Empire State Honey Producers Association (ESHPA) had their winter meeting last friday and saturday. There were a number of good speakers. Folks that I had heard about on the Bee Lists.
     I enjoyed meeting  Zackery Huang, his photos of bees have been available through his posts on Bee-L. He has some very interesting photos.
    Tom Seeley's talk on "Forest Bee and Varroa" was probably the talk that I enjoyed most. It took us out of the Lab and out of the honey packing rooms to the Arnot Forest near Cornell University. Tom has been studying feral bees that he found in the Arnot Forest, by bee lining. Unfortunatley, Tom's bait hives (hives that came from swarms from the forest bees that he used to collect Varroa Data from) were eaten by bears. They, the bear or bears, climbed 14 to 16 feet up into trees where these conventional, single story, hives were located and they had them for lunch. What was interesting to me was the fact that the bee trees that the swarms came from were untoached by the bears. No claw marks on the bee trees.
    For me, the real meeting is out in the hall, at the bar or at the dinning table. There is time to catch up with old friends and a chance to meet new ones. I especially like it when everyone is on a first name basis, none of this Dr. So and So stuff. I remember the first time that Dr. Roger Morse called me by my name and told me to call him Roger. That felt a bit awkward at first, but I got used to it.
    Dining and drinking and gabbing with friends and acquaintences about bees, beekeeping and those of us in the beekeeping community, the only way it could have been better is if the meeting had been outdoors and there had been a barbecue grill covered with sausages and Boston Butts. Mmmm, yummy. That's the venue and the menu for the summer picnic (or is that pignic?). Come join us.
    Look for us at ESHPA.org.
    Adios, Mark


---------------------------------
 Yahoo! DSL Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---