January Agenda

Alamo Area Beekeepers Association

Next meeting:  Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 6:30 p.m, start at 7pm.

At Helotes Independent Baptist Church

15335 Orange Tower Road

Helotes, TX 78023

MEETING AGENDA

Ø  President’s Welcome & Visitors Intro by Rick Fink (5 min)

Ø  Approval of the November 2014 meeting minutes (5 min)

Ø  Treasurer & Membership Report, Richard Trevino (5 min)

Ø  Schulmeier Update – Positive Thoughts      

Ø  2014 Youth Scholarship Program Update – Rick Fink & Scholarship Recipients (10 min)

Ø Program intermission & potluck dinner

Ø San Antonio Rodeo – Planning

·  Funds – AABA Scholarship Programs – Education - Equipment

·  Logistics for SA Rodeo – Booth Set-up (Saturday Feb 7^th)

·  Logistics for SA Rodeo – Honey Bottling Party (Saturday Feb 7^th)

·  SA Rodeo – AABA Booth – Map/Directions/Parking/Parking Passes/Rodeo Release Forms - Notarized

·  SA Rodeo – Care Calendar – Sign Up Schedule, Traffic Patterns – Rodeo Attendance/Honey Sales

·  SA Rodeo – Shift Schedules, Booth Mentoring/Management

·  Nuc Bee Display – Care and Handling

·  Heated Honey Storage – Design/Set-up/Heating

·  AABA Products for Sales in 2015

o       Honey – 4 oz Muth jars, Bears, 2 lb, 6 lb

o       Soap – Lavender, Rose, and Oatmeal w/ beeswax

o       Beeswax Lip Balm

o       Hand Cream (plus applicators – small wooden sticks)

o       Suggestions for new items?

·  Newbie AABA Booth Education (a few examples)

o       What questions do people ask?

o       Educate a Friend Program – Booth Coverage – Free Tickets

o       $$ Money Management

o       Opening/Closing

o       2^nd and 3^rd shift – Parking and Parking Passes

o       Shift schedule – finding a replacement for booth coverage

o       Supplies

o       Samples

o       Emergency Contacts – cell phone/email

Ø Other items – name tags

Ø Q&A – Beekeeping Questions

Ø Reminders - AABA Newsletter – blog – Mind Your OWN Bee’s Wax

Action Items:

The AABA will provide the meat dish with members asked to bring side dish-vegetables, dessert, salads etc.

We would appreciate it if a few people (20) could bring folding chairs to the January 2015 AABA meeting. 

Meeting Agenda – submitted by Don Fraser, VP AABA

Blog: Mind Your OWN Beeswax  
Link: http://aabanewsletter@blogspot.com. Reminder – Mimi Stricker would love to receive your pictures and stories for inclusion in the AABA Blog: Mind Your Own Beeswax.  If you have an idea for a story or some interesting pictures you would like to share please contact her at: Mimi Stricker  merissa.stricker@gmail.com

Alamo Area Beekeepers Association 2015 Events

Tuesday Jan 20	Meeting *
Saturday Feb 7	Bottling Party 9am-1pm Youngblood Honey, 3300 FM 1582, Pearsall, TX 78061 (Use Mapquest for Directions; GPS in your car may get you lost)
Saturday Feb 7	AABA San Antonio Stock Show  & Rodeo Booth Set-up Booth Location – see map http://www.sarodeo.com/explore/map/
Feb 12-March 1	San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo  Come meet us at our booth
Tuesday March 17	Meeting *
Saturday May 2	Field Day  Fink Ranch, 1199 Lower Mason Creek Rd, Bandera, TX 78003
Tuesday May 19	Meeting *
Tuesday July 21	Meeting *
Tuesday Sept 15	Meeting *  Honey, wax and photo contests
Nov 2015	Texas Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting Check Dates - http://texasbeekeepers.org/
Tuesday Nov 17	Meeting *  Thanksgiving Dinner and AABA Officer Election

Bi-monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the ODD numbered months (Jan-March-May-July-Sept-Nov) at Helotes Independent Baptist Church 15335 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023. Plan to arrive about 6:30 PM to register. The meeting will begin at 7 PM.

Key AABA Contacts for 2013

President	Rick Fink	President@alamobees.org
Vice-President	Don Fraser	vp@alamobees.org
Treasurer	Richard Trevino	treasurer@alamobees.org
Membership	Richard Trevino	membership@alamobees.org
Secretary	Lolita Bader	secretary@alamobees.org
Honey Queen Program	Lolita Bader	secretary@alamobees.org
AABA Newsletter	Mimi Stricker
Past President	Ed Priest	pastpresident@alamobees.org

November Agenda

Alamo Area Beekeepers Association

Next meeting:  Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 6:30 p.m.

At Helotes Independent Baptist Church

15335 Orange Tower Road

Helotes, TX 78023

MEETING AGENDA

Ø  President’s Welcome & Visitors Intro by Rick Fink (5 min)

Ø  Approval of the September 2014 meeting minutes (5 min)

Ø  Treasurer & Membership Report, Richard Trevino (5 min)        

Ø  2014 Youth Scholarship Program Update – Rick Fink & Scholarship Recipients (5-10 min)

Ø Presentation – Splitting a Hive – Thinking Ahead to Spring 2015 (20 min).  Rick Fink/Ed Priest

Ø Presentation – Wildflower Seedballs – Preparing Now for Spring 2015. Don Fraser

Ø Program intermission & potluck dinner

Ø 2015 Officer Election – Weldon Riggs/Sam Heinz

Ø Q&A – Beekeeping Questions

Ø Reminders - AABA Newsletter – blog – Mind Your OWN Bee’s Wax

Action Items:

The AABA will provide the meat dish (3 turkeys + ham) with members asked to bring side dish-vegetables, dessert, salads etc.

