The Norfolk Bee. With Christmas behind us and New Year s Eve. Ah, mead. This time of year brings the nerds to

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1 The Norfolk Bee Norfolk County, Massachusetts Volume 6, Issue 7 December 2007 Happy Holidays to All! Letter from the Editor With Christmas behind us and New Year s Eve just around the corner, I thought I would grab a moment here and get the newsletter out. I hope that everyone had a peaceful and wonderful holiday season and that you were all able to enjoy time with your family and friends. Sometimes the holiday s take on a life of their own and we often forget to sit and just enjoy them. My daughter is home from college (this is her first year), so this seems an extra special holiday for us, to have the whole family together. So grab the latest issue of Bee Culture, a cup of your favorite hot tea with honey, and sit by the fire and do some reading. Since this is my last newsletter, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and wonderful support over the past 2 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing the newsletters. I have learned a lot from my fellow beekeepers and beyond. Al Needham, from the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association has been a wonderful source of bee related information. If you would like to be on his list, let me know and I can send you his he . I am looking forward to serving the club as vice president and treasurer, and to being actively involved is all that we do. We have a great, close-knit club and I look forward to our meetings each month with great enthusiasm. I am grateful to be part of this wonderful community of people who care about each other and the world we live in. Tony Lulek Mead: Nectar of the Nerds If your favorite Michael Jackson song is Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, you're one of them. By Maggie Dutton, December 5, 2007 Ah, mead. This time of year brings the nerds to the booze shops in search of the honey brew of ancient lore. Mead and other honey beverages accessorize the feasts in many fantasy books, and many an author's enticing description lends a romantic aura to the beverage we nerds cannot resist. I went through my mead phase in part because it was the Sandman's beverage of choice (cultural-reference translation: Neil Gaiman comic-book hero), and I still enjoy mead because it fits in with my "What Would a Hobbit Drink?" predilection. There are no mead "regions" of the world; where there are bees there is honey, and mead requires only honey, water, and yeast for the making. The flavor of the brew depends on the honey used and the herbs or spices that brewers may add to the mix- in this month s newsletter Bee Resources Page 2 Letter from the President Page 3 Beekeeper of the Year Page 3 NCBA Administrative Page 4 NCBA Meeting Minutes Page 6

2 ture, not that this silky, amber-colored ambrosia needs any makeup. Have you ever stopped to smell the honey? Snoqualmie Valley Honey in the Pike Place Market, for example, sells as many as a dozen honeys from different floral and herbal nectars. Blackberry honey smells so much different from thistle honey, which smells nowhere near a clover honey. The quality and origin of the honey used will affect the resulting taste and complexity and determine how the mead appeals to you. Lurgashall's "Tower of London" is my current mead crush. In the glass, this English mead reeks of raw honeycomb, with the faintest high-toned bite of hard liquor; it's fortified with scotch to 20 percent alcohol. Poured by the snifter at Beveridge Place in West Seattle, the Tower of London has one of the more complex aromas I've experienced from mead. I can almost hear the bees buzzing around the heather fields of Sussex. You can also find brews from Colorado's Redstone Meadery in groceries with better beer selections. Its traditional mead is a wonderful benchmark for the drink, offering a clean, pure honey aroma and a lightly sweet flavor that finishes like a rich but dry white wine. Sky River Mead, from our own sleepy hamlet of Sultan, makes an amazing dry style. It smells like a thousand wildflowers, though I steal that description from the French, who call the blended nectar Sky River uses mille fleurs. The meadery also makes a sweet style of mead that pairs smartly with cheese, especially after a big dinner when you don't want anything too cloying. If you really want a treat, take a weekday drive out to Sultan and try before you buy. If you haven't had mead before, start with something not so dry. Dry mead can be an acquired taste, and I wouldn't say that about many alcoholic beverages. Your monkey brain will have trouble reconciling what it smells (sweet, unctuous honey) with what it tastes (bone dry). And whatever you do, stay away from meads named after 14th-century bards; even nerds scoff at such a mead pretender. Beer books and periodicals highlight mead every once in a while, but wine magazines barely stoop to cover the stuff. I'm sure one day soon an insatiable trend-spotter will claim discovery, ignoring those of us who have kept the meaderies in business over the years. Membership in the Society for Creative Anachronism is not compulsory to drink it, but mead will always be nerdcore. Online Resources This is just the beginning of a list of online resources. Please if you find any or have any favorites. Online Resources 1. YouTube.com - they some great little videos Online Bee Equipment sellers Magazines: 1. Bee Culture (Root Publications) 2. American Bee Journal NCBA Monthly Meeting Schedule January 7 February 4 March 3 April 7 May 5 June Social TBA 2

