The Eastern Apicultural Society of North America will hold its 2008 EAS Short Course and Conference on the weekend of August 4-8, 2008, at Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.

The 2008 Short course will have one track for newer beekeepers (0-5 yr experience), and one for more advanced beekeepers (greater than 5 yr experience). Attendees are free to move back and forth between sessions. “Hands-on classes” in the apiary will be led by EAS Master Beekeepers and beekeeping inspectors. Some of the presenters for the short course will be Dr. Clarence Collison, Mississippi State University, Dr. Tom Webster, Kentucky State University, and Dr. Sean Clark, Berea College. In the Conference section of the weekend, look forward to more technical talks by university and USDA researchers, and a mix of workshops on a variety of topics.

For more information, including the conference program brochure, visit http://easternapiculture.org/programs/2008/.

The Ontario Beekeepers Association is offering a series of 1-day beekeeping workshops on Introductory Queen Rearing, Introduction to Beekeeping, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), to be held in Guelph, Ontario on three dates is May 2008.

Workshop #1: Introductory Queen Rearing
Saturday May 10, 2008
9:30 am to 4:00 pm
This queen rearing workshop consists of classroom sessions and demonstrations with hands-on lessons in the bee yard. Topics include queen biology, methods of rearing queens, preparing a cell builder colony, grafting techniques as well as care and introduction of cells and queens. Each participant will receive a copy of the Ontario Queen Rearing Manual.

Workshop #2: Introductory Beekeeping
Saturday May 24, 2008
9:30 am to 4:00 pm
This beekeeping workshop consists of classroom sessions and hands-on lessons in the bee yard. Topics include basic honey bee biology, beekeeping equipment, working in the bee colony, seasonal beekeeper responsibilities, harvesting and extracting honey and preparing bee colonies for winter. Each participant will receive a copy of the Ontario Beekeeping Manual.

Workshop #3: Beekeeping and IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
Sunday May 25, 2008
9:30 am to 4:00 pm
This intermediate beekeeping workshop consists of classroom sessions and hands-on lessons in the bee yard. Topics include pest and disease biology and identification, monitoring for pests and diseases, record keeping, treatments and integrated pest management. Each participant will receive a copy of the Ontario Beekeeping Manual.

For all workshops, lunch will be included in the cost of registration. Coffee and snacks will also be provided.

Location:
All workshops will take place at the Orchard Park Office Centre, 5420 Highway 6 North, Guelph, Ontario.

Cost:

• OBA members: $100.00 + 5% GST for the day (total = $105.00 per person per workshop)
• Non-members: $110.00 + 5% GST for the day (total = $115.50 per person per workshop)

Enrollment is limited to a maximum of 24 participants per workshop — first come/ first served. Contact the OBA Tech-Transfer office at (519) 836-3609 or e-mail shrewless@yahoo.com for more information, or to request a registration package.

Please be advised that the semi-annual meeting of the Southeast New Brunswick Beekeepers Association will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2008 in the NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture Building off Main Street in Sussex, New Brunswick.

Coffee will be served at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting will commence at 10:00 a.m. There will be a Panel Discussion and your experts will be there to answer your questions, so have your questions ready! Lunch is on your own, as this seemed to work out well last time. Elections of the Executive for the coming year will also take place at this meeting, and both the SENBBA president and the secretary will be retiring from their positions this year. If you would be willing to put your name forward for a position, please contact Ann Vautour at evangelinemiel@hotmail.com.

Note: Southeast NB Beekeepers Association members are also reminded that their membership fee of $10.00 is due this month.

Please note that the next meeting of the CBA, originally scheduled for 8 April 2008, has been postponed for two weeks. This is so that Paul Vautour, president of the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association, will be available to speak to our group.

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Here’s something light for a weekend…

Urban Honey is a 4-minute documentary video by student filmmaker Matt Fisher, about an unconventional San Francisco man who keeps bees in his urban backyard.

Jon Rolston originally wanted to raise chickens, but thought they might attract rats and rile up the neighbours… so he settled for a hive of bees. Rolston’s approach to apiculture, not to mention some of his beekeeping methods, may raise a few eyebrows among more experienced beekeepers, but the video itself is nicely crafted with some beautiful close-up shots of the backyard hive.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Michael Martine for spotting this video and sending in the link.