HCBA Annual Picnic July 16th

Our Annual Picnic will be held Thursday,  July 16 

At 6pm so we can enjoy the daylight.

Rain or Shine

Andy will be the grillmaster this year.

We provide the grill, the delicious hamburgers and hotdogs and maybe even a surprise or two.

You provide your favorite picnic food to share..

We would like to have a variety of appetizers, entrees, salads and desserts.

Please let me know what you may be thinking of bringing , just send me an email that way we will know how many people will be attending.

So grab your chairs and perhaps a favorite beverage and look forward to a lot of good bee talk.

Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)
118 Mount Vernon Road
Chicopee, MA 01013

Bees on the Move

Commercial beekeepers transport the insects thousands of miles around the country every year to pollinate crops when they're in bloom.

Original Source:  National Geographic (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/building-bees/transport-map)

Also!  Some interesting reading from National Geographic.  Check out this article titled, "Quest for a Superbee" by Charles Mann.  Guaranteed to be an excellent read!  See link below:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/building-bees/mann-text

Why is it Honey Bee and not Honeybee?

Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”--FromAnatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

non-native European Honey Bee-State Insect

State Insects

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Lorenzo Langstroth

The man behind the scene.

And a handsome guy to boot.

Big E Meeting June 18th

June 18th Big E Meeting

This meeting is mandatory if you are planning on selling ANY of your products at the fair.

Please plan on attending as we have many things to discuss 

We are also looking for club members to volunteer for morning and evening shifts in both the Mass Building and Stroh Building (Farmarama)

7pm at WHIL, Chicopee, MA

Our 2nd Annual Honey Recipe Contest

Congratulations to our winners!

 Appetizer 

Candied Bacon - Lee Duquette

Asian Slaw - Lee Duquette

Couscous Salad - - Lee Duquette

Entree

Apple Honey Glazed Ham - -Jill and Frank Ziencina

Honey Baked Beans - - Cheryl Robare

Dirty Burgers - Joyce Munson

Dessert

Baklava - Tom Flebotte

Honey Pots - Maddie Munson

Spent Grain Bars - Jill Bigos

What a great time we all had, enjoying the honey feast and talking bee talk.

Looking forward to next year's event being even bigger.

A special thank you to Mohawk Trading Company for their generous raffle donation.

2015 Mass Field Day

All are welcome to this Bee filled event!

FIELD DAY SCHEDULE June 20th, 2015

UMass Agronomy Farm, River Rd. South Deerfield, MA. 01373

Follow the yellow “BEE” signs

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

8:30 – 9:30 AM Registration – please sign in at the Registration table and to pick up lunch tickets. See Chris Wayne – FCBA President.

Pre-order BBQ Lunch at www.massbee.org – send to Chris Wayne / FCBA President. Pickup your ticket at registration.

Coffee & Pastries will be on sale at 8:30 AM – Provided by Elmers Store, Ashfield, MA.

This is a free event, open to all beekeepers and the public. It is sponsored by the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association, The University of Massachusetts and hosted by members of the Franklin County Bee Association. Expenses are covered by selling raffle tickets and merchandise. Please support this annual event by purchasing a raffle ticket and buying a T-shirt.

Special Thanks to Elmer’s Store, the M&M Farm Stand, and Pasiecnik’s Farm Stand for providing morning coffee, BBQ lunch, and ice cream.

Thank you to the vendors for supporting our MBA Field Day event and meetings. Save by buying equipment at Field Day.

Please wear protective clothing when participating in live bee demonstrations.

This schedule may change as We add speakers and topics.

June 11th Meeting---Get your honey out!

Bring your favorite item you make with HONEY!

Please bring enough for sampling and copies of the recipe to share

Three categories: appetizer, entree and dessert.

Each category will have a winner and a sweet prize.

Also, we are asking if you have any bee related items to donate we will have a mini auction.

And as always good bee talk will be had, we want to hear about your new installs, swarm tales and all that good stuff!

7-9pm WHIL Chicopee. Mass.