Georgia Buzz Georgia Beekeepers Association

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1 Georgia Beekeepers Association Officers President David B. Reed 6807 Cedar Wood Court East Ridge, TN Vice President Tom Bonnell 95 Little Rd Hampton, GA Secretary Cindy Hodges 5100 N Peachtree Rd Dunwoody, GA hodgeshoney@gmail.com Treasurer Virginia Webb 349 Gastley Rd. Clarkesville, GA mtnhoney@windstream.com Past President Bob Binnie P.O. Box 15 Lakemont, GA kfielder@uga.edu Board of Directors Keith Fielder 243 Folds Rd Eatonton, GA Cindy Bee 1041 Wilburn Dr. Marietta, GA dillonbee@bellsouth.net Fred Rossman P.O. Box 909 Moultrie, GA rossmanbees@windstream.net Newsletter Editor Rose Anne Fielder 243 Fold Rd. Eatonton, GA rad243@hotmail.com Webmaster Bill Owens 4510 Springwood Dr. Monroe, GA (home) (cell) webmaster@gabeekeeping.com Georgia Buzz Georgia Beekeepers Association Winter 2010 The Honeybee only insect producing food for mankind A Letter from the President Here I sit, the day after Christmas and I ve not written the President s Letter. I hope you have all had a wonderful Holiday Season, and are looking forward to a healthy and prosperous New Year. With that said, I had best get busy and finish the task at hand, and get it off to Rose Anne so she can do her magic and publish our newsletter. The Georgia Beekeepers Association (GBA) has had two exciting events occur since the Fall Meeting. Henry County Beekeepers Association became the newest beekeeping association in Georgia and the GBA was awarded Small Commodity Block Grant Funds by The Georgia Department Agriculture. Each of these events will greatly increase the educational and promotional efforts and results relating to bees, beekeeping, and pollination of crops, products of the hive and yet to be identified benefits of the honeybee in of our environment. At the GBA Fall Meeting a request was made by the Leadership of the Henry County Beekeepers Association (HCBA) that they be awarded startup funds for this new effort. The HCBA is off to a great start. They have held meetings in the past two months and have recorded increased each month During a recent visit to a meeting of HCBA, I found the attendees cover a broad spectrum of the population interested in beekeeping for a variety of reasons. They are the young and the mature, the experienced and the novice and some who are just interested in information about bee. It was interesting to hear a local school student offer his appreciation for the HCBAs help in supporting his research project. HCBA has with an assist from Bill Owens GBA s Webmaster developed a website which I have visited several times and find to be very informative, well organized, and effective and user friendly. This, in addition to their well designed tri-fold brochure and news letter, will serve as great tools for communicating with association membership and the community. I believe the GBA startup funds granted to HCBA was well invested.

2 Page 2 Georgia Buzz On November 18, 2009 my wife Phyllis and I had the pleasure and honor of accompanying Keith Fielder, GBA Middle Georgia Director to the Georgia State Department of Agriculture Offices in Atlanta. There we met with the Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. Tommy Irvin and his staff members. Meeting Com. Irvin, his staff members and having a few minutes to share the value and importance of bees was truly a memorable experience. But, the best part of our visit was why we had been invited. We were at the Department of Agriculture Office to pick up a check for $10, These funds were awarded to GBA specifically to be used in the promotion of bee, beekeeping, honey, honeybee pollination and hive related products in the state of Georgia. This grant is from the Small Commodity Block Grant Funds (SCBGF). The time frame from being informed of GBA being eligible; and then understanding and complying with the limitations and expenditure requirements to receive these funds; and then to the fund being awarded was accomplished at a very rapid pace. I want thank Keith for his leadership, knowledge and expertise in the area of (SCBGF) related issues. I also want to thank the brain storming team of valued advisors, Board of Directors, Past Officers and Currently Serving Officers of the GBA.Funds gained from this (SCBGF) have made it possible for GBA to purchase quantities of the highest quality educational and promotional materials available. These materials will be organized, packaged and distributed for use by the GBA and local associations across the state. Additional support, educational and promotional equipment has been purchased to expand the GBA s opportunity for promotion of bees, beekeeping, honey, honeybee pollination and hive related products in the state of Georgia. Here in Northwest Georgia we are looking forward to the bloom of the red maple. It will not be long until we are busy back in the bee yards. For now we have to concentrate on the equipment repairs, construction of new and a thought of what is to come in the coming year with the bees. I hope to see you all in Moultrie, GA on Feb , Please visit GBA s website for details and updates. Regards David B. Reed, President Georgia Beekeepers Association Chattahoochee Valley Beekeepers Association Meeting January 11 7:00 pm Elizabeth Bradley Turner Center, Columbus State Univ. John Pluta will be speaking about his beekeeping operation. Upcoming meetings: March 8, May 10, July 12

