Wilson County Beekeepers

Meeting Minutes  – Monday, 10 Sseptember 2018

Carey Mitchell, Wilson County Beekeepers President called the Monday, September 10 meeting to order at the Ward Ag Center with a total of 60 members and guest in attendance.  We once again met in the Education Building, but the East/West building should be ready by the October meeting.  The minutes from July 30th meeting were approved.

Fair Business Discussed

The Fair was a huge success… 575,047 total attendance with 136,626 on the last Saturday.  We had 26 categories with a total of 132 entries (up 50 from 2017), and 42 entrants (up 21 from last year).  Total dividends available was $572 with $450 awarded.  There was $1,774 collected for honey, wax, and raffle basket tickets (plus $30.00 in honey sales from left over honey sold at the meeting).  This was AFTER paying for the three buckets of honey purchased.  There were 577 raffle tickets purchased with Karen McBride from Lebanon winning the basket.   She happens to be a new beekeeper this year.  We had 41 folks sign up for the short course at the booth.  A big thank-you goes out to the following who helped make the Honey Show the best one yet:

• everyone that sat at the booth—we had a total of 42 volunteers with 437 volunteer hours (set up to tear down and put away)
• everyone that donated honey
• everyone that brought in entries
• everyone that donated items for the raffle basket
• those that brought in frames for extracting (including Dale’s cut comb frame)—Allen, Ricky, Dale, Dave and Carey
• those that brought in observation hives—Allen, Dale, Jessica, & Margaret
• Those that did presentations—Cynthia, Allen, Peggy, Margaret & Karen, Dale, Jessica, Paula, and Carey
• and of course our mascots—Jennifer & Jessica

A big Congrats! goes out to JD Vantrease for winning the ‘Bluest of the Blues’ award for his light extracted honey.

Old Business Discussed

• Jennifer Ferguson, our new librarian, was introduced.
• We were given several boxes of Mite Away and Mentol. If anyone can use it, please help yourself but be careful.  Use according to directions.
• Conference Scholarships were being offered for first-time attendees. WCBA will pay the first $25.00 and recipient pays the balance.
• A reminder…the club does have extracting equipment for rent…$10.00 with a $10.00 cleaning deposit which will be refunded when returned clean. Call Fred Dawson, but please give a 72-hour notice, as others are using the equipment.

New Business Discussed

• Carey thanked Sid Baldwin and Kellie Verrelli for their recent book donations.
• Brushy Mountain Bee Farm will be one of the vendors at Conference and is offering a 10% discount plus free shipping on orders made 2 weeks prior to Conference. Also in attendance will be Kelley’s, Mann Lake, and Bon Aqua Springs.
• TBA Elections—three WCBA members are on the ballot and would appreciate your vote: Carey Mitchell is running for Executive Vice President, Jessica Dodds for Middle TN Regional VP, and Petra for treasurer.  David Thompson encouraged everyone to vote.
• Carey mentioned that the WCBA elections will be in November and we will be looking for a new TBA delegate to replace him and possibly one to replace Jessica should she win her VP position. Candice Thompson addressed the group reminding them that the delegate is there to bring word to and from TBA for things we would like to see addressed.

Jessica’s Corner

Jessica announced that there are less than 200 license plates that need to be preordered in order to submit her packet to the State to move forward.  Please consider pre-ordering if you haven’t already done so.

TO DO List:

• Check stores—need to make sure you have stores for winter—60 pounds
• Check to make sure your colonies are queenright
• Evaluate your colonies…it’s better to have one strong hive then 2 weak hives
• Read and plan for Spring
• Feed—if they need it
• Treat for mites
• Make sure bees have a water source
• Store equipment well to prevent wax moths and mold

Jim Garrison, President of Beekeepers of Middle TN and current TBA Middle TN Regional Vice President was present to discuss Fall and Winter Management.  He also advised us that HAS—Heartland Apiculture Society will be at Belmont next year and encouraged everyone to attend.

There was a final call for Scholarships…no one else claimed one…so they went to the following:  Dee Climer, Sam Cromwell, Mechele Germany, Dwight Huddleston, Ernie Calabria, Matt Johnson, Clara Vantrease, Sterling Earhart, Justin Thompson, and Briana Kruse.  As Dwight Huddleston had already submitted his Conference registration, the $25.00 scholarship will be refunded to him.  That is a total of 11 scholarships granted.

Announcements:

• Next Meeting…October 1…Sue Dickhaus from Bountiful Acres will be doing a program on Lotions and Potions. Trevor Qualls was scheduled to be at the meeting, but will be with us in November.  Should be back in our regular location
• October 11—TBA Board Meeting…who will be representing WCBA?
• October 12 & 13—TBA Conference
• October 23-25—Short Course
• November 5—Emergency Feeding & Readying for Spring with Trevor Qualls (order your equipment and have him bring it).

Carey and Jessica handed out door prizes at the end of the meeting to Jake Balentine, Tony Mercante, Laura Lindsay, David Thompson, Debbie Anderson, David Elliott, and Robin Majors

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 for refreshments and fellowship.

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Respectfully submitted:  Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
September 11, 2018

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