Wilson County Beekeepers

Meeting Minutes – Monday, 1 May 2017

Wilson County Beekeepers Association President, Carey Mitchell, welcomed 88 members, guests and visitors to the monthly meeting at the Ward Ag Center on May 1, 2017.   The minutes of the April meeting were approved.

Old Business Discussed:

• The Swarm List was available should members want to add their name.  You do have to be a current WCBA member in order to be on the list.
• Field Day is scheduled for May 20 with the alternate rain date May 27.  Start time is 10:00 with Sterling Earhart (Mt. Juliet) and Jim Murff and Mike Belcher (Lebanon) opening their yards.  Directions were posted in the newsletter.  Carey reminded those that are attending NOT to bring their smokers, hive tools, or gloves.  Also be sure your protective clothing is clean…we don’t want any cross-contamination between yards.
• Jessica Dodds announced that the Bee License Plate proposal has been approved and will provide more details once she receives the packet from the state.  There will have to be 1,000 pre-purchased plates in order for the project to go forward.  She will keep us informed.  She has a picture of the preliminary tag.
• Jessica Dodds is still looking for volunteers for Farm Day on May 10 and 11
• T-shirt order form available at Petra’s desk.  Color choices:  Gray with black lettering, Bright Blue with white lettering, and Bright Orange with black lettering.  We need at least 12 of each color (no matter the sizing) to place the order.  Cost is $10.00 per shirt and we will continue to take orders until June.  You can email your order to Petra and monies will be collected when order is received.

New Business Discussed:

• The June Picnic is scheduled for Monday, June 5 at 7:00 pm.  RSVP by June 2.  Families are asked to bring a covered dish AND a dessert.  Club will be providing the barbeque, chips and all of the drinks.  Our charity for the picnic will be New Leash on Life.  Either make a monetary donation or specific needs (bleach, copy paper, Dawn dish soap, laundry detergent, cat litter (non-clumping clay)
• Just a reminder… if you are looking for queens, please check your membership book…numbers are available for local producers
• Petra discussed the fair:

1. Wilson County Beekeepers will be the main attraction in the Veteran’s Building this year.  We will share the building with the Ham Show and the Wine and Lager.  We will be accommodating the back portion of the building, so we have plenty of space to spread out.
2. On the first Monday of the fair (August 21) there will be a total solar eclipse starting around noon and the fair will open at 10:00 am, including all of the buildings so we will do three four-hour shifts (the same as Saturdays). Fair schedule will be available at the July meeting, but if you have a particular day/time you would like to cover, you can email Petra
3. We would like to do some sort of presentation each evening (around 8:00 pm) so give it some thought if you would like to help.  (extracting will still be on Friday/Saturday/Sunday evenings)
4. Entries this year will be taken on Saturday, August 12 from 10-3 in the Veteran’s Building, as we will not be doing the baked goods or the observation hives
5. Hopefully will have an observation hive each day…if you would like to help, please let her know

Margaret had her May To Do List:

• Inspect hives…be sure your hive is queen right, check for swarm cells, congestion
• Add supers
• No syrup feeding with honey supers on
• Read!
• Check out the WCBA library

Kent Williams had a most entertaining presentation on things that can cause summer losses and what to do about them.

Announcements:

• May 10 and 11—Farm Day
• May 20—Field Day with May 27 as a rain alternate
• June 2—Picnic RSVP
• June 5—Picnic… bring your covered dish AND dessert plus your donations for New Leash on Life

Carey and Margaret handed out the evening’s door prizes to:  Dell Binkley won a bee brush, Lanny Correll got a t-shirt from Rossman Apiaries, Paula Rogers donated some honey caramels which were won by Ronnie Woodard, and Roger Flatt won the Honey Candy.

Respectfully submitted:  Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
May 2, 2017

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