Summit County Beekeepers Association @summitcountybeekeepers-blog - Tumblr Blog

Round table Q and A for new beekeepers starting at 6:15 with Renowned beekeeper Kim Flottum!!!....Thurs. June 21st

We have a special invitation for new beekeepers, and others that wish to join in the “Special Q and A” talk with Kim Flottum, starting at 6:15pm. We invite new beekeepers to bring questions, comments, and observations to share with some of our experienced members. We are glad to help in any way we can to ensure that your beekeeping experiences are ever exciting!

Mr. Flottum’s talk will begin at 7pm on the topic of “Common Sense Natural Beekeeping”. Mr. Kim Flottum is the renowned and gifted author of the Backyard Beekeeper book, as well as an engaging and entertaining speaker, will be the presenter at our Thursday June 21st meeting. Kim is the Editor-in-Chief, Bee Culture Magazine and he has a special talent of bringing such interesting bee related topics, often considered complicated, to such a simple and easily understood manner. Kim will be a speaker not to miss!

***Please, join us at the Lions Club Lodge at 641 Silver Lake Ave., Cuyahoga Falls., Ohio 44221

We will have raffle items to win and refreshments to enjoy.

Plan to come out and join the Summit County Beekeepers as we welcome you with a vast amount of bee support, a training apiary, as well as many new and exciting projects underway!

Renowned Beekeeper Kim Flottum, author, editor and speaker will present at our June 21st SCBA Meeting!!!

Mr. Kim Flottum is the renowned and gifted author of the Backyard Beekeeper book, as well as an engaging and entertaining speaker, will be the presenter at our Thursday June 21st meeting. Kim will share on the topic of “Common Sense Natural Beekeeping”. Kim is the Editor-in-Chief, Bee Culture Magazine and he has a special talent of bringing such interesting bee related topics, often considered complicated, to such a simple and easily understood manner. Kim will be a speaker not to miss! The Meeting will be held from 7-9 pm at the Lions Club Lodge in Cuyahoga Falls.

Also, we will also have a “new beekeeper” round table discussion with SCBA members in advance of the meeting starting at 6:15. We invite new beekeepers to bring questions, comments, and observations to share with some of our experienced members. We are glad to help in any way we can to ensure that your beekeeping experiences are ever exciting!

Location: Lions Club Lodge 641 Silver Lake Ave., Cuyahoga Falls., Ohio 44221

We will have raffle items to win and refreshments to enjoy.

Plan to come out and join the Summit County Beekeepers as we welcome you with a vast amount of bee support, a training apiary, as well as many new and exciting projects underway!

Protecting your hives against bears.....

This is a very timely and important post regarding beekeepers in the Surrounding Northeast Ohio areas.

Bears have been sighted in the Summit and Cuyahoga County areas, specifically in the Brecksville, Medina, and Richfield regions. In fact, one of our SCBA members had first hand experience with bear damage to one of his hives. We are fortunate to have ideas to consider in protecting our beehives from Geoff Westerfield - Assistant Wildlife Management Supervisor, Human-Wildlife Conflict / Private Lands Management of ODNR Division of Wildlife.

Geoff shared that it’s important for beekeepers, that have not had to deal with bears before, to become aware of protecting hives against bear damage. He wanted to pass along to our members, and for those in our surrounding areas, information on bear fencing. Thank you very much Mr. Westerfield for sharing!

Akron Bee Ordinance

Seeking your support.....

May 21, 2018

Dear SCBA members, families, and friends,

Please, see below important information that involves beekeepers throughout the City of Akron as well as surrounding counties. We would love to have your support!

