News & Events: Information on Meetings and other News & Events
ACBA will be at Christmas in July in West Jefferson
July 2, 2022
Hello to all,
It's official! Our application for the Christmas in July Festival was accepted on Friday.
WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS!
We need at least three people per two-hour shift. More is even better. Set up and clean-up are critically important slots. If you are not available to help, please stop by to say hello at the booth and refer others. We will be in Booth 52 and our load-in time is at 6AM at First Citizens Bank. Essentially, we need to unload, move our vehicles, and set up our booth as quickly as possible to allow other vendors to also set up (unloading time is 15 minutes).
Shift:
Volunteers
6AM-8AM, Set-up - Raven Crews
8AM-10AM - Ken Jenkins
10AM to Noon - Linda Katsoudas, Deborah and Craig Weinstein
Noon to 2PM - Louise Rascoe
2PM to 4PM - Jeff and Shirley Vestal
4PM-6PM, Clean-up - Raven Crews
Rovers (help at non-specific times) - Matt Rumfelt
Main objectives:
1. Educate the public about honeybees and beekeeping
2. Recruit new interest in the ACBA
3. Fundraise for the ACBA (t-shirt sales)
4. Create economic opportunities for beekeepers
Materials:
- Posters, handouts, etc. (Raven Crews)
- Cooler with Water & Ice (Wayne & Kim Pitts)
- Educational posters and demonstration hive (Jim Rash)
- T-shirts (Raven Crews)
- Honey and other products? So far, we do not have any. If you have something to sell, speak up.
- We will not have an observation hive – too stressful on the bees for a 10 hour outing in the summer heat. Feel free to refer learners to the Honey Hole to see Charlie and Shelley's hive.
This will be an important event for the ACBA - please help!
Best,
Wayne Pitts
ACBA President
ACBA Meetings for 2022 Underway
March 10, 2022
Photographs from the 1st meeting of the Ashe County Beekeeping Association are displayed here...
Visit the ACBA website regularly to keep abreast of Association activities for 2022.
The first gathering of the year attracted 23 active and interested beekeepers to the meeting at the Ashe County Agricultural Building in Jefferson, NC.
A presentation was made by master beekeeper and ACBA member Jim Rash (shown lower right) on "what to expect in your hives in March-April."
Thanks, Jim!
ACBA Marks the End of Another Year with Our Annual Banquet
November 11, 2021
As seen by the beautifully decorated cake (right), our end of the season banquet was held with a great turnout of members who also enjoyed a scrumptious brisket smoked by Randy Baldwin, as well as numerous side dishes so that no one “left hungry!”
We now go into diapause - entomologically speaking for hibernation - until March of next year. But that doesn’t mean we don’t stay connected with any beekeeping issues, so if there are questions about what you should be doing to keep your hive(s) healthy, drop us a line here!
Local Beekeeper Video
From ACBA member Helen Baldwin: I'm sharing a beautiful video done by Maddee Burt, a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill.
- Maddee, along with other students, coaches, and professors, arrived in Ashe County last month to document some local stories. Maddee chose beekeeping.
- The video features our own Jim Rash and Kim and Wayne Pitts, new (and very productive!) members of ACBA.
- My Bee’s Keeper is just under 4 minutes long. You’ll be sorry when it ends!
Regular ACBA Meeting
August 12, 2021
- The ACBA held a regular membership meeting on August 12th...use the below link to see information on Facebook about the meeting during which H. S. Greene from Hidden Happiness Beekeeping Farm gave a presentation on hives.
Ashe County Beekeeping Association Regular Meeting
May 13, 2021
Journeyman beekeeper, Randy Baldwin of Jefferson, NC, Honey B's Bees and Honey spoke about catching swarms. Although sparsely attended, the meeting was held outdoors in the WJ Pavilion below the Ashe County Library. It was good to be back in person even though the temperature was a bit "nippy"!
Thanks, Randy!
Photo #1 (top right) - Demonstrating the set-up for catching swarms.
Photo #2 (bottom right) - Setting swarm-catching box on white towel (if swarm is low; white sheet if swarm is high).
Photo #3 (thumbnail photo right) - Swarm-catching bag - easy and effective!
HiveTracks for ACBA Members
May 14, 2020
Our thanks to James Wilkes for hosting the Zoom meeting this past Thursday. We had about a dozen attendees with the discussion focused on swarming, splits and queens. Following up on the meeting, a note from the HiveTracks team regarding free licenses for our members.
Thank you for letting me and the Hive Tracks team join in on this month's Ashe County Beekeepers Association club meeting! This is just a reminder about our previous discussion about us offering free Hive Tracks accounts to all ACBA club members. As mentioned above, all we need for club members to participate is to fill out this quick questionnaire https://forms.gle/rr5SE8HQkhiEX39X8- we will follow up with each member individually to get their account situated and/or up to date.
I'm here to help, so please feel free to contact me directly (ethan@hivetracks.com) with any questions.
We look forward to a successful 2020 season!
Best,
Ethan Walton
ethan@hivetracks.com
www.hivetracks.com