ESHPA Summer Picnic
Saturday, July 18, 2015
10:00am 5:00pm
This year's summer meeting/picnic is NEAR BetterBee in Greenwich, NY.
The picnic is at July 18, 2015 10 am
Washington County Fairgrounds
392 Old Schuylerville Rd., Greenwich, NY 12834
Agenda:
10:00 am Welcome by President Mark Berninghausen
10:15 am Dr. Jack Rath—“Wintering the Betterbee Way”
11:15 am General membership meeting
12:00 pm Potluck lunch
1:00 pm Alan Tremblay — “Canadian Hive Wraps”
1:45 pm John Gibbs—“Indoor Wintering”
2:30 pm Paul Cappy—”Cheap Insulated Winter Cover”
Open house at Betterbee just a couple miles down the road from the fairgrounds (9-4 pm).
Call in your orders ahead of time for pickup.
8 Meader Rd., Greenwich, NY 12834
Limited quantity of roast chicken, drinks, and locally made honey ice cream will be available, $7 suggested donation.
Our Speakers:
Dr. Jack Rath is a northern queen breeder, veterinarian, and co-owner of Betterbee. He has been keeping bees since he mail ordered this first hive in1968 from Montgomery Ward.
Alan Tremblay is a beekeeper in the Southern Tier, and is a neighbor beekeeper to Joe Rowland. Allen originally comes from Canada, where he was a commercial beekeeper producing clover honey. He kept at least 1000 colonies of bees, and he was very good at wintering them in Canada. He uses the system he developed to winter his colonies in NY. The honey he produces in NY is sold at the NYC Green Markets. He has a very successful second career owning his own business as a tax consultant. This includes preparing the yearly federal and state tax returns for his clients.
John Gibbs caught his first swarm in 1983 and it was love at first sight. He just couldn't leave them alone. Through the years it got worse, he kept adding more and more hives and he’s still loving it. But with every winter came such a disappointment. In 2006 they were thinking about the next five year plan. The cost in fuel, or trucking, to go south had been kicked around. They started really thinking about inside wintering so he built a building to just for this. He says it is a lot easier then you may think. Today they can winter 3000 hives. This building enables them to send bees to California, a big plus for the business. It worked out for them, but yes, there is more to it then these words.
Paul Cappy is the NY State Apiculturist, Division of Plant Industry, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets."