Such a busy time! Since my last article, I have finished my freshman year of college and have begun to search for a part-time summer job.

My last promotion in March as Texas Honey Queen was to visit the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association on the evening of the 27th to help present the new scholarships. It was a really fun trip. I arrived at Austin International Airport and was picked up by my host, Jimmy Oakley. I then had the honor of being taken out to dinner by WCABA Honey Queen Meghan Cantlon and her mom Karin. Later at the meeting, I got to meet the previous year’s scholarship student and help hand out the 2007 scholarships. After the meeting the students and families headed outside to assemble their woodenware. Everybody pitched in to help, and I even got to help glue and hammer!

On April 14th I joined the Texana Living History group in Farmers Branch, Tx, for Texas History Alive. We saw several hundred people. As it was an historical event I had the opportunity to dress in the appropriate time period. So I got to promote beekeeping and honey in a blue, hooped dress.

On the morning on April 16th I visited Serenity High School in McKinney. I talked to a group of about 40 high schoolers and their teachers. They really got into a lot of the different parts of the hive and types of bees, but amazingly most of them did not want to approach the observation hive! (Or at least not with their classmates watching them.) The teachers were very impressed and asked us to come back next year.

The Burleson Honey Fest on May 12th was my next promotion. The beekeepers’ booth was run by members of the Metro Beekeepers Association. I had a wonderful time meeting other Texas beekeepers and hearing about their bee hives. They thanked me for coming and honored me with a plaque. I plan on attending a meeting of the Metro Beekeepers later this summer.

On May 14th I had the privilege of going to North Texas Christian Academy in McKinney, TX, with CCHBA Honey Queen Sarah Feeny. During the course of the morning, a teacher approached us and informed us that there was a swarm of honey bees was on the playground and asked what they should do about it. Fortunately we had our bee suits with us and had the time, so we agreed to remove it. The teachers were delighted and asked if the kids could watch from inside. Shirley Acevedo and Sarah Feeny donned suits and climbed the ladders to get the swarm. This was definitely the most exciting school bee talk I have ever done!

 The weekend of the 20th of May I spent in Houston for the 34th annual Strawberry Festival. I headed down on Friday and was picked up by my host family, the Novarks. I then spent Saturday and Sunday at the festival. One of the cool attractions at the event was the groundbreaking strawberry shortcake. This cake measured 1905 square feet. I got to have a piece of this monstrosity! It was good cake too!

On Monday the 21st, I had the opportunity to visit NASA again! As my last trip was a little hurried because of an evening flight I welcomed the chance to see what I had missed previously. Harry Reichart escorted me on this portion of my trip. We began with a private tour to building 32. This building houses the huge vacuum chamber known to the staff as “the big suck.” And they are not kidding! It was huge! Harry then gave me the privilege of meeting some of the exhibit speakers. One of the speakers even asked if I wanted to be her volunteer! I really enjoyed my second trip to NASA.

The morning of May 22nd was spent at Mathis Elementary school in south Houston, speaking to almost 300 kids and their teachers. Misti Dillon of Harris County Beekeepers generously drove me to the school and acted as my assistant. We saw the children in groups of 50-60 at a time for 30 minutes each. The kids were great, as were the staff.

The evening of the 22nd I attended the meeting of the Harris County Beekeepers. While there I got to meet the club’s scholarship student, Jocelyn. She gave a great talk on bees that she had made for a 4-H competition. It was a great talk; kudos to Jocelyn!

It has been a fun and busy 2 months. I hope to see many of you at the summer TBA clinic on June 9!

Your Texas Honey Queen
~Rachael~