President's Report - Pierce County Beekeepers Associationpcbeekeepers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Cap... · The Bee Bill HB 2478 ... you to Alicia and Brian Halbert of Sunny Bee

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March 2016 ­ Volume 22 ­ Issue 3

President's ReportFranclyn Heinecke

Support PCBA when you purchase from Fred Meyer or Amazon. Fred Meyer and Amazon have community rewards programs where you can register PCBAto get money for the purchases you make. The contribution does not reduce your rewardpoints. It's part of the company charitable giving program to support registered non­

profits. http://pcbeekeepers.org/home/support­pcba­when­you­purchase­from­

amazon­or­fred­meyerUse that link to our website to get the details and information about how to register. Thisalso is a good way for your friends and family to support PCBA, so please ask them to join!

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Sign up to work at the Spring Fair ­­ April 14 ­ 17, 2016. Can it be that time already? Andy Matelich will have the sign­up sheet at our Marchmeeting. It's so much fun to staff the bee booth! New beekeepers can learn a lot frommore experienced folks, and we all can help the public to better understand what ourbees need. We will sell honey and honey sticks to help support our PCBA programs.

You get a free entry ticket for each four­hour shift. Have fun at the fair and help PCBA!

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Bee Buddies ­­ schools and kids helping bees. We love it when school kids learn about insects and environments,

and also want PCBA to be involved in their projects!

Larry Golden and Theresa Knutsen are putting together a beekeeping display for the Sunset Elementary (U Place) science fair.

Bee­friendly seed packets will be given away along with lots of information.

Kris Urv­Wong, Jim Martinson, and students from the UPS beekeeping club ­­ HiveMinders ­­ are working with teachers at Boze Elementary (South Tacoma) for a

beekeeping class related to their extensive five­year long STEM project.Some of our seed packets will also go to these students. Gardens are being built in

wagons so they can be moved to the new school when it is finished.Movable feasts for bees, how great is that?

Larry and I met with folks at the Pt. Defiance Zoo who have agreed to have some of theiryouth conservation teenagers work with Philip Golden this summer on the forage projectnear our apiary. Larry also was asked to teach a beekeeping workshop as part of their

Thursday night at the zoo program.

Yeah! These are great programs with potential long­range impact. For each of theseprograms, and others that include school­aged kids, Larry is developing a Bee Buddycertificate to give to students involved. They're doing wonderful things on behalf of our

bees, and a certificate will give them something tangible for the work.

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The Bee Bill ­­ HB 2478 ­­ passed out of the house and senate AG committee in a BIG way!!! It was a resounding vote in the House for our forage bill: 96 for; 1 against! And the

Senate Agriculture committee passed the bill unanimously! It now goes to the Senate RulesCommittee, and hopefully on for the final vote! YEAH!

Please remind your senator of this bill's importance,and ask for a yes vote when it gets to the floor.

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Franclyn Heinecke worked with Olympia Beekeepers Association President LauriePyne, WSBA President, Gary Cluett, and WSBA legislative chair, Tim Hiatt, at a

beekeepers table on the Legislative Agriculture Day, February 23. We visited legislation sponsors to thank them for their work, and provided for everyone free seed packets, honey tasting, and lots of information about

the forage needs of pollinators.

WSBA President Gary Cluett, WSBA Legislative Chair Tim Hiatt, Olympia BeekeepersPresident Laurie Pyne and PCBA's Franclyn Heinecke at the Capitol during WA Ag Day.

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WSBA was part of the Agriculture Legislative Day in Olympia on February 23. We hadhoney tasting and talked with people about the importance of legislation to support ourpollinators. We visited offices of some of the senators on the Rules Committee, to

encourage them to pull our bill and get it to the floor for a vote.

Honey Tasting was a big hit in Olympia. We also gave out free seed packets.

http://pcbeekeepers.org/home/please­support­hb­2478­for­better­bee­forageUse that link from our website to learn how to contact your legislators.

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Study Grant Students build their hive boxes! The bees will come later, but our three student grant kids have their boxes ready! Thankyou to Alicia and Brian Halbert of Sunny Bee Honey Farm for hosting our work day, and for

your generosity in reduced prices for the boxes, frames, foundation and beekeepingequipment. Harvard Robbins has provided similar support in the past. We so appreciate

how our club member suppliers support the future of beekeeping.

Here are photos of (from left) Dylan, Carson and Isaiah building their boxes. Their mentors are

Jim Martinson, Craig Sailor and Jim Erickson. They had a ball using the power tools!

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March meeting will cover Mason bees and swarm control. Our own Vernon Craig will talk about Mason bees and bee­friendly pest control; a panelof our more experienced beekeepers will be available to answer your questions about

how to plan for and manage swarming. This is a great chance for you to learn about preventing or catching swarms. Last year, hives swarmed early, so maybe

we can be on top of it this spring.

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Stung by Climate A Tzu Chi Foundation produced documentary featuring PCBA beekeepers, won the best

short film award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. Congratulations to our friend and film producer Nils Aucante. See excerpts here:

http://www.tzuchi.us/video/series/stung­by­climate/

Reports

Minutes

Minutes from the General Meetings and the Board Meetings can be found here.

EducationLarry Golden

Washington State Master Beekeeping Program

The WSBA recently announced that they have launched their online Master Beekeeping program. This means that you can now sign up for your Apprenticeship

testing directly through the WSBA.

The cost of the online certification test is $20.You can register for this certification test in the online store.

This is how online testing works:

1. Purchase the online certification testing fee online at our WASBA store.(http://wasba.org/product/apprentice­level­online­certification/)The instructor from your local association probably already providedan Apprentice Booklet, but a link to download the Apprentice booklet is e­mailedto you anyway. (A Spanish version of the booklet is available on request)

2. The online test access link is emailed to you.3. You can take the online test at any time (in one or multiple sessions, since it willsave your selections)

4. If the result is a passing score, then an Apprentice Certificate will be awardedand you are included in the Master Beekeeper Certification Program database asa Certified Apprentice Beekeeper. The certificate and patch is mailed to yourlocal association (the one you selected when paying for the online testing fee).

5. If test sections did not receive a passing score, the participant will be notified forre­test and the process is repeated.

*********************************************************************************************Beginning Beekeepers Class

We will be talking about taking notes during inspections, setting up your hives, and swarms. Early swarms are a strong possibility this year and

we need to prepare you for that.

March 12th @ 11am we will host a special Beginning Beekeepers class at our apiary at the WSU Puyallup campus. We will talk about how hives are set up and crack

open a couple of empty hives. We will not get into any live hives, but feel free to bring protective gear as you see fit.

ApiaryJeff Jones

Went out to the apiary to clean up the grounds and take some old stuff to the dump. A special thanks to Marge Pearson for her help with that .

The first apiary day is March 12th at 11am.

We will be cleaning up some boxes at this apiary day and possibly getting into the remaining to live hives.

Thanks, Jeff

Library NewsLaurel Wright

Our association is now receiving our subscription to American Bee Journal.

These issues can be checked out each meeting at the library cart. The magazine has an interesting question and answer column.

Recent articles have included how wild bee adaptations may be able to help ourdomestic bees, and a honeybee mating report with some photos that must have been

tricky to acquire. The check out process is quick and easy.

PCBA March 2016 Membership ReportChristine Viene

PCBA Jan 2016 Membership Report Active Members: 258

Feb meeting attendance: 115

52 Due January 2016: Sally Bricka, Laura Brooks, Kelly Buck, Renzy Davenport,Carroll Kastelle, Douglas McDonald, David Mitman, Tina Tyler, Nancy Seabourne,Lori Cockerham, Sharon Carbonnel, Deborah Raynes, Elliott Kroker, CandyceChittenden, Maura Winter, Scott Larson, Jill Lyons, Keith Ostlund, JonathanGenther, Robert Rich, Matthew Zemanek, Mark Polycyn, Kelsey Otto, GunnarJohnson, Stephanie White, Sue Lucier, Robert Schalansky, Tony Houck, KimChisholm, Mark Hilt, Sean Leonard, Dennis Collins, Diane Constable, Robert

Shipman, Consuelo Mae Snaer, Shayne Noble, Tad Greeson, Barrett Nance, MarkTips, Jim Josephson, Anita Aguigui, Tammy Brooks, John Leque, R. Marion Gelb,Cheryl Thresher, Joan Cronk, Regan Velasquez, Leland Fore, Kurt Layman, Jeff

Taylor, Joe Morcombe, Jeff Ennis

18 Due February 2016: Matt Bodhaine, James Roemhildt, Wayne Ward, VikkiStevens, Mark Adams, Yadang Moth, Katie Van Dyken, Paul Marrinan, George

Bluhm, Cindy Majors, Victor Breen, Don Peterson, Kate Peterson, BecKemp, Ghana Grishpun, Dan Jurpik, Donna Chamberlin, Tina Welsheimer

9 Due March 2016: Kent Arola, Perry Bartram, Sheryl Craig, Robert Williams,James Riley, Tina Bergerson, Jeff Hunter, Barbara Headley, Michael Bales

13 Due in April 2016: Dennis Carlson, Peter DeGray, Jean Matthew, Jim McCaig,Barry Taft, Kris Urv­Wong, Jerry Weaver, Margaret Pearson, Lenah Raykovitz, Rick

Gehrke, Justin Flores, Scott Huseby, Bruce Carpenter

4 New Members: Sandra Hensley, Penny Bowman, Douglas Henderson, JosieRowe

**Members ­ if you have any concerns about when you are due to renew or if you feel youalready paid, please Christine at [email protected].

Upcoming Events

March 7th

6:15pm ­ Beginning Beekeeping Class6:15pm ­ Journeyman Meeting7:30pm ­ PCBA general meeting

March 12th

11:00am ­ Apiary Day

March 21st

6:00pm ­ Board Meeting­ Puyallup Library

View complete event information here.

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