3 From the President As we begin the new year with new association officers I would like everyone to think about what we can do in 2008 to better support the club and our members, the bee school, our communities, and beekeeping in Massachusetts. We'll ask everyone for ideas at the next meeting and of course you can send any of the board ideas at any time. Also, we will expand the open Q&A sessions at the monthly meetings that have been popular to discuss our personal observation in our hives, what's working and not working so well, Bee news, beekeeping plans for that month and the future season. Now is a good time to cleaning and repairing out old equipment, to start thinking about an additional hives for the spring, to order new wooden wear and parts for the upcoming year. Ed Karle List of Meeting Discussions October Caring for wax capings 2. Cleaning honey supers 3. Storing for winter 4. Checking your hive weight 5. Organic beekeeping update November Planning for winter 2. Feeding bees fondant candy 3. Top bar hive presentation December Checking hives now and over the winter 2. Comments from the November SNEBA Meeting. BEE SCHOOL - LOCAL CABLE Bee school will be staring before you know it. If any of you has a local cable channel, you can usually post things on their from nonprofit groups. I had it put up on our channel. I sent them the Press Release and School Poster from the web in an . Norfolk County Beekeepers Association Beekeeper of the Year, Hall of Fame 2007 Norman Shaw (First Inductee) Bee Magazines & Catalogs Winter is a great time to catch up on all of your magazine reading. If you don t already have subscriptions to Bee Culture or American Bee Journal, I would suggest getting them. They are both great magazines. There are some incredible articles that will give you an indepth understanding of the problems we face as beekeepers. From Nosema, to Varroa and CCD. These are some of the things that we have to deal with as beekeepers and they are not going away. So the better informed you are, the better you will be able to deal with them. There is also a lot of good articles about everything from selling and promoting your honey to stories about beekeeping from all around the country. Now is also a time to order your catalogs, if you are not on a mailing list already. 3

4 Norfolk County Beekeepers Association Administrative Page The Norfolk County Beekeeper s Association (NCBA), is dedicated to apiculture education and promotion of the art and science of beekeeping among beekeepers, agriculture and the general public. This is a Non-profit organization, meeting the first Monday of every month, at 7:30 PM (second Monday if the first Monday is a holiday). The meetings are held at the Norfolk Agricultural High School NCBA Officers President Ed Karle 169 Seekonk Street Norfolk, MA (508) ewkarle@yahoo.com Vice President / Treasurer Tony Lulek 35 Dalton Road Holliston, MA (508) tlulek@gallery223.com Recording Secretary Lesky Lescoe 174 Beach Street Foxboro, MA (508) lesky@comcast.net Corresponding Secretary Kate Notman 136 East Street Sharon, MA (781) kate@notman.com Bee School Director Howard Crawford 360 West Central Franklin, MA (508) Bee School Director Tim Sullivan 101 Sherman Road Dedham, MA (781) Fair Committee Chairperson Position is open. Librarian Susan Osgood 8 Hoper Blvd. Bellingham, MA (508) susanm_osgood@hotmail.com Swap N Sell N Wanted Classifieds Here s a column where you can sell, swap, or give away just about anything. If you are a paid member, advertising is free for as many issues as you wish. If you are not a member, the cost is $8.00/ad/issue (so, it pays to become a member for just $15!) Raffle Table Just a reminder that we need items for the raffle table. Please bear in mind to keep the items of good quality and as bee related at possible. Remember, one man s junk is another man s treasure. Norfolk County Bee Inspector Al Carl, the Chief Apiary Inspector for Massachusetts is looking for a bee inspector for this upcoming season. If you are interested, please contact him at , or al.carl@state.ma.us Sugar Andy Reseska still has 80 lbs boxes of sugar for sale for $24. Please contact him directly. Sweets for the Table In light of the current increase in our membership, we are anticipating a large turnout again at the October meeting. If we could have some extra help with sweets, it would be appreciated. Please contact Susan Simmons at susanhsims@hotmail.com. We had about 18 new members at the club, so if we could get 2-3 people to bring stuff that would be great. United State Department of Agriculture As I mentioned at the last meeting, Jim Praski from the USDA is looking for a continuing stream of information from local beekeepers. I have attached his introduction letter as well as a survey letter. Please fill this out and get it back to when you can. I think it is important for us as individuals, as a club and for the region. The more information we can provide him the better. 4

5 A Taste of Honey For People Apricot Honey Bread Makes 12 servings - Ingredients 3 cups whole wheat flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1-1/4cups 2% low-fat milk 1 cup honey 1 egg, slightly beaten 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup chopped dried apricots 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts or chopped almonds 1/2 cup raisins For the Bees Bee Hive Candy Recipe (Fondant) Stove Top Courtesy of Tim Sullivan Adapted by Tony Lulek with pictures Fondant bee candy can be fed directly to the bees once cooled. It is also common to use this recipe in small quantities to plug the hole on a Queen Cage. I have also been making half a batch as my freezer space is limited and I only have 3 hives. I use 5 1/2 cups sugar, 8 oz. Karo Syrup and 2/3 cups water. Ingredients Mix 5 pounds sugar, 1 pint light Karo syrup and 1 1/3 cups water Directions Heat to 242 F while stirring constantly this mix will be boiling for about 5 to 8 minutes before it reaches 242 F. Take if off the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes to start the cooling process. You then must start stirring until it completely cools.this will take about 20 minutes It will get whitish in color and thicken up. Once this happens, then you can pour onto paper plats. Don t wait too long or you will not be able to pour it and get it to the thickness that you need to put in the the shims. (1/4). When ready to feed, remove paper, break in half and place both halves over top bars, add a ¾ shim and replace inner cover, etc. I have put some pictures on this and page 7 to show you the process. Hope this helps. I know the first time I made it, I did it all wrong. Directions Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Combine milk, honey, egg and oil in separate large bowl. Pour milk mixture over dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Gently fold in apricots, sunflower seeds and raisins. Pour into greased 9 x 5 x 13-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Nutritional Information Per Serving Calories: 302 Calories from Fat: 15% Carbohydrates: 61 g Cholesterol: 20 mg Dietary Fiber: 5 g Fat Total: 6 g Protein: 7 g Sodium: 154 mg 5 This is what it looks like at 242 degrees