3 Page 3 Sponsors for the GBA Web Site Last year the GBA web site offered a trial sponsorships and it was met with overwhelming success. This year we will be opening the sponsorship up to the entire membership. There will be four (4) sponsor slots open on the GBA home page. The sponsorship will be auctioned off at the GBA Spring Meeting in Moultrie. Below is a list of guidelines that must be followed. Sponsorship is for GBA members ONLY Sponsor link must be to a beekeeping related web site or your site/operation is involved in beekeeping. Example: ABC Farm sells various items such as eggs, milk, produce and honey (or a bee/hive product). This is acceptable. Sponsorship slots, Logo s, text, etc. will be no greater than 145w x 160h pixels in size (the GBA web master will have the right to alter the size of your logo/text to allow it to fit into the provided area). Sponsors are responsible for providing the web master with their logo if one is used Only one sponsorship is allowed per member/company Each slot will be sponsored for one year beginning on March 1 st and ending on the last day in February Members are not required to be present to bid (someone can bid for you) All winning bids must be paid in full at the end of the auction Sponsor slots will be auctioned individually and will be auctioned from the top down 1 being at the top (the sponsor closest to the top) then 2, 3, and 4 with 4 being at the bottom. Any sponsor that breaks these guidelines will forfeit their sponsorship and be removed from the sponsorship area of the GBA web site without a refund Honey Update Honey prices remain strong across the US and the world market because of smaller than normal US and world honey crops. Due to this reduction, some honey is being held back hoping for better pricing down the road even though consumer demand is high. Regionally, California had a very poor crop this year because of continued drought. The Southeast, which produces much of the light amber honey, dealt with a different problem, too much rain. The Midwest, which is responsible for producing the majority of honey in the US, had a drastically reduced crop this year due to cool, wet conditions. Final 2009 US crop totals have not been tallied yet, but some are predicting a 15% decrease from last years crop of 161 million pounds. *Reprinted from The Georgia Bee Newsletter The National Pesticide Information Center The EPA, in cooperation with Oregon State University, has launched a new website: The National Pesticide Information Center, The website provides good information regarding pesticides (pesticide emergency resource, pest control, pets, wildlife and pesticides, storage and disposal, to name a few). However, the importance for beekeepers is that site provides a method for reporting an ecological incident that is suspected or known to have been related to pesticides. An ecological incident includes any adverse effects that involve non-target organisms such as wildlife, birds, fish, shellfish, bees, plants, soil and water. The site is limited to government organizations, academia, wildlife rehabilitation centers, conservation societies and beekeepers. However, the public may still report any adverse effect incident of a pesticide by calling NPIC at This is an effort by the Office of Pesticide Programs to improve the quantity and quality of incident data they receive for pesticides. *Reprinted from the Georgia Bee

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6 Georgia Beekeepers Association Georgia Buzz Newsletter Rose Anne Fielder 243 Folds Rd. Eatonton, GA We re on the Web! GA Beekeepers Association Spring Meeting February Moultrie, GA