Article: Marla Spivak-- MacArthur Fellow

Congratulations to University of Minnesota entomologist, Marla Spivak on being chosen as a 2010 MacArthur Foundation fellow.

Moving Some Stores Around

I opened up both top bar hives yesterday in order to check honey stores and move bars around. Metpropolis, my problem hive this year, has absolutely no capped honey to speak of.  Plan Bee has a little more but still not enough to make it through winter. I left some fondant in both hives and hope that the bees are able to store some nectar in the next few weeks.

WAHBA At Blue Sky Fair

In our first official public appearance, the Winona Area Hobby Beekeepers Association has a table at Winona State's Blue Sky Fair this morning. Dr. Bruno Borsari, a biologist at WSU, and I manned the table from 8 to the 12:30. We had a variety of  informational materials to give the public, as well as posters on honey bees and other pollinators. We even brought some bee equipment and comb from Metpropolis, a top bar hive located in Beelandia. We signed up a number of interested potential beekeepers and had a great time talking about our passion: bees!

Another Article on WAHBA

The Winona Area Hobby Beekeepers Association is again in the news with an article by Kate Carlson for winona360.org .

Henneman Bee Photos

Jamie Henneman, a talented student of mine, visited Beelandia yesterday to take a series of photos of its bee inhabitants. I was so impressed with the quality of these photographs that, with Jamie's permission, I thought I'd share two with you all.

On the negative side of all this, Jamie was stung on the neck during the photo shoot. That didn't stop her from taking more photos, or inflaming another bee enough to sting me.

Strengthening Hives

First, I need to apologize to any readers wondering where the author of this blog went to. Yes, I haven't written anything about the activities of Beelandia in a few weeks. With the beginning of the semester approaching and the Winona bee ordinance debate in full swing, the blog was set aside. I assure you though, Beelandia is alive and well.

Today, I spent late morning strengthening the two hives I created this summer from the nucs I started. I took frames of honey, pollen, and larvae from the two "relief" nucs which I will let die this winter and added them to both Atta Bee! and the new hive I have yet to name. As might be expected, the bees were not really cooperative and so I sustained 2 stings.

Article: WAHBA in the News

An article in the Winona Daily News on WAHBA.