RIBA meeting notes September 13
RIBA Members meeting September 2008
This months meeting was held at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown RI (http://www.normanbirdsanctuary.org/). A delightful setting, and one that we hoped would attract members from the Bay's east side. We had a good turnout! Mark took a quick head count of about 50 including a greater-than-usual number of very interested children. Excellent.
The “how are the bees” discussion revealed an air of normality. Maybe a few absconsions, the occasional problem such as one member having no brood for a couple of weeks. Interestingly, swarms are still being collected and are not equaled by a similar number of losses so the overall “bee-count” in RI seems to be positive.
Along these lines, we decided that a “swarm control” segment would be a good subject for a future meeting.
The e-board minutes were mentioned. I had not had time to write up formal minutes but the e-board agenda included
Forthcoming events will include Warwick Mall but will not include either the Scituate Arts Fair or Taste of Rhode Island. We were reliant on the Farmers Market in Scituate and they have pulled out. Next year we will work directly with the Fair organizers so we are able to control our own appearance there. The Taste of Rhode Island stall fee is over $300 and because of the shortage of volunteers we decided that this year we would not do it.
Despite these cancellations it is important that we make an appearance at these shows - it helps members and it helps the public know who we are; it directly relates to the subject of adding value for members.
In planning for next year, I and Everett will outline what we see as the events for 2009 and make sure we have a good process for getting volunteers and organization in good time for each event. I intend to get a draft proposal in time for the October meeting.
The EAS committee will begin to start work in earnest this month. We have a task list - supplied by EAS; Ed Lafferty and Dr Jane will begin to work with the current volunteers to start to understand this list and develop their plans.
Celeste has updated the Library List and by the time you get this it should be online. There are over two pages of titles available.
Lisa organized the meeting's raffle. Seems like everyone won except for me …
The latter part of the afternoon was spent listening to Everett's Integrated Pest Management presentation. This was a follow-up to Jim Lawson's talk at the start of the summer and concentrated on mites and a number of “soft” strategies available to contain them and reduce their numbers. The presentation was accompanied by a slide show presentation which I am trying to get viewable online. We were going to do the presentation outside and actually see some hives being treated but the weather was a little too overcast for that.
The next meeting is the Harvest Dinner, to be held at The Grange in Richmond. Full directions at the back of this newsletter. The meeting will also feature speaker Jeff Pettis, head of the USDA Maryland Honeybee Research lab. Jeff is working on the cutting edge of CCD research and will present the latest findings on colony collapse disorder.
And lastly - if this newsletter is out in time - watch Cooking with Class during the week of September 29th. Frank gives us a mention and uses our honey in his recipes that week.
This months meeting was held at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown RI (http://www.normanbirdsanctuary.org/). A delightful setting, and one that we hoped would attract members from the Bay's east side. We had a good turnout! Mark took a quick head count of about 50 including a greater-than-usual number of very interested children. Excellent.
The “how are the bees” discussion revealed an air of normality. Maybe a few absconsions, the occasional problem such as one member having no brood for a couple of weeks. Interestingly, swarms are still being collected and are not equaled by a similar number of losses so the overall “bee-count” in RI seems to be positive.
Along these lines, we decided that a “swarm control” segment would be a good subject for a future meeting.
The e-board minutes were mentioned. I had not had time to write up formal minutes but the e-board agenda included
- The Newsletter; useful as stick or carrot
- Advertising to attract attendance
- Are we ready for bee school
- Is it OK to make a profit?
Forthcoming events will include Warwick Mall but will not include either the Scituate Arts Fair or Taste of Rhode Island. We were reliant on the Farmers Market in Scituate and they have pulled out. Next year we will work directly with the Fair organizers so we are able to control our own appearance there. The Taste of Rhode Island stall fee is over $300 and because of the shortage of volunteers we decided that this year we would not do it.
Despite these cancellations it is important that we make an appearance at these shows - it helps members and it helps the public know who we are; it directly relates to the subject of adding value for members.
In planning for next year, I and Everett will outline what we see as the events for 2009 and make sure we have a good process for getting volunteers and organization in good time for each event. I intend to get a draft proposal in time for the October meeting.
The EAS committee will begin to start work in earnest this month. We have a task list - supplied by EAS; Ed Lafferty and Dr Jane will begin to work with the current volunteers to start to understand this list and develop their plans.
Celeste has updated the Library List and by the time you get this it should be online. There are over two pages of titles available.
Lisa organized the meeting's raffle. Seems like everyone won except for me …
The latter part of the afternoon was spent listening to Everett's Integrated Pest Management presentation. This was a follow-up to Jim Lawson's talk at the start of the summer and concentrated on mites and a number of “soft” strategies available to contain them and reduce their numbers. The presentation was accompanied by a slide show presentation which I am trying to get viewable online. We were going to do the presentation outside and actually see some hives being treated but the weather was a little too overcast for that.
The next meeting is the Harvest Dinner, to be held at The Grange in Richmond. Full directions at the back of this newsletter. The meeting will also feature speaker Jeff Pettis, head of the USDA Maryland Honeybee Research lab. Jeff is working on the cutting edge of CCD research and will present the latest findings on colony collapse disorder.
And lastly - if this newsletter is out in time - watch Cooking with Class during the week of September 29th. Frank gives us a mention and uses our honey in his recipes that week.
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