Newsletter April 2010

Our NEXT MEETING: 7:30 pm Tuesday April 6th 2010 at St Andrews Church Hall, 20955 Old Yale Road Langley BC
Marcia Chapman will be moderating our meeting and we welcome Jim Rahe, our guest speaker, as he discusses the benefits and opportunities associated with small lot agriculture. Jim Rahe is the owner of Annie's Orchard in Aldergrove, Annie's Orchard is an example of small lot agriculture. They produce apples and pears in a 3000 tree 7 acre orchard. They grow, harvest, grade, and sell the fruit they produce. We'll also spend some time on what your bees are doing now, and have time for questions and answers.

New!! Langley Bee Club T-Shirts are here!
Only $15
At our meeting April 6th we will have various T-shirts available to try on for sizing. You can place your order and make payment then.

For new?bees?
I have attached a word doc that shares the contents of my bee kit and a blank hive inspection sheet that Marcia and I created. If anyone else has something in their bin that I have forgotten or something that you find handy to have please pass it on to me to share with the rest of the club. Instructions for the use of Fumagilin B are attached,please note that a few of our more 'seasoned' bee keepers suggested that you add a teaspoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt to each frame feeder with your syrup!

Day of the honeybee may 29, 2010
We are looking for club members who want to be part of this fun day from 10am-2pm celebrating our dear friend the Honeybee! We will have the following stations and if something appeals to you please let Shelley know. There is something for every level of bee keeping knowledge.
Bee Anatomy display (with Heather Higo)
CCD display
Open Hive (with Mike Campbell)
Observation Hive
Honey tasting (if you have any honey to share you can set up a holder with some business cards too!)
Face Painting
Bee Race
Kite Flying
Pancakes

Forth Annual Beekeeping Symposium
Coming this fall to Langley Mark Saturday, September 25th 2010 on Your Calendar! The Langley Bee Club (South Fraser Division of the B.C.H.P.A.) will be hosting its forth symposium this fall. Once again, the symposium will be held at Campbell's Gold Honey Farm, Country Store and Meadery. Some of the confirmed line-up of speakers includes Dr. Leonard Foster from U.B.C., Paul van Westendorp from the Ministry of Ag., Dr. Dewey Caron from the University of Delaware, Dr. Steve Pernal, Research Scientist and Officer in charge of the Beaverlodge Research Farm and president of CAPA , Dr. John Borden, Chief Scientific Officer, Contech International Inc. and Dr. Elizabeth Ells from SFU. Heather Higo and Jaquie Bunse have agreed to return, promising to share more of their valuable hands-on expertise. Other speakers T.B.A. Watch for the Program in the August Beescene.

Steve Jensen is working with Shelley to get our club website/blog up and running? Thanks for your patience Steve! We hope to have this operational soon. I know, you will believe it when you see it!

Bob Fisher of West Coast Bee Supply can be reached at 604-272-1921 for the purchase of bee supplies, always call before you go to the store.

2011 Nuffield Scholarship
Paul Van Westendorp, Provincial Apiculturist, has passed along information on the 2011 Nuffield Scholarship and Growing Forward Funding opportunities that may be of interest to beekeepers. Contact information is included on the attachment. Nuffield Farming Scholarships are awarded to enthusiastic individuals between the ages of 25 and 45, who wish to explore topics of their choice in agriculture, land management, horticulture or the food chain. Three scholarships of $15,000 each are available for 2011. This opportunity involves travel, study and project work. Please note the April 30th 2010 application deadline.

Year 2 Launch GF programs: Food Safety and Traceability
Under Growing Forward, programs will be ready on April 1st 2010 for application intake for the 2010-11 fiscal year; Please see the attached word document for details. Please note the announcement of various programs that offer assistance to producers that adopt Food Safety & Traceability programs. These initiatives would be complementary to the national CBISQT program.

There are lots of attachements this month, make sure you don't miss anything!
Central Heating in the Beehive.pdf
At the Semi Annual on March 13.doc
Fumagilin-B and Nosema in Bees.pdf

Happy Bee Keeping!
Shelley Armstrong
Secretary Langley Bee Club
South Fraser Division of BCHPA
President: Rick Kreisch
Meeting Location: St. Andrews Church Hall 20955 Old Yale Road Langley BC
7:30 PM First Tuesday of each month September- June