Finally some moisture!  Although it is no where near enough to get us back on track–it is good to see the white stuff.

I have two seasons in my world:  bee and ski.  I am square in the middle of the latter and will be out of town for the next week as a result.  I find February to be a month in which I get a tremendous amount of work caught up and woodenware constructed.  Feeders are out and, with the anticipated break in the weather this weekend, I will see if the girls are touching them.

I have spent quite a bit of time traveling to various Club meetings this past month and am impressed by all of the new faces.  I hope we can engage and inspire the newest members of our ranks to help shoulder some of the volunteer responsibilities of both their regional and state associations.

As threatened, I am catching up on recipes so there are 2 more recipes this month.  The first, Strawberries with Lavender Honey and Goat Cheese, is one of the recipes from the Meet and Greet before the Winter Meeting last year.  This is a beautiful presentation!  I get my lavender honey from France as my sister and brother-in-law live in Paris.  It won’t be long before we can start producing this on a greater scale from Western Slope lavender.  The second is Delicious Cornbread and it lives up to its name.  It is a well-balanced recipe that brings out the flavors of all the ingredients.  I felt these two to be perfect for March as we are in the transition between winter and spring.  There’s still plenty of soup and chili to be served but spring is just around the corner.

Time is running out for Packages and Nucs!

If you have not ordered your packages or nucs, then your time is rapidly running out!  All of the ads for packages and nucs can be found in one handy location here.  Don’t dally any longer if you want bee packages and nucs.

Bee Informed!

At the 2012 Winter Meeting, our featured speaker was Dennis vanEnglesdorp of the Bee Informed Partnership.  Bee Informed is a survey of bee losses and management strategies that is conducted annually.  The dates for 2013 are March 29th to April 15th.  I will send out another reminder next month.  This year, it is extremely important that you participate!  We need to know what is happening in this state with our bees and this is the easiest (and cheapest) way for us to do this.  If we get 300 people to participate, then our state data is broken out separately.  Click here for more information on the survey and understand that I will be pressuring all of you to respond.

New Sponsor–Granite Seed Company

We have a new sponsor that joined as an auxiliary member this month.  It is Granite Seed and Erosion Control.  Granite Seed offers seed mixes especially tailored to promote pollinators and bees.  They also have many forb and wildflower species available. They can be reached on the web at:  http://graniteseed.com

As many of you know, one our statewide initiatives this year is FORAGE!  Forage is crucial to the success of our bees, native bees and our honey crops!  As we prepare to enter into another drought year, thoughts of turf mitigation and planting of native and xeric species is high on the list of things that anyone can do to help our pollinating species.  Do your part and patronize our seed sponsors!

Sponsors are key to our ability to maintain and, hopefully, REDUCE our dues in the future.  Our success in attracting and maintaining sponsors hinges on your patronage.  Please, take a minute to look at the rotating ads of our sponsors and to check out their websites and purchase their product.

Summer Meeting

I know it is not even spring but I already have the Summer Meeting on my mind!  This year’s meeting will be held in its usual location which is Vice-President Paul Limbach’s home in Silt.  It will be held from 9-4 on Saturday, June 15th.  Our featured speaker will be Dr. Dewey Caron.  In addition, we will have a full agenda featuring Danny Culhane of Honeyville in Durango fame, Project apism talking about their forage initiative ad Dr. Ron Fessenden chatting about honey and health!  Afternoon workshops will focus on queen introduction with Kristina Williams and triangulation to find a wild hive with this cool little gadget of Miles McGaughey’s.  Paul and Nanci will be providing tours of their packing facility and the wildlife rehabilitation center.  I encourage you to join us in Silt on June 15th!  More information will follow soon.

As always, if you have any questions or issues, please do not hesitate to call or email.

Thank you for being a member.

Beth

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While it is not an “official” holiday, it should be.  Today is Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil has not seen his shadow.   This means that an early spring is predicted.  I want to know what happened to winter.  Here in Berthoud, it has been dry and mild.  Winter watering has become the norm.  The girls have been out and about in droves and the first reports of bees in bird feeders started on the swarm hotline a couple of weeks ago–a solid 2 months ahead of schedule.  Bees in bird feeders; bees in chicken feed; bees in compost piles collecting coffee grounds! (I swear this is where they get their “buzzzzz”.)  Why do bees engage in this behavior?  Quite simply, it is their nature.  Bees are collectors and, in the absence of pollen, they collect pollen substitutes which is what all of the above have in common–grains the size of pollen.

It is heartening to see all of the class offerings that are on the State website!  I thank ALL of you who volunteer to offer these classes and courses.  It is truly an admirable commitment of time and energy and the CSBA is grateful for your efforts.  As members, your class listings are part of your dues so if you have a class upcoming, please get me the pertinent info and I will promptly post it.

Kudos to all of you who volunteered at the Boulder County Beekeepers Association National Western Stock Show booth.  This booth has been at the Stock Show for a very long time and has positively impacted literally  generations of kids.  The observation hive never ceases to amaze the masses–young and old, ag and urban.

Website Update

I have been working very diligently on the CSBA website and I want you all to take a look at it.  It contains a TREMENDOUS amount of information and is a valuable resource for all of you.  I am not quite finished with its development but I am very pleased with the information presented as well as the ease of navigation.  As always, if you have any suggestions, I am all ears.  Please call or email me at 970-213-3099 or president@coloradobeekeepers.org.

One of the areas that is still somewhat remiss is the recipe section.  But–I am starting to catch it up, too.  So–this month you will find two delicious recipes for shrimp to shared with your loved ones on Valentine’s Day.  One is good and good for you–the other just amazingly good.  Enjoy them both and I promise to begin a “Recipe of the Month” from here forward and may even catch up a few that I am still behind on.  Of course, I am not the only one who cooks with honey so if you have a favorite recipe to share, send it in and I will post it.  Increased demand is just part of our mission statement.

The FOR SALE section is chock full of offerings of nucs and packages by CSBA members.  Get your orders in soon before they are gone!

Legislative Update

The Cottage Industry bill is being taken up again by the State legislature this session.  The bill that is introduced is intended to address some of the shortcomings of the original bill not the least of which is the training requirement.  As you all know, I have been adamant in my objection to the Food Service MANAGERS training requirement as being both unnecessary and expensive.  I am advocating the Food Service HANDLERS training.  It looks as though it is under consideration at this time.  I will keep you apprised.

Thank you for being a member.

Beth

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