16 hours till….AUCTION!
Category: beekeeping
Awesome turnout for an awesome movie….The Pollinators!
Almost a full house tonight! What an awesome turnout! I estimated about 110-120 people came out tonight.
Bee there tomorrow night for the movie! Tickets are still available and the movie starts at 6:30pm Foothills AMC 12 Movie Theater!
November meeting is Nov. 11, 2019 at 6:30pm
The November meeting is the annual auction! Bring your donations to sell and of course…..your checkbook!
The Pollinators – movie!
The movie is ON!
Wednesday November 6, 2019 at 6:30pm
Message from Howard Kerr:
Link to the Maryville location ticket purchase:
https://tickets.demand.film/event/9106
We have an opportunity to see here in Maryville a truly great film about bees. It is called The Pollinators. It is a documentary film about migratory beekeeping and will be shown here in Maryville on November 6 at 6:30 pm IF WE SELL A TOTAL OF 50 TICKETS BY 28 October – just 3 days away. We buy the tickets online as shown in the attached flyer. You can get a 10% discount if you use the discount code TN10. If we cannot sell 50 tickets by 28 October the movie will not be shown here and your card will not be charged. And we will miss a great movie
This movie has been chosen as the best documentary at several film festivals and was a smash hit at the recent Apimondia conference in Canada. I strongly urge each of our members to buy tickets for your family and friends. It is about 90 minutes long.
Flyer info is below…
Sign up to see “The Pollinators” in selected Tennessee cities on November 6
One of every three bites of food we eat depends on honeybees and other pollinators.
Over 1,000 of the 1,200 most common fruits and vegetables depend on pollinators.
Over one-half of all honeybee hives are now dying every year in our country.
The Pollinators is a cinematic journey around the United States following migratory beekeepers and their truckloads of honey bees as they pollinate the flowers that become the fruits, nuts and vegetables we all eat. The many challenges these beekeepers and their bees face en route reveal the many threats to their survival that bees face now. The filmmakers talk to farmers, scientists, chefs and academics along the way to give a broad perspective about the threats to honey bees, what it means to our food security and how we can improve it. This film has already been selected by 25 national and international film festivals and has been honored as “Best Documentary” at seven of them. The Tennessee Beekeepers Association, Tennessee Environmental Council, Tennessee Sierra Club and many other groups fully endorse this documentary and are promoting it statewide.
On November 6, 2019, help bring The Pollinators to Tennessee cities through the Demand Film program. This innovative way to share the film doesn’t rely on traditional theater placements, but uses audience demand instead. Tickets are reserved in advance, but do not get charged until the ticket threshold for each theater is reached (about 50 seats). The tickets need to be ordered online by October 28. Theaters in nineteen cities are signed up and selling tickets: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Cleveland, Cookeville, Crossville, Dyersburg, Greeneville, Hendersonville, Johnson City, Knoxville, Maryville, McMinnville, Memphis, Morristown, Mt. Juliet, Nashville, Spring Hill and Tullahoma. You can see the film trailer and reserve your tickets here: https://us.demand.film/the-pollinators/ Buy extra for local decision-makers (elected officials, parks and highway officials, agriculture teachers, garden club leaders, local farmers and media) in your town and invite them to join you. Order your tickets today.
Two excellent articles have appeared on “The Pollinators” in recent days. Peter Nelson, the film’s creator, was interviewed today on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace” program. Here is an extended transcript of that broadcast interview: https://www.marketplace.org/2019/10/23/why-dwindling-bee-populations-are-threatening-u-s-agricultural/
You can also read more about this film at this Sierra Club link: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/one-third-our-food-supply-relies-very-sick-species-honeybees?fbclid=IwAR0HJnwH32fhzgfpjKxsISWI2nr8cuWx15A4qOx_KEf1sK3QVprUPBAjuI8
BECAUSE OF THE STRONG INTEREST IN TENNESSEE, DEMAND FILM IS GIVING US A 10% DISCOUNT ON THE TICKETS. JUST ENTER “TN10” IN THE DISCOUNT CODE FIELD WHEN YOU ORDER YOUR TICKETS. BE SURE TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS ONLINE BY OCTOBER 28 TO INSURE THE FILM WILL BE SHOWN.
The most important living creatures on this planet (honeybees)* can’t save themselves.
But, yes, yes, we can. The best place to start is to go to the link and order your tickets TODAY.
