Kids Learning About Bees

By Violet Bourns

Tyler was the host city for the Texas Beekeepers Association Annual Convention on November 12-15, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Select on South Broadway. Our special guests were the Texas Honey Queen, Nicole Pettibon from McKinney, American Honey Queen, Diane Jurchen from Iowa and other Queens and Princess from all over Texas. They included Collin County Honey Queen, Allison Adams from Plano and Honey Princess, Kaylynn Mansker from Nevada; Williamson County Honey Queen, Rebekah Jones from Spicewood, and ETBA Honey Queen, Kellie Lenamond from Wills Point.
Thursday the 12th focused on Kids Learning about Bees; renamed by Jimmie Oakley and in the future, will be called “KLAB.” Our goal was to reach 500 school-age children in the East Texas area who were home-schooled, in private schools and 4-H clubs who could attend on a weekday. We had a grand total of 440 children, excluding accompanying adults and children in strollers.
Thanks to the hard work and commitment of Tammy Lenamond, mother of ETBA Honey Queen, Kellie Lenamond, and her committee, consisting of Judy Giles, Brenda Claire and Darlene Rappazzo, many of the small communities were reached, which helped make it a success. These ladies also worked the registration table.
As the teachers and children arrived, they were greeted outside the hotel by Brandon and Susan Pollard of Collin County Beekeepers dressed as honey bees with yellow and black balloons, and had time to meet and have their picture taken with Buzzy Bear played by members of the Seida, Kilpatrick and Mansker families. Once inside, they were escorted to the registration table by Patsy McCall, Gloria Harmon, Karen Anderson and Joe Mekalip. From there, each group was escorted to the different tables by a Honey Queen or Princess. The teenage beekeepers of ETBA, with an experienced ETBA adult at the table, volunteered to teach the children different aspects of beekeeping.

The first display was an observation hive that contained four frames of bees with a marked queen displayed by ETBA student, Mike Rappazzo. Mike had made an observation hive with a swivel base and safety glass with the help of his instructor, Dick Counts. This allowed the children to safely see the bees at work as Mike explained the three kinds of bees and their role in the hive. Mike Lenamond worked with him.
Next the children were educated about the importance of the honey bee as the most valuable pollinator of the world’s food supply by ETBA student, Hayden Wolf and her father, Gus Hayden had many pictures of bees collecting pollen and nectar from flowers. She explained the different parts of the flower and the difference between pollen and nectar; and also how the bees store pollen in their pollen baskets and nectar in their stomachs. They then fly back to the hive, deposit the pollen into the cells to feed the young larvae and the queen and transfer the nectar to the other worker bees, so they can make honey.
The third table demonstrated the beekeepers protective clothing such as the suit, veil, gloves and boots worn by Joshua and Joseph Bradley, while working with their bees; and when they experienced first-hand bee removal from a building with instructor, Dick Counts. The Bradley boys brought a honey and deep super, top & bottom, inner & top cover with frames & foundation to show the children how bees live and are taken care of in boxes called hives. Joe Moench worked with them.
Around the room to the extracting table where a child could see first-hand how pure natural honey was cut off the comb with a hot knife, frames put in a stainless container that spun around to remove the honey; which was strained, then bottled by ETBA student, Travis Freeze and adult, John McCall. Each child received a brochure about making honey and the teacher was given a honey stick for each child.
Next the children got to see a collection of old skeps that are no longer used from different areas of the world brought by Mr. Jan Aerts. ETBA student, Roland Crossman did many hours of research to learn about the skeps so he could participate with Mr. Aerts in explaining how they were made and used in the past.

The next table, Bee Swarms and Stings from bees are always an area of interest. ETBA President, Andrew Bellefeuille and his twins, Katie (who shares her father’s enthusiasm) and Will who was just happy to hand out neon pencils to everyone. Kerrie Lenamond, who had helped her father, Mike collect swarms helped educate about swarms, remedies that can be used if a person gets stung by a bee, and how to remove the stinger.