Recently the City of Akron proposed changes to their current urban agriculture ordinance. http://pollinatorstewardship.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/7-Public-Safety-1.pdf

You may have read and heard recent news coverage about this ordinance:

http://pollinatorstewardship.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AKRON-WRITTEN-TESTIMONY.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLVg_m6Vagw

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/local/akron-mayor-withdraws-legislation-to-hike-bee-fee-after-beekeepers-felt-stung-by-increase

Summit County Beekeepers Association, Inc., is joined by Ohio State Beekeepers Association, Inc., and Pollinator Stewardship Council, Inc. in support of reasonable, realistic changes to this ordinance. Mayor Dan Horrigan has withdrawn the proposed changes to the ordinance, but the ordinance needs modifications to reflect best management practices in beekeeping (link to OSBA BMP), as well as best management for the other livestock included in this ordinance. Beekeepers wish to join with and support our fellow urban agricultural stakeholders in working with the City of Akron to ensure a realistic and reasonable ordinance. Please send your comments to Mayor Horrigan. We have drafted a support letter for you, and you can add your own comments if you so choose.

Please take action today to send an email to Mayor Horrigan by selecting this link http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51103/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=24942

Thank you,

Greg Bokan, President, Summit County Beekeepers Association, Inc. Terry Lieberman-Smith, President, Ohio State Beekeepers Association, Inc. Michele Colopy, Program Director, Pollinator Stewardship Council, Inc.

Website: Summitbeekeepers.com

Facebook: Summit County Beekeepers Association

New Email System for SCBA!

We are very pleased to roll-out our new email system! Please, use the email below at [email protected] to add your name to our email list. We will keep you informed of all of our important Summit County beekeepers events and happenings!

Thank you!

Website: http://www.summitbeekeepers.com/

Wishing all of our young beekeepers great success in catching a swarm of honeybees!

Congratulations to Nicholas Messina and John Paul Antalek for being the recipients of swarm boxes that have been gifted to the SCBA. A generous donor to SCBA has offered the opportunity to a few young beekeepers the chance to gather bees that are swarming to a new home. We wish John Paul and Nicholas great success in helping the swarm of bees to their new home. These young beekeepers have great interest in beekeeping and have shown responsibility in caring for bees in their own hives.

The SCBA places high importance toward youth becoming engaging and involved in beekeeping. Thank you to the donor of these swarm boxes and much success to all of our members in their swarm season!

See a Honey Bee Swarm?...Call us at SCBA!

We are here to help and fast!

If you see a honey bee swarm, please call us immediately (click link below) as we have a team of SCBA members committed to remove and relocate them for you. Now is the season to expect to see swarms.

When they do swarm it may look similar to the picture above. They may appear alarming, but they are quite calm, as they have nothing to defend and are just looking for somewhere new to live. Thank you for allowing the Summit County Beekeepers to help find a new home for the honey bees!

http://www.summitbeekeepers.com/resources.html

Call Greg Bokan, President of SCBA at (330) 785-8678 Or

Rich Reikowski, Vice President of SCBA at (330) 329-6374

#honeybeeswarm

Highlight of SCBA Member ”Bunny”... Beverly Stumpf Bokan

We’re proud to share a bit about one of our long time and active SCBA member Beverly Stumpf Bokan, or more commonly known as Bunny. Bunny is a gal of true humility of whom helps in so many areas. Namely, her artistic talents are seen throughout the many events. She hand-painted the beautiful display that was used as a backdrop at last years 40th anniversary celebration banquet. Not to mention, she is perfect in hospitality in decorations, artwork, crafts, and simply making our events look more beautiful and lively. She also most recently provided the artistic design and completion of our new brochure!

Bunny is the first to say that the bees may not be something she actively is involved with but she is in full support of her husband, Greg, who is the President of SCBA, and is devoted in offering her time to the club. She is attracted to helping with the Summit County Beekeepers because of her true love of nature in all that it brings, big and small. For those of you that have come to the meetings, you would most commonly see Bunny wherever help needs to be given. Her desserts are always enjoyed by the masses. Our meetings have easily surpassed an average and over 75 people attending so it takes hours and hours to make the delicious desserts that she brings. We appreciate this time and devotion that Bunny, and other volunteers give! Bunny loves to see her many friends and meet new people at the meetings and especially enjoys feeding them. She also finds a passion in camping, traveling, finding gold, my pets including her “awesome chickens”, gardening, crafting, photography, but most of all in spending quality time with her grand-kids!

Thanks for all you do Bunny!.

