Beekeeping Meeting

Last weekend, my cousin Vickie and I went to a Beekeeping seminar.

Since it was an hour and a half away,

 and it started at 7:00 a.m.,

we decided to get an hotel room close to the seminar location.  Now, I don't know about you, but for me to be away from home for any length of time, I have to have a good magazine, and some crochet, 

 

 and some HGTV!  I do not get HGTV at home right now, so it's a treat.  I sent My Shug a picture of this screened in porch (taken off of the tv) and asked him to build it for me when he is finished with the house!  He told me to stop watching HGTV!!!

 Oh yeah, I need wine and chocolate too!

 Early the next morning....

 

 over 900 people....(I think that guy behind us should have gotten a room the night before!)

   

attended the Beekeeping School of Indiana's seminar.  900 beekeepers in Indiana alone!

The seminar lasted the entire day.  

They had several different classes you could attend throughout the day.   You had to pick and choose though.  So we each picked four different classes and off we went.  Our theory was to teach each other what we learned.

 

 Aren't these baby bees the cutest!

And you thought beekeeping was just about bugs!

 One of my classes was on Disease and Pests.

The one I got the most excited about was this one....and his program is online!  So I came home and watched the whole thing again. 

 And I'll probably watch it again and again, as it's a little bit confusing but I'm very excited about giving it a try.

You've heard me talk about feeding my bees....

 This beekeeping school took place at an Indianapolis High School.  They had vendors throughout the hallways where you could shop for supplies, finished products, and artsy-craftsy stuff pertaining to beekeeping.   So during your breaks throughout the day, there was plenty to do.  They also had a silent, and a "regular" auction where they had a caller and such.  I told Vickie to get me the nuc box (which is a wooden box about half the size of a hive) but not to spend more than $30.00.  I had something else to do.  Well, I looked at the time and decided I had time to sit, so I did.   The nuc was the first thing to go.  When she was bidding, she had it for $20.  I might add Vickie is very competitive!  When someone bid against her, her head whipped around to see who bid, and she reminded me of Monica on the TV show Friends!  I started laughing!  She got it for $30!  Thanks Vickie. 

 I used to say I didn't need to go to these meetings, that beekeepers years ago didn't have all of these meetings to attend.  They just kept bees.  Well, beekeepers years ago didn't have varroa mites, tracheal mites, etc. either.  Some of these mites just arrived in the 1980s.  And I suppose, the farmers back in the day did their "meetin' time" at the local General Store over a cup of coffee.  I was wrong about the meetings.  I learned so much that I want to talk about it.  Try talking about varroa mites to your crochet group, or your lady friends at a luncheon!  It doesn't work peeps!  I'm glad I went to this meeting.  I plan on going to more.  I learned a lot and I enjoyed it.

There are a couple of  things I would like to say about meetings such as these for any hobby.  They had different levels of meetings for Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced beekeepers.  And they put that information beside the class title so you would know which classes to attend, based on your level of beekeeping.  What they did NOT do was give a general description of the class.
SO......
1) If you are in charge of putting on seminars, don't just give a title and expect people to know what the class is about.  Put a brief description of the class.

An example....I thought "Honey in the Kitchen" was going to be about how to set up a honey kitchen in order to sell your honey.  I asked someone about it.  Nope, it was about recipes that had honey in them.  (Luckily, Vickie went to that one! LOL!)
But, the first meeting I attended, I was a bit bored.   When I met up with Vickie she was all excited.  I was almost jealous!  You see, she attended a meeting where she learned something.  I did not.  It wasn't that the speaker wasn't interesting.   The topic wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

2) The next meeting she went to was a beginner meeting.  I went to the one on Pests and Disease.  She came out of the beginner meeting bored.  She already knows beginner beekeeping.
So, give yourself credit for what you do know, and stretch yourself.   Learn something new.  Go to the next level.  Even if you are unsure about what you are doing, try it!  I was getting bored with beekeeping and now I'm excited again.

3) Get together with peeps at the general store over coffee! (I do this with my crochet group every week!)  You need to talk to people who like-minded.  Just don't talk about varroa mites to your crochet group or ladies luncheon! Their eyes gloss over!!!!

Cindy Bee