We would appreciate it if a few people (20) could bring folding chairs to the November 2014 AABA meeting. 

Maxant Model 3100P Extractor Update – the gear on the extractor motor was repaired (under warranty) by Maxant on September 9, 2014.  We also purchased  additional partsfor the Maxant extractor – a hand crank attachment (in case the electric motor breaks down), ball bearings (2), food grease (2) and a stainless steel frame spacer (9 spaces). 

Meeting Agenda – submitted by Don Fraser, VP AABA

Blog: Mind Your OWN Beeswax  
Link: http://aabanewsletter@blogspot.com. Reminder – Mimi Stricker would love to receive your pictures and stories for inclusion in the AABA Blog: Mind Your Own Beeswax.  If you have an idea for a story or some interesting pictures you would like to share please contact her at: Mimi Stricker  merissa.stricker@gmail.com

2014 Events

Tuesday Jan 21	Meeting *
Saturday Feb 1	Bottling Party 9am-1pm Youngblood Honey, 3300 FM 1582, Pearsall, TX 78061 (Use Mapquest for Directions; GPS in your car may get you lost)
Saturday Feb 1	AABA San Antonio Stock Show  & Rodeo Booth Set-up http://www.sarodeo.com/images/uploads/LG2013GroundsMap_APP.jpg Booth Location - #52 on the map – Little Buckaroo Farms, A Texas Experience by HEB
Feb 6-23	San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo  Come meet us at our booth
Tuesday March 18	Meeting *
Saturday April 26	Field Day  Fink Ranch, 1199 Lower Mason Creek Rd, Bandera, TX 78003
Tuesday May 20	Meeting *
Tuesday July 15	Meeting *
Tuesday Sept 16	Meeting *  Honey, wax and photo contests
Tuesday Nov 18	Meeting *  Thanksgiving Dinner and AABA Officer Election

Bi-monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the ODD numbered months (Jan-March-May-July-Sept-Nov) at Helotes Independent Baptist Church 15335 Bandera Rd, Helotes, TX 78023. Plan to arrive about 6:30 PM to register. The meeting will begin at 7 PM.

New Year Greetings and Reminder

Greetings in the New Year,

Our next meeting will be on Jan. 20th at 7pm. 
2015 dues of $15 are due now if you have not already paid. 
Our agenda is still being finalized, but I know we will have lots of good information about the Rodeo fund raiser and upcoming activities for the new year.

Below is an announcement for a Beekeeping Seminar being held in Austin that I did not want you to miss if you can fit it into your schedule.

Our annual  Austin Area Beekeeping Seminar is just 1 week away!!!  Please register asap at  https://aabaseminar.eventbrite.co­m if you have not already.  We are having it at the Wildflower Center on Jan. 17th(Saturday) starting at 9am and it is $40.  We will have top flight presenters from all over Texas including Dr. Rangel from Texas A&M and Mr. Mark Dykes the Chief Apiary Inspector. In addition please note we have added another presenter, Tanya Phillips, to provide instruction on top bar hive management!

There will be a special 2 hour morning session for beginners covering where to buy your bees, apiary locating, package and nuc installation, equipment you will need, how to feed and general management. Questions will be encouraged.  In addition there will be a concurrent morning advanced session of 2 hours if you are more seasoned. It will cover the four golden rules of beekeeping, nutrition and disease management, requeening strategies, comb rotation and swarm prevention and control.

In the afternoon you will  be able to select the four best presentations for your situation out of 12 being offered. For a complete list of classes go to https://aabaseminar.eventbrite.co­m 

There will be three vendors offering bee equipment, books, supplies, top bar hives and queen and package sales.

I wanted to let everyone know that we recommend that you bring your own sack lunch to the seminar. There is an onsite café but it is small and may not be able to accommodate everyone in the 90 minutes we have for lunch.

Remember it is necessary to register at https://aabaseminar.eventbrite.co­m to gain entry.  If you have any questions you can call me at 512-619-3700 or email me at lance@beekeepinghelp.com.


We hope to see everyone there!



Lily, Karl and Lance
Austin Area Beekeeping Association Seminar Organizers

2014 National FFA Agriscience Fair Champion and AABA Member Samuel Gostomski!!

We recently received this letter informing us of the amazing job one of our scholarship recipients has done on the national level.  We are very proud of Samuel Gostomski!!

 

I wanted to let you know that Samuel Gostomski, an AABA member and hive scholarship recipient, competed at the 2014 National FFA Agriscience Fair in Louisville, Kentucky on October 26-31.  It was announced on stage and RFD-TV that Samuel was National FFA Champion in Social Systems on Friday, October 31. Samuel's research evaluated the economic impact of drought on Bandera County agriculture since 2007.  Samuel's current research projects attempts understand the impact of encapsulated miticide treatments within a bee colony.  Samuel will use the bees provided by the AABA Hive Scholarship and the Bee Creek Ranch Apiary in Pipe Creek, TX, where Samuel is a research intern, to complete his research.

We are incredible proud of Samuel and hope you join us in congratulating this young beekeeper in his outstanding achievement.

Thank you,

Joseph A. Burke

Bee Creek Ranch Apiary

Pipe Creek, TX