June 13 Meeting

WCBA June 13, 2023 Meeting 

7:00 June Workshop: Honey Tasting (no Zoom)
This month we will have a honey tasting experience led by Dana Stalhman. Dana will provide several honeys for everyone to sample including sourwood, tupelo and clover. Feel free to bring honey that you would like to share with everyone (in a squeeze bottle if possible). Does anyone have cotton or gallberry honey from eastern NC? The club will provide tastings spoons.

7:30 Marketing Your Honey: David Bailey from Bailey Bee Supply

This marketing talk breaks down the cost to the beekeeper, ideas on getting a fair market price for the hobbyist and sales techniques. David shares his ideas to help beekeepers selling their honey get the best market value for their liquid gold!

Biography: David Bailey

David opened his first business Bailey's Landscaping at 16 years old.  What began as mowing lawns progressed to hard-scapes over the next 35 years.  He was looking for another business not quite so "back breaking" and an opportunity to buy a retail beekeeping supply store came along.  So he closed Bailey's Landscaping and opened Bailey Bee Supply. David loves sharing his life lessons and skills with the community. 

We will be meeting at Wake County Commons Building. 

Address: 4011 Carya Drive Raleigh, NC 27610 

Phone Number:   919-250-1000

There is plenty of parking in front of this building.  There is a guard at the front desk when you walk into the building.  If you put the address into your GPS it will direct you right to the building. 

For those joining remotely for the meeting:

Zoom meeting will begin at 7:30 pm 

Topic: WCBA June 13, 2023 Monthly Meeting

Time: Jun 13, 2023 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87297275689?pwd=SDQzNTBWempjY3I5YWlNaWoxSzhRQT09

Meeting ID: 872 9727 5689

Passcode: 356384

WCBA 2023 Financial Update through May 31

Income -                     $10,372.00

Highlights:

•     Beekeeping School -                    $3,904.00
•     Memberships -                             $3,109.00
•     General Donations -                     $1,014.00
•     Raffle for NCSU Endowment -     $1,870.00

Expenses -                   $3073.06

Highlights:

•     General Expenses  -                      $1,517.58 (1)
•     Beekeeping School -                      $1,221.63 (2)
•     Swarm Capture Poles -                     $159.85

(1) Increased with expenses for NCSU Lab outing picnic

(2) Increased with order of replacement club t-shirts

Current Bank Balance  $27,869.32

Volunteers Needed for June 3rd at Lonerider Brewing (Wake Forest Taproom)

We have a signup below to volunteer for the event.  Please review the slots and volunteer if you can attend.  We are going to have a lot of fun, so come be part of this with us!  We could still use a few volunteers for some of the stations! 

Staffing Signup:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084EADA62EA46-beebenefit

Fundraiser Festival at Lonerider Taproom Wake Forest

Where: Lonerider Brewing1839 S Main St Suite 600, Wake Forest, NC 27587 

When:  Saturday June 3    12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who solicited donations, bought items, sponsored items and more for our raffle baskets and items!  We have 10 items for raffle stations, each ranging in value from $75-150:

• Gotta Be NC Basket
• Honeybee Lovers Basket (2)
• Taste of the Triangle Basket (2)
• Get Outside Basket 
• Country Chic Basket
• $100 Peddler Steakhouse 
• 4 Anytime Passes to Lonnie Poole Golfcourse
• Sunflower Barn Quilt

Even if you can't help at the event, you can help spread the word: post on Nextdoor, Facebook, Twitter, and more!  

Swarm season is rapidly coming to an end.  There maybe a few swarms after June 1 but there are usually very few of them. 

For those that participated in the swarm team this year, please make sure your captain has the information on the number of swarms you have caught.  We hope to have a summary of this years swarm activity later in the month of June.    

Remember,if you receive a swarm call or see a post on our FaceBook page, please touch base with the swarm captain for that area before heading out.  Here is the link to the Swarm Team on the website: 

https://wakecountybeekeepers.org/swarm

If you have committed to collect a swarm, please let the homeowner know about when you will arrive.  If things change, just let the homeowner and your swarm captain know so someone else can respond.  Thanks!  