On-going SCBA Highlight of members... Jeanine Smith Wirebaugh

The Summit County Beekeepers is a group that welcomes one and all in pursuit of beekeeping and bee interests. We are running a series of posts highlighting some of the members that work behind the scenes that work at lengths to ensure the success of the SCBA.

Jeanine Smith Wirebaugh is one of our trustees and shared a little about herself. Jeanine is starting her 4th year as a beekeeper and said that when she first tasted honey from her own hives that it was the “best honey that she had ever tasted!” She recalls the first time that she had inspected her hives that she was amazed at how quickly the wax comb had built-up since installing the package, and how the bees stayed busy working as she inspected each frame.

When asked, what made you sit back and say...."wow, I saw it in a book or heard about it but now I see it first hand?" Jeanine commented, that it was definitely when she was looking at the eggs! I still look and say WOW! When considering this coming bee season that we’re now in and what are her initial goals she said,....I think this year I may try to allow my hive to build up for more honey production, however it really depends on what the bees do, I'll have to wait and watch and then figure it out.

Thanks Jeanine for sharing a bit about yourself! Oh, and for all the members that haven’t yet met Jeanine, you’ll always recognize her at the SCBA meetings with a smile and great for a friendly chat! Jeanine and her Husband Robert “Bob” live in the Tallmadge areas and also are raising chickens. Bob is an outstanding and very talented musician and his band played for our SCBA 40th anniversary celebration last year!

Looking for a speaker for your group? How about on the subject of bees??

Look no further....the Summit County Beekeeper Association, SCBA, is proud to promote ongoing efforts to educate the community about the importance of bees and the benefits they provide in so many ways.

If you are a part of a group that is looking for speakers on interesting topics....please, reach out to us. We have many members eager and willing to arrange the time to be with you and present to your members all about bees. We will do our best to accommodate your needs and often will bring many beekeeping supplies and on some occasions our observation hive might be able to accompany our speaker to share the bees in action. We also have our apiary that has 4 hives for classes and groups to come and visit. The SCBA apiary is located in the Bath area.

Most recently, Kodie King, our board secretary gave an inspirational chat to new beekeepers at a local new beekeepers class. We enjoy sharing our passion for bees and inspiring this in others! We have many talks planned for 2018 to area clubs including the boy scouts and we would love to add you to our list!

Simply send us an email to [email protected] and let us know a bit about your group, days and times you meet, how many may attend (in case we bring honey to taste), and what your interests are in the discussion.

We look forward to Bee'ing with you!

http://www.summitbeekeepers.com/about.html

Peggy Garnes will share her expertise on Nucs and their many purposes! April 26th, 2018 Summit County Beekeepers Association

Peggy Garnes, Vice-President of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association will speak on such a very interesting and important topic at our Thursday April 26th meeting. We so very pleased to be offering this program under the generosity of the Ohio State Beekeepers Associations 2018 - Traveling Speaker Series.

“Sustainable Beekeeping Management using Nucs.” This program will cover the basics of what a nuc is, how and when to make a nuc and how to use it as part of a sustainable beekeeping program. Topics will include using nucs for swarm control, backup queens and insurance to hedge against winter hive loss.

Peggy shared, “Nucs can be used for many purposes in your bee yard. With proper use, you won't have to purchase bees again and will have that "emergency replacement queen" on hand”!

Come and enjoy an evening of practical information.

Date: Thurs. April 26th 7-9 pm

Place: Summit County Fairgrounds: Virginia O’Casek Building

229 E. Howe Rd. Tallmadge, OH 44278

We also will have Dave Echols, County Executive Director for Portage, Summit and Trumbull Counties, from the Farm Service Agency. Dave and a team of four others administer the USDA farm programs for these counties. There are two USDA disaster programs that specifically support apiaries. He will share how these disaster programs help cover weather related losses. Some will help offset the loss of bee colonies due to weather or will help offset the loss of production for weather related events.

Welcome Peggy and Dave!

March 2018 Newsletter... Summit County Beekeepers

We hope you enjoy the first newsletter of 2018! Great programs planned, many new friends to meet, and emphasis on sharing our passion of the bees!