The last table and perhaps the most popular for the children was the candle making table where the children got the experience of hands on rolling a beeswax candle to take home. Linda Pelham and Gayle Mekalip worked with students Erin Lenamond, Abby Giles and others who volunteered to help when it got crowded.
On the way out the children visited with ETBA Honey Queen, Kellie Lenamond, who displayed her scrapbook and a bee quilt she had made that was later auctioned off for $500.00 to support the Texas Honey Queen Program. The most popular question was “Are you a real queen?” She assured them she was; not only as a title, but that she also worked her bees like all beekeepers and extracted her own honey to use in cooking for her family.
On the way back to their schools, students, parents and teachers stopped to purchase small glass bee trinkets made by the Lenamond children and sold by student, Becka Lenamond and Susan Holloway. Also available was ETBA’s cookbook “Cooking With My Honey”; a fund raiser to support our Queen and Princess sold by Stan and Mary Jo Brantley and our 102 year old beekeeper, Mr. John Knight and wife, Shirley.

Submitted by Violet Bourns
East Texas Beekeepers Association
Honey Queen-Princess Chairperson

by Jimmie L. Oakley

The Holiday Inn Select Hotel in Tyler, Texas, was the site of the Texas Beekeepers Association Convention this year. The meeting took place over the third weekend in November, starting on Thursday morning the 12th and running through Sunday morning the 15th, giving the beekeepers and visitors to the event three full days of learning and activities.
Thursday morning the Convention kicked off with another successful run of Kids-LAB (learning about bees). Coordinated and directed by Texas Honey Queen Chair, Shirley Acevedo, the East Texas Beekeepers manned their education stations as Honey Queens and Princesses escorted the various home-schooled groups through the large staging area to learn more about bees. There were over 440 youngsters in attendance, not counting teachers and parents.
Concurrently, Dr. Larry Connor of Wicwas Press from Kalamazoo, MI, conducted a well attended workshop on Honey Bee Management (Level II).
The TBA Executive Committee also met on Thursday morning to take care of preliminary business of the Association. Chaired by TBA President, Todd Youngblood, the Committee took up important issues and considered the budget for the coming fiscal year (2009-2010).
In the afternoon, the vendors began to set up the Trade Show in the Conference Center. This year seven vendors were present: Dadant & Sons, Mann Lake, Ltd., Texas Insurance & Financial Services, American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers, Jan Aerts - Bee Services and Jerry Freeman - Beetle Traps. Five other vendors participated by sending door prizes and/or catalogs: Bee Culture, National Honey Board, Bucko Gloves, Plastic Packaging Concepts and Walter T. Kelly.
The Annual “Bee Buzz Social and Honey Queen Reception” was hosted on Thursday evening by American Honey Queen, Diane Jurchen; Texas Honey Queen, Nicole Pettibon; Collin County Honey Queen, Allison Adams; East Texas Honey Queen, Kellie Lenamond; Williamson County Honey Queen, Rebekah Jones and Collin County Honey Princess, Kaylynn Mansker. There was a great turnout with good food and drink, the renewing of old friendships and several long-time beekeepers from the area getting to attend. Again, Burleson Honey Company of Waxahachie, TX, generously sponsored the food and drink with the additional help of Dadant & Sons, Inc. of Paris, Texas, and Mann Lake Ltd. of Hackensack, MN; and the Honey Queens offered (honey) sweet treats to all who visited their lovely display tables.
Friday morning was the official start of the Convention with the Representative Leo Burman of the Texas 6th District giving the Welcome, followed by the TBA President’s Address from Todd Youngblood. The Honey Queens were officially introduced by Shirley Acevedo, Texas Honey Queen Chair. Attending this year was Diane Jurchen, ABF Honey Queen from Cumberland, IA; Nicole Pettibon, Texas Honey Queen from McKinney, TX; Allison Adams, CCHBA Honey Queen from Plano, TX; ETBA Honey Queen, Kellie Lenamond, from Wills Point, TX; WCABA Honey Queen, Rebekah Jones, from Spicewood, TX, and CCHBA Honey Princess, Kaylynn Mansker from Nevada, TX. Texas Honey Queen, Nicole Pettibon gave her event filled PowerPoint slide presentation to the appreciation of the beekeepers assembled.
After the morning break, Dr. Bastina Drees from Texas A&M moderated a panel to present the latest on ‘our newest problem’, the Rasberry Crazy Ant. We were privileged to have Tom Rasberry of Pearland, TX who has been fighting the ant for the last 5-6 years. Steve Coplin of Algoa, a victim of the pest was on the panel with his experience. Dr. Shashank Nilalhe, Entomologist from the Texas Department of Agriculture lent his expertise.
The Honey Queen Program hosted the Queen’s Luncheon during the noon hour to a record crowd, giving the Queens and Princess opportunity to share some personal and charming experiences

