Monthly meetings:

Date and time: First Thursday of the month at 7:30pm.

Location:

American Legion Log Cabin
20 Veterans Place
San Anselmo, CA  94960

Bring questions or tales that you think will be educational for the group, try to be brief to allow time for discussion and more questions.

The Dugout Bar at the American Legion Log Cabin is a good place to gather before and after the meeting to meet other beekeepers, share ideas, and to give/get as much advice as you can!

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Upcoming Events:

Thursday, September 2, 2010; 7:30pm at American Legion Log Cabin

Melanie Kirby of Zia Queenbee Company will present a lecture on breeding queens for survival entitled:

Quest for Sustainable Reconciliation-

An Aspiring Bee Breeder’s evolutionary pursuit to complement Mother Nature with Survivor Honeybee  Stewardship

Melanie established Zia Queenbee Company to provide quality queenbees and natural honeybee products. Melanie has been a professional beekeeper for 13 years and has specialized in queenbee-rearing for the past 11 years.

She began her career as a Beekeeping Extension Volunteer with the United States Peace Corps. After serving her country abroad as a technical and cultural ambassador, she continued to learn and grow as a beekeeper. While working for two companies on the Big Island of Hawaii, she learned more skills in queen grafting and rearing.

In Florida, she learned about nucleus and package bee production. Following these experiences, she committed her energies and skills towards beginning Zia Queenbee Company, a beekeeping enterprise that is progressive, innovative and ethical. In partnership with Mark Spitzig, Zia Queenbee Company and its sister enterprise Superior Honey Farms span from border to border.

More information:  http://www.ziaqueenbees.com/

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Melanie will present two workshops on the weekend following.

Saturday, September 4, 2010; 10am to 4pm at Draper Farms; "The Basics of Beekeeping"

One day Beginning/Intermediate Beekeeping Workshop with Melanie Kirby for Marin Beekeeper members

Cost is $50 per person; attendance limited; SORRY, This workshop is SOLD OUT!  Click on INQUIRY above to sign up on the waiting list.  Thanks everyone.

All day workshop with both lecture and hands on work at the apiary at Draper Farms oriented towards first time beekeepers.  Melanie has prepared a program to include all aspects of getting started as a small scale beekeeper.  Topics include:

• Lifecycle of the honey bee
• Seasonal cycle overview:  what needs to be done throughout the year
• Kinds of honey bees
• Pests/Diseases of honey bees
• Apiary set-up
• Hive styles
• Equipment and gear
• Approach to beekeeping
• Hive Revisions- Hands on in the apiary

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Sunday September 5, 2010; 10am to 4pm at Draper Farms;

One day workshop: "From Keeping Bees to "Growing" Bees: Survivor Queen Rearing overview" with Melanie Kirby for Marin Beekeeper members

Cost is $50 per person; attendance limited; purchase workshop tickets at http://www.mayach.com/beecele.html

All day workshop with both lecture and hands on work at the apiary at Draper Farms oriented towards intermediate/advanced beekeepers interested in taking the next step in beekeeping.  Melanie has prepared a program to include all aspects of learning how to build your apiary with your own local survivor stock honey bees.  Topics include:

• Establishing a genetic pool
• Selecting breeders
• Cell-building styles
• The art of grafting
• Establishing mating apiaries and drone supports
• Creating and maintaining mating nucleus colonies
• Catching/Harvesting of mated queens
• Accommodating hives for queen rearing and for honey production
• Hands on portions for cell-building, grafting, and mating nucs

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Thursday, October 7, 2010; 7:30pm at American Legion Log Cabin

Dr. Diana Sammataro, co-author of the Beekeeper's Handbook.

The title of Diana's talk will be:

A Molecular Biology
Approach to Honey Bee Pathogen & Colony Collapse Disorder Research

Diana plans to tell us about her research focused on pathogen detection in honey bee samples and her work investigating the honey bee antiviral immune system.