President’s message (April 2022)

The squalls have been sweeping through the neighbourhood, making me nervous for my fledgling hives. Forager bees barely have time to get out the door and explore the immediate surroundings before another blast of arctic air has swept through. The newly emigrated creatures are collecting some pollen and voraciously consuming sugar syrup and the pollen patties tucked inside the hive but, like the rest of us, they are going a little cabin crazy with all the rain and wind. Now with hints of warmer weather I have watched giant queen wasps drifting around the neighborhood, sizing up the real estate and looking for new homes. I am trying to be as discouraging as possible as I set out my wasp traps.

We have a new home! Our April meeting will be held in the Central Saanich Seniors Centre at 1229 Clarke Road in Brentwood Bay. After some contract issues with our earlier choice in Royal Oak, we had to make an executive decision and go with the Brentwood location which has all the services and equipment we need and is just a little closer to Sidney. There is a good-sized parking lot next to the Centre and more parking on the streets in the immediate neighbourhood, so I think you will find the new location a positive experience.

Word has gone out to those who had planned to treat their equipment at Sterigenics that the trip will not happen this year. Every time we thought we had a plan, the company threw new requirements at us and extended the time frames such that we could not guarantee clean equipment in time for people to install their nucs and the price just kept climbing out of reach. Compounding the issue is the lack of glassware so we are not able to do a club order of jars at this time. 

We are all getting used to the idea of going out and about without a mask (or maybe with a mask). We will have our New Beekeeper Corner located on the lower level of the Centre starting at 6:30pm and our regular meeting will begin upstairs just after 7:00pm. If you have not yet renewed your membership fees for 2022 you can either do it on-line or in-person at the door on Thursday evening. The Social part of our meeting will let you put faces to names but don’t forget to bring your own mug. We will have the coffee and tea ready for the evening.

We will use our new Zoom subscription to broadcast the meeting so if you can’t be there in person, you can log onto the Zoom call and watch it from wherever you are.