Also, several people have called about cut outs, or hives in houses or trees.   Due to liability, this is not a service WCBA provides.  Please refer folks to this website: 

https://beeremovalsource.com/bee-removal-list/north-carolina/

**Announcing the Wake County Beekeepers June Photo Contest!**

The winning photographs for the month of May will be announced at the club meeting in June and will receive:

• 1 loaf of homemade bread (pictured below)
• 1/2 lb. fresh honey butter

AND will be showcased at our Wake County Beekeepers table at the State Fair in October!

We will be offering multiple Hands on the Hive sessions with Mr. Buzz, a.k.a. club member Ben Crawley  as OPEN SESSIONS or for the purpose of taking your Practical Test as part of the requirement to become a NCSBA Certified Beekeeper.  

The following dates will be offered and are limited to 25 participants per session: (NOTE START TIME CHANGED to 2:00 pm).

• June 25 at 2:00 pm
• July 16 at 2:00 pm
• August 20 at 2:00 pm

All sessions will be held at the Historic Oak View County Park, located at 4028 Carya Dr, off of Poole Rd in Raleigh.  Time for each session is 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. 
Please bring your smokers, beekeeping clothing/gear & Face Masks, as this is a working session to explore the current status of the hives on site you should be prepared.  You do not need to bring a hive tool as they will be provided for your use during the session.  At the end of each session Ben Crawley & Susan Benton will administer the final portion of the Practical Test for those wanting to do so. 

If you have not taken your certified beekeeper written test and would like to take that test, please contact Susan Benton directly to make those arrangements.

We will have WCBA T-Shirts and Hats for purchase at each Meeting!  T-Shirts are $15.00 and hats are $12.00.  

After having our initial order of T-Shirts depleted, we have a fresh supply of colors and sizes for all T-Shirts and a lot of hats to keep sun off our heads.  They will be for sale at the June meeting.  If you want to make arrangements to purchase outside of the meeting, contact treasurer@ wakecountybeekeepers.org.

June 2023 in the Bee Yard
Chris Hagwood

June looks to be an ideal time to harvest honey in our area. The main nectar flow has likely ended or is in its final days.  Personally, I like the idea of assessing what is truly surplus honey and getting that safely off the hive prior to any catastrophic events like robbing.  I leave ample honey in a special super dedicated to the bees and never harvest that honey.  It is on darker comb, previously used for brood, so I have no interest in using it.  The honey frames in my hives have never had brood, nor pollen, and this aids in storing the comb the rest of the year.  Wax moths prefer brood comb and often will leave comb alone if it has only had honey in it (but never say never).

Speaking of harvesting honey, NOW is the time to be on the lookout for a frame of honey that you want to enter for judging or display in the fair.  To preserve it, you will want to carefully freeze the frame to kill any hive beetle larvae.  You can leave it frozen until just before the fair, or you can remove it after 48 hours and store it so it remains undamaged until then.

Similarly, if you’re making cut comb honey and have some that is especially appealing, you can save some of those for display or competition at the fair.  Cut comb placed into a jar of honey is called CHUNK HONEY and it also has its own category for judging at the fair.

And let’s not forget regular extracted honey.  The club will aid members to prepare their honey for competition at an event later this year.  Typical honey is amber or light amber in color.  So, if you have honey that is darker or lighter than normal, be sure to save at LEAST 3 FULL JARS of this honey to prepare for the fair this year.  

Stay tuned for more information from Tony Gaddis at meetings, events, and the newsletter on how you can participate in this year’s NC State Fair with products from your hives.  There are many, many categories to consider.   You can see the rules and more information from 2022 at this web URL: https://www.ncstatefair.org/2022/Competitions/Entering/documents/2022HON.pdf

We have included below how you can print off a name badge from the WCBA website.  Print off your badge when you come to the next meeting, we have plastic badge protectors to provide you.  If you do not bring a badge we have badges you can use to write your name on it.  Please wear badges as they help us to better get to know each other. 

Upcoming Workshops and Conferences :   

• July 13 - 15 - NCSBA Summer Conference
•  Blue Ridge Community College Flat Rock, NC
•  https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/calendar/state-meetings

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