TCA 44-15-112
It is ILLEGAL in the State of Tennessee to either sell or give away used beekeeping boxes or frames.
The ONLY exception to this law is IF a hives have live bees in it AND it has been inspected by a TN State (or local) Inspector. OR if the equipment has been boiled in lye for at least 30 minutes (the lye breaks the wood down so much, that it leaves the boxes unusable, so this option really isn’t much of an option).
Even if you know and trust the person giving or selling you equipment, don’t do it! You may be unknowingly be spreading American Foulbrood (AFB) to your bees. They too may be unaware that the equipment is contaminated. The AFB spores can last 40+ years.
If a hive gets AFB, the only way to get rid of AFB is to burn the hives with the bees in it at night. It is a traumatizing and expensive to have AFB in your hives and in your area.
An eight mile radius around your hives will be put under quarantine and the State Apiarist and his inspectors will need to inspect every frame of every beekeeper’s hives in that 8 mile radius. This could easily be hundreds of hives they need to inspect. Besides putting other beekeepers at risk, doing so ties up the inspectors and makes them not available to beekeepers for their many other job functions. It also greatly inconveniences other beekeepers.
So even if you find equipment in your grandfathers barn or family basement and are thinking of using it, remember It is not worth the risk.
Tennessee Code 44-15-112 – Used beekeeping equipment.
*No person shall sell or give to any other person any used beekeeping equipment until the equipment has been sanitized by a method approved by the state apiarist. This requirement will not apply to equipment that is occupied by live bees.
Auction 2019
You do not want to miss our annual BCBA Auction!
Homemade baked goods work.
New equipment and bee stuff we all
collect.
We need your support to make
this work.
Field day for New Beekeepers (2019)
Saturday April 27th 2019 at 10:00 am
Hosted by Charlie Parton
768 East Brown School Rd. Maryville
There will be a sign at the driveway (Beekeepers Field Day)
Bring Safety Equipment: veil, gloves and long sleeves
Guided by an experienced beekeeper you will learn
- Proper way to open a hive and remove frames
- To identify eggs, larva, capped brood, pollen and honey
- Identify queen, workers and drones
After a light lunch anyone who wishes will be able to tour the Honey House. There will be time to ask questions or just hang around and talk. We hope it will be a good experience for all.
Rain date Saturday May 4th
Charlie Parton 865-776-1875
Dale Hinkle President BCBA 423-261-5234
From Kelley Beekeeping Newsletter
From the Kelley Beekeeping Newsletter this month:
The Honey Bee Health Coalition has released 2 new resources to help beekeepers make informed hive management decisions.
About the Honey Bee Health Coalition
The Honey Bee Health Coalition brings together beekeepers, growers, researchers, government agencies, agribusinesses, conservation groups, manufacturers, brands and other key partners to improve the health of honey bees and other pollinators. Its mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that help achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems. The Coalition focuses on accelerating the collective impact of efforts in four key areas: forage and nutrition; hive management; crop pest management; and communications, outreach and education. The Honey Bee Health Coalition is a project of the Keystone Policy Center, a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together diverse stakeholders to find collaborative, actionable solutions to public policy challenges. For more information, visit:
https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/hivehealthbmps/
https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/varroatool/
The link directs you to the BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR BEE HEALTH, an 80-page document on beekeeping that includes information on safety, apiary maintenance, nutrition, bee stock, pesticide exposure and treatment of bee disease and parasites.
The second link is VARROE MANAGEMENT DECISION TOOL, an interactive flow chart that helps you with decisions on treating for varroa infestation- types of treatments available, when to apply, etc. Within this tool is information on the available treatments, timing on when to use them and some embedded videos to further explain practices involving IPM.
Wooden Ware Workshop March 16th
Attention new beekeepers! The Blount County Beekeepers Association will be having a workshop for you on how to properly put your beekeeping equipment together.
The workshop will be held Saturday, March 16th beginning at 9 am at the Masonic lodge in Alcoa (corner of Wright Road and Vose Street).
This is an opportunity for anyone interested in putting their hives together with the help of some seasoned beekeepers. You will be shown the correct way to put together the hive bodies and frames, and will go over how to maintain your equipment. You may bring some of your un-assembled equipment to work on.
There is no charge for the class. It should end around lunch time.
For more information or questions:
Harlen Breeden- 719-1828
