Bee Kind. Bee Calm. Bee safe. *
There is a Canadian flag with a heart instead of a maple leaf taped to the living room window and the apple tree in the front yard is wrapped in lights as a sign of appreciation for our healthcare workers. My fingers are cracked from washing my hands and wiping every surface imaginable so I am going to use the bees wax I collected from last year’s frames, the coconut oil I bought from Larry Lindahl at the March meeting and one of Sky Richards’ recipes from the February meeting to make some hand cream. I have all the time in the world to experiment. I have my dog to pull me out into the neighbourhood and my bees to keep me busy cleaning equipment, painting and labeling boxes and making syrup for the newly emerging brood.
As you are no doubt aware, the directives of the various health authorities will make it impossible to conduct our normal April meeting at 4201 Tyndall Ave and all in-person meetings and educational presentations conducted by club members are also suspended until we collectively get a handle on the coronavirus. That may be a couple of months or it could be the fall before we are once again able to meet as a group. Your club continues to operate and your executive is meeting via Zoom to keep things moving.
Please welcome some new people to our Executive. Simon Lightbody will take over from Irene Tiampo as Club Secretary. Nicole Sleeth will take over from Kimberley Bowman as Membership Secretary and Cindy Parker will join us as a Director at Large. More formal introductions will occur when next we get together. Again, thank you to Irene and Kimberley who will both continue to support new members of Exec as they hand off responsibilities.
Honey extractors are now in place at three locations: Central Saanich, View Royal and Collwood/Metchosin. Central Saanich has a vaporizer and the other two sites soon will. Our website will soon have updated info on how and where to rent the equipment. You will be able to pay for the rental on-line.
Peter Day is setting up the swarm committee and will have instructions on how to collect swarms while maintaining physical distance.
Don Lambert will look at bringing the New Beekeepers Corner to you via the web in May and courses continue to be offered by others on-line.
Local suppliers like Buckerfield’s and Borden Mercantile continue to be open and offer supplies to keep your hives growing. You may have to line up to get into the stores but like any manager of livestock you have an obligation to keep your bees healthy and housed.
Normally April and May are busy months for membership renewal. We want you to remain a member and should you need, know that you can delay your fee payment until November 2020. Nicole Sleeth will be in touch with her own note about membership.
Keep visiting the CRBA website. Watch for news tidbits on the Facebook page (Victoria BC Beekeepers) and look for further emails from the CRBA executive.
* To paraphrase Dr. Bonnie Henry: Bee Calm. Bee Kind. Bee safe.