The afternoon general session featured speakers from the USDA Honey Bee Lab in Weslaco as John Adamczyk opened the session with his remarks and was followed by Dr. William Meikle speaking on the research on the Small Hive Beetle. Dr. Frank Eischen brought us a report on his Overwintering and Feeding Trials. Before the afternoon break, Raul Rivera and Juan Campos addressed the subject of Fatty Acids and Proteins in Overwintered Honey Bees.
After the break John Talbert, TBA Executive Secretary and ABF Director provided a preview of the ABF and AHPA Conventions in January of 2010, and extended invitations to TBA members to both meetings.
Dr. Clint Walker of Walker Honey Co. in Rogers, TX, brought us the latest on the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, and Area 2 Director, Blake Shook enlightened all the attendees on Registration, Regulation, Licensing and Labeling issues in regard to your honey business.
On Friday evening, the awards from the TBA Honey, Wax and Photo Contest were presented. Henry Graham hosted the award presentation this year and was assisted by the Honey Queens and Princess. As each category was announced and ribbons handed out, the Honey Queens posed so pictures could be taken to record the event. The Honey Queen Program took center stage to close out the evening in good-natured competition as the Honey Queens played the game “Jeopardy” (provided in PowerPoint by former Texas & ABF Honey Princess Sarah Paulson) to exhibit their bee knowledge. It was an enjoyable contest. Thank you ladies!
Samuel Heinz of D’Hanis, Tx, Delegates Committee Chair, hosted a Delegate’s Breakfast on Saturday morning that was well attended. Accomplishments were acknowledged and future activities were discussed. The dedication of the new Honey Bee Research Facility was selected for the site for the winter delegates meeting
Dr. Clint Walker opened the final session of the Convention on Saturday morning, speaking on the US Honey Board and the National Honey Packers & Importers Board with some insight as to what is happening.
The Convention received a visit from US Congressman Louie Gohmnrt (East Texas) District 1 as he welcomed us to East Texas and was made aware of the issues beekeepers are facing. He addressed the session.
Before the break, an aggregate of speakers from the Texas Honey Bee Research Facility and Education Center were introduced to bring us the latest on that project. Chad Wootton, V.P. for Development & Strategic Outreach; Monica Delisa, Sr. Director of Development and Paul Jackson, Texas Apiary Inspector were all present. A slide presentation was given to show the progress and completion of the lab and in conclusion, an announcement we made about the creation of the Nevin Weaver Excellence Fund at Texas A&M. It is based on an endowment by Dr. John and Janice Thomas of Bryan, TX to honor the work and life of Nevin Weaver.
After the morning break, Brad Metz, graduate student in honey bee research at Texas A&M, gave a presentation on Variation in and Response to Honey Bee Brood Pheromones and Trent Kuckerka reported on Some Effects of Rasberry Crazy Ants on Honey Bee Colonies. Paul Jackson, Apiary Inspector at Texas A&M gave his update on the Apiary Inspection Service to conclude the morning session.
The Texas Beekeepers Association held its Annual Business Meeting on Saturday afternoon to hear committee reports, pass resolutions and elect officers for the coming year. The meeting was called to order when a quorum was determined by President Todd Youngblood. After the reports were received and the passage of all presented resolutions, the membership elected a slate of officers that had Todd Youngblood from Pearsall retained as President and Ed Priest from San Antonio as V.P. The only new Director’s position was in Area 3 and it went to Clint Weaver from Navasota, TX. The meeting adjourned in order.
On the final evening of the Convention in Tyler, the Annual Awards Banquet took place in the Broadway South Restaurant. It was well attended by beekeepers and many family members - 103 - a new record. After a delicious formal dinner, the presentation of awards took place.

The John G. Thomas Meritorious Service Award for 2009 went to Janice Thomas of Bryan, Texas.

The President’s Award presented by Todd Youngblood went to Chad Wootton of Texas A&M and Beekeeper or the Year went to Joan Coplin of Algoa.
The TBA Honey Queen Coronation is always the “crowning” event of the evening. This year Nicole Pettibon, the 2009 Texas Honey Queen crowned the Collin County Honey Queen, Allison Adams, of Plano, Texas, to reign as 2010 Texas Honey Queen. She was assisted by ABF Honey Queen, Diane Jurchen, and she was presented with flowers by WCABA Honey Queen, Rebekah Jones.
The evening wrapped up with the Honey Queen Auction that always follows the Banquet and Honey Queen Coronation. Larry Lough from Whitehouse, TX, conducted the auction. With the Honey Queens and Princess presenting the items and the TBA members holding up their hands, over $7,600.00 was raised to support the Honey Queen program.

