Announcements
Next Meeting
Tuesday, November 13th at 7:30 P.M. at the West Barnstable Community Building on Route 149. Open discussion on pollen and pollen traps; what type feeder to use, what works for you and why; and marketing your honey, - jars, labels, plus product variety. Time left for plenty of questions.

Refreshments
The following members volunteered to bring goodies and drinks to this meeting: Donna Tanis, Sandy Wilkins, Joe Miksch, and Mark Marinaccio. Thank you!

In Lieu of From the Prez (who is out of town)
We will promote our December Holiday Market meeting. The evening (12/11/07) will feature products and crafts of our members. If you are looking for stocking stuffers (lip balms and soaps), candles for the table, beeswax creams and lotions, honey, honeystix, queen bee candy, and cookbooks, please join us. To those members who knit or wood work, you are welcome to display your wares for sale. This evening is meant to be fun, informative, and assist members to sell their wares. We could use a few tables as the numbers available at the community building are slowly disappearing.

Prices are as follows: 24 x 8 oz - $9.00, 24 x 16 oz - $9.00, and 12 x 32 oz - $7.00
George will not have change. Please bring correct amount or a check. Thank You!

Meetings of Interest
Southern New England Beekeepers Assembly (SNEBA)
Saturday November 17, 2007
Unitarian Society of New Haven,
700 Hartford Tpke, Hamden, CT
Theme: Healthy Bees
Speakers: Dewey Caron, Jennifer Berry, Janet Brisson, Larry Connor
Hampden, CT
www.sneba.com

Claire's Corner
As The Bee Movie enjoys all sorts of advertisements, keep in mind that BCBA has a variety of teaching aids for schools and clubs. In addition, the National Honey Board has “launched” a few new websites with links for kids and family. Log onto www.honey.com/beemovie for fun tips and a link to the movie.

There is a new addition to the library. A copy of “Natural Beekeeping” by Ross Conrad was recently purchased directly from the author. Conrad made two presentations at the state meeting in October, but they really lacked much information. His “organic” approach does not vary much from many of your management practices and he encourages the use of “soft” miticides for varroa and tracheal mites. Scanning the book, there is an interesting read on organic apiculture and how organic honey production has yet to be addressed.

As cool weather approaches and the hives finally have put on much weight with winter stores, beekeeping moves inside. Not just equipment repairs, but inventory is tallied to consider replacement come BCBA’s winter order. We also find it the best time to make a batch of creamed honey using a modified Dyce method. The crystals will set best at 57 degrees, perfect in a wine cooler or unheated cellar.

And speaking of equipment, the Massachusetts Beekeepers’ Association is re-establishing an effort to irradiate used bee equipment. This sterilization process will destroy American Foulbrood spores, Nosema spores, and other organic pathogens (not chemicals or pesticides).
Your equipment will be packed into specifically sized boxes and trucked to the site on a designated day. A minimum number of boxes will be needed to commit to the project. A deadline of January 25th has been selected and irradiation will follow in March. We are waiting to hear how much equipment will fit into one box and the final cost per box. What is needed is a county coordinator who must collect fees, collect boxes, deliver to irradiation site, and pickup equipment when completed.
Any member purchasing used equipment, or experiencing unexplained die-offs should consider this program. BCBA has had two members this season with AFB and this is a concern as no single source can be identified. Your equipment will realize longer life and help control these diseases.

As you consider your Christmas list, an idea for that person with everything might be a donation to Heifer Project International in his/her name. $30 will send a hive of bees to a family and we all know where that leads you.

Andy's Ramblings
I saw a program on the television the other day about Jerry Seinfeld’s new production called “Bee Movie”. I am very much into animated movies. Technology has allowed artists to create the illusion of reality using pixels. In every sense of the word, what they create is wonderful. This movie, at least those portions showed, was OK animation. I’ve seen better productions.

What really bothers me is the story line. The entire movie is based on the premises that the drones of the hive do more than mate with the Queen. It portrays them as gathers of nectar and pollen. It suggests hierarchies within the hive that couldn’t possibly work. It reminds me of the Disney animated movie showing Winnie the Pooh greedily trying to get honey from a wasp nest hanging high up in a tree. How difficult would it have been to be somewhat accurate?

We, as a nation, are concerned that our children might not be competitive with the rest of the world in the fields of science and technology, and yet we give them light-hearted cartoons depicting gross inaccuracies about an insect on which our very existence depends.

Yes, I will probably see the movie, feeding with my admission fee the downfall of civilization as we know it. I will probably laugh at the comedy and overlook the discrepancies in the storyline. But what damage is done under the veil of artistic expression? Maybe none, I’ll never really know. Perhaps we can put this need for correction on shoulders of the teachers, too.

Library
Please return all books and videos to this meeting, so the library staff can update our lists. Thank You.

Bee School
The schedule has been prepared and is available on the club website. » 2008 Bee School Schedule

Pam's Poem
Bee Culture has featured a few of our very own members contributions over the years. The following appeared in the September 2007 issue compliments of our “poet Pam”.

Ode to the New Queen

Come Majesty your new home waits close by,
beside the green thicket beneath the blue sky.
Around the honeysuckle vine, grow roses and sweet columbine.
Your golden girls sweet nectar seek in sunny glade by sheltered creek,
And in the early morning sun they gather dewdrops one by one.
Mid-summer days are drowsy, warm and fair
While the scent of sweet pepper bush fills the air.
September brings short days, cool nights, and the blue jay’s call.
Announcing the reds, golds and russet hues of fall.
Time to collect, prepare and preserve all that your girls have shared and stored,
Then to settle in for the long winter scene,and a well-earned rest,
“My Carniolan Queen.”