Fifty-nine members and guests met at the Ward Ag Center on July 25, 2022 for a meeting of the Wilson County Beekeepers Association. President Carey Mitchell called the meeting to. Minutes of the July 11th meeting were approved as posted in the last newsletter. This is the second meeting in July, as we will not be meeting in August, due to the Fair. The reported checkbook balance is $________. Membership count stands at 178.
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Old Business Discussed:
- Wilson County Fair—Tennessee State Fair dates are August 18-27. Petra has the Fair Schedule. Please help where you can. She also has one-pound jars of Honey Show entries at $1.00 each.
- Entry date for Honey Show is Saturday, August 13 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm with judging starting at 3:30 pm.
- 6-ounce bears are available for those willing to donate honey for the Fair sale.
- We will be doing an extracting demonstration on the weekends…will need 10 frames for this.
- Past winners of the New Beekeeper Scholarship…remember you have a 2-gallon honey commitment
- Mike Studer will be speaking at our regular club meeting on March 6, discussing honeybee pests and diseases, and he will be doing a two-night Inspector Class March 7 & 8, 2023. This is a refresher course for current inspectors and new course for those that are wanting/willing to be inspectors…requirements are a minimum of 5 years beekeeping experience and have gone through the UT Master Beekeeping course. There is a 25 seat limit, so if you are interested, let Petra know before it is open to surrounding associations.
- TBA Fall Mini-Conference for the North Middle Region is scheduled for October 8 at the Dayspring Academy in Greenbrier. Online registration is open through the TBA website. Thomas Seeley will be the featured speaker, via zoom. Cost will be $25 per person/$19 for seniors, and 16 and under are free.
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New Business Discussed:
- We received a $400.00 grant from TBA to be used towards our speakers’ fees.
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Leonard’s Monthly To-Do
- If you haven’t removed your honey, do so and extract
- If you treat for mites, do so after removing your honey. Check for other diseases
- Time to requeen to have young queens for the winter
- Remove empty supers
- Feed weak colonies or combine
What’s blooming (at our house) that the bees are working:
- Catnip
- Clover
- Crepe Myrtle (especially the white)
- Cucumber
- Cup Flower
- Devil’s Walking Stick
- Magnolia
- Milkweed
- Mints
- Partridge Pea
- Squash
- Sunflowers
- Vitex
The fall flowers are starting: Boneset and purple Iron weed have already started blooming. Golden rod is showing color.
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Program: Kent Williams had a fabulous program on fall and winter management. Petra will be emailing the his recipe after the meeting and including it in the newsletter
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Announcements:
- August 13—Fair entries 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
- August 18-27—Wilson County Fair—Tennessee State Fair
- September 12—Trevor Qualls—How, When and Why to Feed Bees
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Door Prizes:
- Box of shallow foundation donated by Lanny Correll—Roger Flatt
- Bucket drainer donated by Jessica Dodds—John Stansberry
- Berry strainer donated by Susan Crawford—Beth McClain
- Lighter—Becky Blackwell
- Hive tool—Willow Bradberry
- Honey candy—Rhonda Stansberry
- Queen catcher—Jeremy Spires
- XL gloves—Jeremy Blackwell
- Tea towels donated by Lucy Freeman—Doug Bowes
- Vitex—Leonard Walker & Allen Ferguson
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The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm for refreshments.
The Club’s current checkbook balance is $—————-
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Respectfully submitted: Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
July 26, 2022
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Wilson County Beekeepers 