By the numbers, one hundred ninety people were “badged” for the Convention, many of them young people. Seventy two people attended the Queens’ Luncheon and there were 103 at the annual Banquet. There were eighty-six beekeepers that renewed their membership (paid dues) at the Convention and there was twenty-eight new members joining TBA at the Convention. Thanks to all who help to make it so.
The Executive Committee held a final meeting on Sunday morning to approve the 2010 TBA Budget. Jimmie Oakley

by Allison Adams

Dear Texas Beekeepers,
What a wonderful convention! I had such an enjoyable time expanding my knowledge of honey bees and beekeeping, and most of all, meeting and spending time with you – that is why I am so thankful for the opportunity to represent you all as the 2010 Texas Honey Queen! It is truly an honor to be chosen for such a position.
I had the privilege of serving the Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Association for nearly two and a half years, first as Honey Princess and then as Honey Queen. I am ready to work hard on the state level to promote the beekeeping industry by educating others about the importance of one of God’s most incredible creatures, and about the people who keep them!
I would also like to thank Nicole Pettibon for her example and encouragement, and for being the dear friend that she is. I remember very fondly the time when we were both Honey Princesses together; it has been fun to work with her as Honey Queen, too. She has done a fantastic job promoting the beekeeping industry as Texas Honey Queen. Thank you, Nicole!
For those who don’t know me, my name is Allison Adams and I live in Plano (a little north and east of Dallas) with my wonderful family: my parents, Ned and Caryl, and my younger sister Caroline (16) and brother Clay (11). I was home-schooled from the second grade until I graduated from high school in May of this year, and I am now teaching children’s art classes in my home. Some of my other interests include cooking and baking (especially with honey!), sustainable agriculture, art and playing traditional Irish music.
I began my beekeeping adventure four years ago through the Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Association’s excellent youth scholarship program. My family and I now keep four hives near Southfork Ranch in Parker, TX. I am fascinated by honey bees, and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about them, although there’s still so much more to know (I think that’s great). I just love keeping bees, and I know it’s something I want to do for the rest of my life!
My first event as Texas Honey Queen was on November 18th at Southwest Academy, a private school in Allen. I gave two presentations, the first to a group of pre-K to 3rd graders and the second to 4th to 9th graders. Every Honey Queen event is memorable in some way, and this one was no exception. During the second talk, the bees in the observation hive we had brought, began buzzing loudly. The children listened and stared at the hive, and one asked what the bees were doing. As I began to explain that the bees were communicating with each other, another student had a different idea. She piped up, “They probably heard you say ‘honey’!”
I am looking forward to many, many more bee talks this year, and the chance to get to know you all better.
Thank you so much,
Allison Adams, 2010 Texas Honey Queen

by Nicole Pettibon

Hello to All My Friends,

I just wanted to let all of you know how thankful I am for all of your wonderful generosity, hospitality, kindness and thoughtfulness. This year has been one of the most amazing years of my life! It is all thanks to you for making it the best it could be. I will never forget it for the rest of my life and I promise you that I will represent you all to the best of my ability to reflect the bright, shining kindness of Texas beekeepers when I compete
in Orlando at the ABF Convention. Y’all are truly the best. I thank you so much!

With lots of love,
Nicole Pettibon

by Shirley Acevedo

Nicole Pettibon, our 2009 Texas Honey Queen, is preparing to compete for the American Honey Queen title at the American Beekeeping Federation Convention in Orlando, January 2010! She has submitted her application with her required essay on honey, and the list of 50 events she participated in as Texas Honey Queen. Nicole will be traveling to Orlando from Emmaus Bible College in Iowa, since her classes begin January 7. Rachael Seida (2008 American Honey Queen) and I will meet up with Nicole in Orlando to support by assisting with activities like ironing clothes, coaching regarding the events of the Convention, running errands, etc. On behalf of Texas beekeepers, Nicole, we wish you safe journeys and much success at ABF! We greatly appreciate all you have done over the past year as 2009 Texas Honey Queen. We are honored to have had you represent us. We are proud of you!

