloyd-Evans
PO Box 88
Andover, NH 03231
Newsletter Printed
Courtesy
sy of Sugar River
Courte
Bank
Quin practices bee handling with a drone.
Calendar
th
KBA meeting at Marklin Candle Design Fri. Sept. 9 at 7pm in
Contocook
KBA Fall Potluck Fri. Nov. 11th 6pm at the Andover Grange
New Hampshire Beekeepers’ Assoc. Fall Mtg. Oct. 22
Please check the state club website for info. on topics and speakers
as it becomes available; http://www.nhbeekeepers.org
Thank You’s
Thanks to:
keeping them from mating properly. Other than that I'm on track
with reaching my goals for queens this year. Of all the things that
raising queens has taught me this year the most important lesson
that I will take note of is, ALWAYS graft more cells than what you
plan to use. A 75 percent catch rate is normal, anything above that is
gravy. Extra cells that don't make it into mating nucs will find their
way into nucs that I make up on the summer flow where they will
overwinter to use for increase or sale the following spring.
Remember August is a very important month for getting all of
your colonies in line and up to the mark for next year. What are you
doing to keep varroa in check? If we are lucky we all will hopefully
have some honey to harvest to share with family and friends. I hope
you all are learning and enjoying your time as much as I have been
this year with your bees.
The Shores and their extended family (see front page- “last
meeting”) for their hospitality and generosity in hosting our summer All the best,
picnic again
Troy
Everyone who brought food to share at the picnic
Everyone who brought raffle prizes and bought raffle tickets; it was
a successful raffle and proceeds go for postage
Once again to Sugar River Bank and Steve Thibodeau for printing
our club newsletter!
To people who sent in items for the newsletter, very appreciated
********************
I asked Troy if he had any reflections from the bee yard to share
and here is his reply:
Greetings Friends,
I would like to thank all of you again who made it out to our
summer picnic and made it the wonderful event that it turned out to
be. Thanks again to the Shores for inviting us into their home to host
the picnic.
******************************
Yahee Killer Wings
(I have not tried this yet)
Makes 12 to 14 servings
• 1 large package chicken wings
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons Cayenne pepper
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons White pepper
• 3 Tablespoons Cajun seasoning, to taste
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry
• 2 Tablespoons steak sauce
The day before, wash wings well and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add olive oil, then coat the wings with the cayenne pepper, white
pepper and Cajun seasoning. Cover and let sit overnight. On game
day, mix or turn the wings in the bowl to ensure equal coating. Bake
on a cookie sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray at 400
degrees for 30-40 minutes. While wings are cooking, mix the honey,
Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, sherry and steak sauce in a medium
bowl. When wings are cooked, place on a cookie sheet sprayed with
a non-stick spray and brush on the glaze. Broil until golden brown,
then serve.
What a summer it has been thus far! Things started off a little
slow in the honey department for June with the wet and cool
weather we recieved towards the tail end of the month. The locust
bloom was short and sweet and some colonies were fortunate
enough to pack away that lovely light honey up in the supers. As
Paul Simon wrote " July, she will fly", and indeed she has for where
has the month gone? With the right amount of rain, thanks to
the occasional evening thunderstorm, the first half and middle of the
month have been very productive for the bees to put lots of surplus
honey up in those supers. Going into August lets hope it all stays
there and that we can see a little rain to go along with all this heat.
But as everything goes in farming and beekeeping, we are all at the This is reprinted from the National Honey Board website. They
mercy of mother nature. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best are part of the USDA and do research and promotion related to
and most of the time things seem to fall somewhere in the middle.
honey products.
In my breeding and queen rearing program a lot has been learned
and improved on this year and I have been very impressed with the
quality of queens coming out of the mating nucs. However there
was one catch in June that failed miserably due to the poor weather
conditions holding a majority of the virgins in their mating nucs,