I thought I would go and watch the fireworks at Victoria’s inner harbour on July 1st, but after doing my little hop-dance and not getting any warmer, I headed for home. A cold Jun-uary was rapidly becoming a cold Jul-uary – our new climate-adjusted months. I thought: If only we could have some of the heat that eastern Canada is experiencing then perhaps we will see some blackberry nectar flow and some full frames of honey.
In June we learned, amongst other things, about wrangling bumblebee nests and in July we will learn more about some of the native species of bees here on the island and in BC. Ted Leischner of Plan Bee Now! is a member of the Island Pollinator Initiative and will join us on July 12th to give us more insight into the cousins of our honeybees.
We will also spend a little more time talking about outyard preparations and I want to thank Derek Wulff for his great overview of the outyard plans for this year. Security of the property is a priority for both our club members and Queesto, the forestry company that manages the land, so we will need to confirm who has which tags for their hives.
July is a busy time for beekeepers and people will be getting ready to extract honey fairly soon. We have one extractor operating and repairs underway on the second and I want to thank Jim Henry for all his efforts to keep them operating. Don Lambert will be talking about extracting honey in the New Beekeepers Corner.
Your executive has committed to contacting members over the summer to gather your ideas and incorporate them into the agendas of future meetings. We are looking for your ideas on monthly topics and activities and communications that will help the club be most effective for you. Give thought to those ideas and welcome our call when the phone rings.
As the annual conference nears, the BCHPA is planning communications that will profile members of our club. If you are willing to describe your experiences as a beekeeper, whether it is year-one or year-forty, please send me a quick email to let me know we can contact you. (We are looking for about 15 people to participate, so don’t be shy.)
As usual, we will have our social time after the meeting so don’t forget to bring your own travel mug and help keep another piece of foam/plastic out of the landfill.
In the time it took to write this, the temperature has popped up and now the air is filled with the smell of smoke coming from the Tugwell Creek fire. The fire is under control and I trust that Bob Liptrot’s bees and business are safe.