And now I would like to introduce our 2010 Texas Honey Queen, Allison Adams of Plano, TX. She will accompany us to learn first-hand the workings of the American Honey Queen Program. Allison’s family will drive to Florida later that week, in time to join in the Saturday convention events, and spend family time in the Orlando area with Allison. We wish Allison and her family an enjoyable time in Florida and Allison a rewarding time at ABF.

The Texas Beekeepers Convention in Tyler began with Kids Learning About Bees on Thursday November 12. A well behaved 428 children came with adults to learn about honey bees and beekeeping. East Texas Beekeepers Association (ETBA) did a wonderful job of manning the numerous tables. Violet Bourns worked tirelessly over several months taking care of the details. Tammy Lenamond and Diane Rapazzo precisely managed the timing of the children’s arrival over the five hours.

Thursday evening’s Bee Buzz had a total of six Honey Queens and one Honey Princess providing delicious food prepared with honey to top off the finger food, tea,and coffee provided by Burlesons Honey, Dadant and Mann Lake. The lovely young ladies were Nicole Pettibon (2009 Texas Honey Queen), Allison Adams (Collin County Honey Queen), Diane Jurchen (American Honey Queen from Iowa), Kellie Lenamond (East Texas Honey Queen), Kaylynn Mansker (Collin County Honey Princess) and Rebekah Jones (Williamson County Honey Queen).

At the opening of the Convention on Friday morning, the Queens and Princess were officially introduced. Nicole Pettibon gave an excellent power point presentation of her year as Texas Honey Queen.

After the morning break, Diane Jurchen, Nicole Pettibon and Kellie Lenamond judged TBA honey contest entries. The Queen’s Luncheon took place at noon on Friday with 72 people present. Texas Honey Queen, Nicole Pettibon, gifted each person with a bright yellow button.
After the six Queens and Princess shared their favorite bee talk experience, everyone looked for a paper skep taped to their chairs to identify the winner of the lovely handmade centerpiece skep which were provided by the ladies of ETBA.
After lunch, the Honey Queens and Princess went to Rice Elementary School for a 30-minute bee talk to 132 fourth graders. The children were seated on the gym floor, and each of the six young women spoke for approx five minutes about an aspect of beekeeping. Buzzy Bear came too, thanks to James Mansker of Nevada, TX. Shelby Kilpatrick wore the bee suit, hat, veil and gloves for the school children!

Next stop for the Honey Queens and Princess: Tyler Rose Garden, to view the beauty of and smell the numerous fragrances of gorgeous roses. Later we watched hot flour tortillas roll off the conveyor belt at Mercado’s, ate dinner and returned to the hotel to dress for the Quiz Bowl.
Past Texas Honey Queens manage the Friday evening Quiz Bowl, where they test the beekeeping knowledge of the Queens and Princesses. This year was no exception; Sarah Paulson Landry (1997/1998 Texas Honey Queen & 1998 American Honey Princess) sent a “Jeopardy” game on a flash drive with her parents (Susan and John Paulson) since she could not be present. Thank you, Sarah and Susan and John! The game was a success and a lot of fun, and we even took questions from the audience which few in the room could answer.

Saturday morning included the Delegates Breakfast and then interviews for Kellie Lenamond and Allison Adams for the 2010 Texas Honey Queen position. Seven beekeepers interviewed the young ladies and deliberated for three hours before making the selection. Those present were Rachael Seida,Violet Bourns, Alan Eynon, Don Angle, Deborah Rankin, Jimmie Oakley (not pictured) and myself.

After a quick lunch, all attended the TBA Business Meeting and then took two hours for rest and relaxation away from the hotel. By 6 pm, everyone was dressed formally for the Banquet.

After a sumptuous prime rib dinner, Nicole Pettibon gave her farewell words and was presented with a certificate of completion of her year as 2009 Texas Honey Queen and a $2000 scholarship check from President, Todd Youngblood for TBA. Again, thank you, Nicole!
Kellie Lenamond, 2009 East Texas Honey Queen, was named 2010 Texas Honey Queen Runner Up and was presented with a beautiful bouquet of a dozen pink roses arranged by Janet Rowe of CCHBA.
Allison Adams was crowned 2010 Texas Honey Queen and was given a lovely sash and a bouquet of red roses also by Janet Rowe. Thank you, Janet, for your fine work.

