by Nicole Pettibon

Hello Beekeeping Friends,

I hope y’all have been keeping cool in this Texas summer heat! Most of the flowers have given up around my house, much to the sorrow of my bees. However, they are still buzzing around the crape myrtle trees that continue to bloom. I am eager to see your different types of honey in the contest at the TBA Convention in Tyler this November!

I was very happy to attend the TBA Summer Clinic on June 20th, held in Webberville, TX. It was great to see, in one place, so many of the new friends I have made throughout this year as Texas Honey Queen. Your service has made the Honey Queen Program a delightful experience. We had a wonderful afternoon of fellowship, eating and learning in the Molnars’ beautiful backyard. After a delicious BBQ lunch, thanks to Jimmie Oakley for the organization, we split up into groups of about 20 people to attend small workshops packed with nuggets of beekeeping knowledge. There were lessons on how to treat for varroa mites by Randy Oakley; how to extract honey by our host Dr. Albert Molnar; introducing queens to a hive by Ed Priest; how to reuse old equipment by Blake Shook; beehive inspection by John Talbert and the bee vacuum by Brandon Fehrenkamp. There was information for all levels of experience in beekeeping. I was so happy to learn how to get those aggravating wax moth cocoons out of the plastic foundation indentations: an air compressor! (Thanks, Blake!) I would definitely encourage you all to attend the next summer clinic for a great opportunity to learn new beekeeping techniques. It was a very valuable day.
A few days after the Clinic, Shirley Acevedo and I attended a pollinator event for children at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. We were one of several stops the groups of children made as they walked through the gardens. Shirley and I set up tables with plenty of beekeeping equipment such as a suit, a smoker, beeswax and even a mini model hive for demonstration. I spoke to about 50 kids in small groups throughout the morning. They were all about 6-10 years old, and their little eyes lit up with excitement to see the real live bees in the observation hive at the end of the 30-minute presentation. After listening to many ‘sting’ stories with noses pressed against the hive glass, the groups walked to the next booth with honey sticks in hand and eyes searching the flowers for a glimpse of a striped fuzzy body buzzing around. I was delighted to find out later that evening that I had been on the Channel 11 news where a little girl told the reporter all about the importance of honey bee pollination. It thrills me to see the younger generation learning about this wonderful insect.

On July 13, I was able to go with A. P. Warne and his sister Alicia to the Metro Beekeepers Association in Burleson for their July general meeting. They had a good group of about 50 people attending that evening. I was able to visit with the MBA President, George Stokes, who kept the meeting running beautifully. I had a great time addressing the group during the program that evening, and they had many fantastic questions about what the Honey Queen Program entails. Toward the end of the evening, we had an excellent discussion about different methods of
preventing small hive beetle from overtaking our hives. Because the beetle larvae have to grow into pupae while burrowed in the ground, A. P. recommended that you put a piece of tin under your screened bottom board hives. The larvae will then fall on the tin, unable to get into the ground to grow. We had a great time that evening and I hope to go back again someday!
I attended the groundbreaking ceremony at Texas A&M for the new Honey Bee Research Facility that will be built there. I was privileged to be one of the ones who signed the commemorative stud. Congratulations, Texas Beekeepers!
These last few weeks, I have been preparing for college. I am going to attend Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, Iowa, with a dual degree in Bible and Computer Science. This is a very exciting time in my life, and I am really looking forward to it! I plan to be at the State Fair in October and the TBA convention in November.

I hope to see you all there! I wish you a very happy and cool rest of the summer!
With love,
Nicole Pettibon, 2009 Texas Honey Queen