7:00 PM: Record Keeping Basics with Phil Crump.

Phil is 71 yrs old, married and has a son. He has been beekeeping off and on since about 1980. He operated a local tree service in Raleigh since 1977 w/ 23 employees and is retired now as a practitioner but still consulting as an arborist and expert witness. He attended NCSU, graduated with a BS in Horticulture Science, minors in Forestry Management, Soil Science, Wetland Assessment, and Environmental Science. Currently, Phil maintains approximately 60 hives. The apiaries are located in Johnston, Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties, expanding westward in Winston Salem, we sell honey from seven NC counties, soon more counties, plus distinctive honeys from the gulf coast and the plains of Wisconsin.

Phil enjoys the challenge of beekeeping, enjoys the people, enjoys making beekeeping equipment. Other hobbies include good conversation with friends (and strangers), eating good food, gardening, woodworking, motorcycle riding, attending flat track motorcycle races, drawing, and being outdoors in general.

7:30 PM: This month's topic is Cotton and Bees, and how the two can be mutually beneficial to one another.

Our speaker is Guy Collins. Guy Collins wears two hats. He is employed by NC State University where he serves as Professor and Extension Cotton Specialist. In this role, he develops research-based

recommendations for North Carolina cotton growers and advises them on the latest management practices that maximize profits, sustainability, and environmentally responsibility. The majority of his research is on-farm, in growers’ fields across all parts of North Carolina where cotton is grown. He began his career in 2009 at the University of Georgia as the Extension Cotton Agronomist and served 5 years there. A former colleague and friend in Georgia later went on to be employed by Rossman Apiaries, which facilitated Dr Collins’s endeavor into commercial beekeeping, which is the other hat he wears. 

Guy and his wife Ashley, also own and operate COTTON BOLL Pollinators LLC and BAYED BEAR Honey LLC in Bailey NC, which was launched approximately 6 years ago. Guy had been beekeeping with his father on the family farm for approximately 15 years, but his connections with Rossman Apiaries spurred him into pursuing commercial beekeeping. They now sell bee packages and supplies from Rossman Apiaries, as well as their own NC-raised Nucs and Queens, as well as pollination services and of course, cotton honey.