6 Minutes from the December 2007 Meetings The next association meeting at the Aggie School will take place on Monday, January 7, Attendance: 34 The weather was very cold and freezing rain and snow were forecast so the turnout was admirable. 2. Raffle Table: There was no table raffle this month because of the agenda items for this month. We will have a raffle at the January meeting so please bring an item, even one of your holiday gifts that can t be returned for cash. 3. Door prizes: Package of bees for Spring 2008(Judi Hindman and Kathy Gasbarro), Pillow with Honey Bees fabric (Pam Crowell) Meeting items 4. Boston Globe, Sunday December 2nd, article about our own Andy Reseska. Suites for the sweets: Holliston beekeeper tends 900 colonies. This is a great read. 5. Election of NCBA Officers for President Ed Karle Vice President Tony Lulek Recording Secretary Dave Lesco Corresponding Secretary Kate Notman Treasurer Tony Lulek Libraian Sue Osgood Fair Committee ( Open ) - Program Committee Tim Sullivan The motion to accept the slate was made and seconded. The motioned passed. 6. NCBA Beekeeper of the Year. Formal Thank you to Norm Shaw who retires as the Vice President of the NCBA after holding the office for over ten years. Tony Lulek and Whitley Frost made the presentations. Whitley shared her experiences learning beekeeping from Norm and related Norm s endless willingness to share his deep knowledge and experiences with anyone to further their own enjoyment with bees. This was a lot of fun and Norm was a real good sport about it all. Norm received several impressive honorariums and gifts: Norm became the first member of the NCBA Hall Of Fame which makes Norm a Life Member that no longer pays membership dues. Norm received a wonderful NCBA Hall Of Frame certificate, multi-color and ideal for framing. Whitley reproduced an antique map that has a wonderful beehive etching and added a dedication notation honoring Norm. Ed Karle gave Norm one of his 2008 calendars with beekeeping photos for each month. 7. Presentation of the movie Sister Bee, a 30-minute independent film now in our library collection. To quote the producer Sister Bee is a lyrical documentary about six women beekeepers who encounter startling beauty and spiritual truth in their work with honey bees. The film was well received, especially the candid comments about working with bees. 8. The food was unveiled for the remainder of the meeting which was open and informal. The catered food was from Roche Brothers and included shrimp tray appetizers, a European cheese platter, a pastry platter, cookies and brownies as well as cider and member supplied baked good and snacks. Nobody left this meeting hungry. 9. Honey tasting : We had over 20 different honey samples for the tasting. The variety of colors and flavors was very impressive. It was also interesting to see the different labels members use to advertise their products. 10. Member inventions and supplies: We had several fondant racks and shims as well as a innovative bottom board from manufactured in California. Their web site also has some good information about their experiences with sugar dusting for varroa mite IPM control. 11. January 2008 meeting agenda 1. Open question to the membership: What would you like the NCBA to do in 2008? 2. We want member ideas about where to focus our resources for the coming year. 3 NCBA Rebranding project: Web site design and content, logo items contest. Suggestions from members. 4. Bee school 2008 The class schedule. Volunteers encouraged to help the program. 6

7 Minutes of meeting continued from page 6 5. Hive activity tracking for bee and hive health and better state and USDA regional information 6. Massachusetts is looking for a bee inspector for the summer for Norfolk County. It pays $17/hour plus mileage. 7. Monthly Q&A Please feel free to send questions to any association officer to be asked at the meeting. 8. What s new in the periodicals and journals about bee health and happenings? 9. Meeting topic: Small cell foundation report by Tim Sullivan In addition the minutes of the meeting, I am also attached to the the list of Q&A from the December meeting, along with notes that Ed Karle took at the Southern New England Beekeepers Association meeting. Meeting Discussions Since it has become part of our regular meetings to have a discussion about current beekeeping procedures and questions & answer sessions, we will be posting a writing of this on the web. They are too lengthy to incorporate into the newsletter. I will but a outline of what was discussed so that people can reference them when they go to the web. See page 3 for a list of topics at the previous meetings. Let set for about 10 minutes before stirring After being stirred for about 10 minutes Almost ready to pour Poured and cooling 7

8 NCBA Holiday Party 2007, NCBA Hall of Fame presentation, good eats, and honey tasting. From: Tony Lulek 35 Dalton Road Holliston, MA TO: 8