This newsletter is one of many that we plan and special thanks to Kodie King, the newsletter editor and secretary, the board, and SCBA members for their dedication to service to the bees!

Come to our Sat. March 24th 10 am - noon Workshop. Many great bee topics!

Join Summit County Beekeepers Association for a workshop on how to correctly install package bees and nucleus colonies. We will also talk about making swarm traps, and catching swarms.

When: Saturday, March 24th, from 10:00-12:00

Where: The University of Akron Field Station located in Bath Nature Preserve, 4160 Ira Rd, Akron, OH 44333 Follow the park entrance all the way to the end of the road.

Hope to see you there!

Terry Lieberman-Smith captivated, motivated, and enthralled all who attended the 1st meeting of 2018 at Summit County Beekeepers Assoc!

Terry Lieberman-Smith, President of the Ohio State Beekeepers Assoc not only brought a tremendous wealth of knowledge surrounding all there is to know about bees and beekeeping but she presented with such humbleness, understanding, and humor that captured everyone's attention. Her topic was one of interest to many, “ How to be a successful beekeeper and how to avoid the lies that keep you from being a successful beekeeper.”

The SCBA was so fortunate to have Terry present as she is so very devoted to bees, in educating others, advocating at the state and legislative level, being immersed in her own hives and becoming essentially a liaison to encouraging others to take this exciting path of “beekeeping”! Terry donated a beautiful book to our loaning library on pollinator plants and flowers. After the meeting, many walked away with excitement to our upcoming Spring bee season!

The Pictures tell all.....

Special Tribute Hive to the “2018 New Beekeepers Class”

In special tribute, the Summit County Beekeepers proudly recognize the Class of 2018 new beekeepers with a hive at the SCBA Apiary, located at the Abundant Life Farm. This hive will be installed with new bees in early Spring.

We welcome all of the recent graduates and members of the Summit County Beekeepers to join in! We will let you know of the date as soon as we have a tentative arrival of the bees in late April to early May. Come out and meet one another and become comfortable with our apiary of hives. As a member we value and encourage your active participation in these hives growth and health. This is a perfect year, for all of our members, to become actively involved in the second year of our apiary!

The SCBA Apiary is located at the Abundant Life Farm 1102 Meadow Park Dr, Akron, OH 44333

summitcountybeekeepers-blog

Our 1st meeting of 2018 brings an amazing guest speaker!!!

We are very pleased to introduce our speaker for the February 22, SCBA meeting will be Terry Lieberman-Smith, the President of Ohio State Beekeepers Association. Her talk topic is “How to be a successful beekeeper and how to avoid the lies we tell ourselves that keep us from being successful”.

Terry shared a little about herself…..I was stung by the beekeeping bug 11 years ago. During that time I have been actively involved in two local associations serving as the newsletter editor, webmaster, Facebook admin, past president, teaching beginner classes, mentoring, speaking at libraries, gardening groups, nature centers, and for the past 5 years have been actively involved in OSBA. In my spare time I enjoy spending time working with my bees.

We welcome all members and especially the “January 2018 New Beekeeping Class attendees”! We look forward to a new year making new friends, learning from one another, sharing stories, and placing bees 1st in our care to them.

Be sure join us for our first meeting of the 2018 beekeeping season!

When: Thurs. Feb 22 at 7pm

Where: Lions Club Park 641 Silver Lake Ave., Cuyahoga Falls., Ohio 44221

Our 1st meeting of 2018 brings an amazing guest speaker!!!

Terry shared a little about herself.....I was stung by the beekeeping bug 11 years ago. During that time I have been actively involved in two local associations serving as the newsletter editor, webmaster, Facebook admin, past president, teaching beginner classes, mentoring, speaking at libraries, gardening groups, nature centers, and for the past 5 years have been actively involved in OSBA. In my spare time I enjoy spending time working with my bees.

Be sure join us for our first meeting of the 2018 beekeeping season!

When: Thurs. Feb 22 at 7pm

Where: Lions Club Park 641 Silver Lake Ave., Cuyahoga Falls., Ohio 44221

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