Hello Beekeepers!
Our September meeting is, amazingly, right around the corner! We will be meeting in the Magnolia Room, Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Orange County Extension Offices located at 6021 S. Conway Road., Orlando.
Our guest speaker will be Bert Kelley, of Kelley's Apiaries in Lakeland.
Bert will be giving us information on "How to Certify a Honey House" (or something to that effect). He will relay his very amusing story of the trials and tribulations he went through with the State in order to build a certified bottling facility. Don't miss this one, it is great!
Bert is also a distributor of many Dadant products and if you would like to purchase anything (frames, supers, lids, bottom boards, smokers, veils, gloves, etc.) give Bert a call at 863-644-6944. He can bring it with him to the meeting if you'd like.
He also has comb honey for sale and will bring some of his comb, chunk and liquid honeys if you would like to purchase anything. Remember, Christmas is only 3 months from now! Who doesn't love to get honey as a gift?
We will be having a great raffle with some really nice donated gifts from Golden Heritage foods and the infamous Michael Housel. So bring cash or checks, OBBA will take it all! (So will Bert).
Paul Allison and I also wish to have a black jar honey judging again. Bring approximately 3 tablespoons of honey (just a little sample) and my niece Molly will transfer your sample into a jar and assign you a number. Please limit the number of your samples to only two please. It will give everyone a chance at winning. The honey will be judged during the lecture and afterwards the winners will be awarded their certificates of First, Second, Third and Fourth place. All entrants will receive cards commenting on the pluses and minuses of their sample.
At our last honey judging there were samples containing bee parts, wings and legs. Even though that honey was delicious it was disqualified for debris. You needn't strain your sample, just make sure there are no bee parts in them. Beeswax is OK, but let's try to keep our samples as clean as possible. It is just a tiny amount of honey so it shouldn't be that difficult.
See you September 17th!
Beth