The six Honey Queens and Princess skillfully helped with the auction by carrying items around the room for all to see and bid. Thank you, Texas Beekeepers, for providing many items for the auction! Thank you, East Texas Beekeepers, for providing the very capable auctioneer. The total income at the auction was $7600! And thank you to Lavada Talbert for taking in the auction items! What a generous and thoughtful association of beekeepers you are! On behalf of the Texas Honey Queen Program, I thank you!
Allison Adams as Texas Honey Queen, looks forward to visiting your area and local club. Over the next year ,she and the Queen Committee will look at possible options to keep the auction entertaining and of reasonable length.
Thank you again for your gracious support of our Texas Honey Queen and Honey Queen Program.
I look forward to receiving your invitation for the Texas Honey Queen to come to your event!

by AP Warne, District 6

Hello Texas Beekeepers,
Well, it has been a very busy year. It seems like every year is busier than the one before and it would seem that next year has to slow down, but it never does. I just want to recap this year with everything that has been going on in my life. I guess to start things out, I’ll go back to January, not because it is the first month of the year, but that is when things really started to change for me. It was on January 7 that I asked my beautiful girlfriend, Simone, to marry me. We had a casual dinner at On the Border and after eating dessert, I leaned over and told Simone that I had one more thing to do and it just walked in. Puzzled, Simone looked at me and then turned around to look at the door. At that moment, I slid out of the booth and dropped to my knee and she gasped as I popped the question. My sister and her best friend delivered balloons and roses and were there to take pictures. Some ladies sitting nearby loudly whispered “HE’S PROPOSING!” and the whole restaurant stopped to watch the event unfold. A week later, I found myself at the ABF Convention in Reno having a good time and spending money on raffle tickets that I should have been saving for my wedding. Well, the ABF raffle is a really big deal and everyone wants to win as prizes ranged from a Montana fishing trip, free nights at the next ABF Convention, laptop computers, to queens and several other great prizes. As luck would have it, my name was drawn, not once but twice. So I made my picks which turned out to be 75 queens and some pollen substitute. What a month to start the year - one new Honey Queen to share in my life and 75 queens to help grow my business. I don’t think I could have asked for a better way to start the year.
I mentioned a year ago that I was attempting to increase my numbers and my dad was just starting his bee business. Well, we found ourselves in need of more bees in preparation of the 75 queens. We found some colonies to buy in April just before my wedding date. Since my wedding was April 17, these bees gave us a boost of excitement and relief. We spent May preparing all the hives for splitting for the 75 queens that we would be receiving.
June rolled around and despite being laid off from IBM, I still consider it a great month. You might think that being laid off would be a disaster at this time in my life, but I think it was more of a blessing in disguise because it gave me the opportunity to introduce my wife to beekeeping and provided the time I needed to prepare for the arrival of my queens. As a mentor for a scholarship student in my association, I was able to teach my student and show my wife the working beehive at the same time. She was hesitant at first, standing 20 feet away to observe. But it only took minutes for the 20 feet to become 5 feet as she peered over the box to look inside. Before the day was done, she was holding a frame covered with bees. She also likes helping out with the extraction process. I think she sampled honey from each frame during the process.

Now my other honey queens were scheduled to arrive soon and when they did, my wife would help give water to the thirsty travelers. I received 25 Hawaiian queens towards the end of June, and the first set of 25 Georgia queens was received around the middle of July. The second set of 25 Georgia queens was received in the first part of August. So the splits were made at three different times and each one went pretty well, for the most part. My dad had to do one of the splits by himself since I took an unexpected trip out of town and the queens were delivered during that time.
We also had a pretty good year with our honey. We pulled about 110 gallons of honey which is more honey than we have every pulled. I know compared to commercial beekeepers, 110 gallons isn’t very much, but we sure think that it is. We started selling at one of those farmer’s market and flea market places and we’ve just been doing great! For me, it has brought a new light of appreciation to our honey. At the start of the event, we pull up and set up the 10 x 10 tent and HONEY sign. Then we set up three tables. Mom quickly covers them with her honey bee table cloths. Dad and I start setting out the honey and then the chairs. In a matter of 15 minutes or less, we are set up and selling honey. It is just as easy and fast with the tear down. In fact, the appreciation comes at the end of the day when we see exhausted vendors trying to clean up as we pull away. As they are pushing and urging people to buy their stuff, we just let our honey sell itself. There is no need to do any pushing, as honey has a way of pulling buyers in. We usually have this much to say for each sell, “Yes it is our honey” and “Yes it is local honey”. I think we work half as hard at this event each month as those around us and I am willing say the payoff may be better as well. Of course, the beekeepers hard work comes in June and July in the 100 degree days.
I mentioned in my last Director’s Report that I wanted to get out and visit the other associations in my area. I was able to attend Metro Beekeepers on two occasions this year, but missed the Red River Valley Beekeepers meeting. I will try harder this year to get out that way for at least one of their meetings. I found that the Metro Beekeepers had a good attendance and I was encouraged to see that many of them were new to beekeeping. They are being faced with the same problems that other beekeepers are, mites and beetles. I was able to share a little bit about what I know with them and they had some good questions. Our Texas Honey Queen, Nicole Pettibon, attended one of the meetings with my wife and I. She raised an interest in a Honey Queen program there as she shared her experience.

In closing, I would like to thank all those beekeepers who made it to this year’s TBA Convention in Tyler. I feel that it was a great success and I am looking forward to the next one in Kerrville. I would like to congratulate Allison Adams as our new Texas Honey Queen and wish Nicole Pettibon good luck at the ABF Convention. I know that these two young women will represent Texas beekeepers very well.

See you in the beeyard,
AP Warne, AP’s Apiaries - Anna, Texas

by Edward Priest

We are entering what seems to be a wet fall for south Texas, with the weather forecasters predicting a cold, wet, winter. The 2009 Texas Beekeepers Association Convention has come and past. The time in Tyler, Texas was busy, but relaxing. Seeing many friends and acquaintances again was a shot in the arm that boosted new energy for me.
The program this year was great, with lots of new information on pest management. The Rasberry Crazy Ant, our newest pest to deal with, was the topic of many discussions and a panel for questions and answers. Then we have the Small Hive Beetle that has created many new and interesting ideas and products to combat this pest. There is talk about a new lure/bait that is in the works to be used for this pest.
The Honey, Wax, Gift Basket and Photo contest seemed to explode this year with a record number of entries, especially in the photo category. Many contest winners had ribbons to take home and show their family, friends and potential customers. I feel that a ribbon for Prize Winning Honey increases the value and importance of the product.
Over one hundred people attended the banquet this year. Wow, what a good time with beekeepers and friends. The night concluded with an auction that raised money for our 2010 Honey Queen, Allison Adams, to travel around the state representing honey and beekeepers in a positive way.
Make plans now to attend the 2010 Texas Beekeepers Convention in Kerrville, Texas. Located in central Texas, which is convenient for all.
The Winter Delegates Meeting will meet at the new Texas A & M Research Facility in College Station. This will be an open house for the public to see this new facility. We hope to see you there.
Ed Priest

By Todd Youngblood

Dear Friends,

The Texas Beekeepers Association has just completed another very successful convention. This was one of the biggest conventions that I have attended in the 10 to 12 years that I have been involved with the TBA. I would like to thank the East Texas Beekeepers Association for all of their efforts that they put into this convention. I’d also like to thank all of the presenters and directors that helped to make this convention so successful.
The Honey Bee Facility at Texas A&M University has been completed. The dedication of the Facility will be held in conjunction with the Winter Delegates Meeting on February 20, 2010. Be sure to mark your calendar for this date. It has been a long process, but I am delighted that we have finally reached this point in our relationship with Texas A&M University. We will continue to be involved with suggestions for the work that will take place at the Facility. We have established a Liaison Committee that will be in contact with the Head of the Entomology Department and the Apicultural Research Staff that will be corresponding our ideas to them. Again thank you for all of your support throughout this endeavor.
Also announced at the Convention was the funding of an endowment for Honey Bee Research to be conducted at the Facility. The endowment was funded in the amount of $75,000 dollars by Janice and John Thomas and was named after Nevin Weaver who was a researcher at TAMU in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. As with other endowments, only the interest earned on the principal will be available for spending each year. This amount will vary from year to year, but will be a steady source of revenue for honey bee research and education. Funds like this will be ever more important in the coming years as funding from traditional source become ever more difficult to obtain. Again we owe the Thomases another big Thank-You for their contribution and vision for the Honey Bee Industry.
The weather conditions in South Texas have improved dramatically. We have received generous rain fall since the beginning of September. This should help our prospects for a better honey crop in the spring 2010. I hope your situation is as bright as ours.

Sincerely, Todd Youngblood