Chairman … Cont. From Page 2that move into the sunnier corner, isolatingthemselves from the food thatwould keep them alive?The hives in this apiary were allalive! In front <strong>of</strong> some hives, a few beeswere actively flying around. But, in front<strong>of</strong> all the hives were a small pile <strong>of</strong> deadbees indicating that those hives hadenough worker bees to start cleaninghouse. When I lifted the tops <strong>of</strong>f eachhive, I saw the bees were huddled righton the top by the hole in the inner cover– time to do some quick hive evaluations.Some hives were very heavy butthe honey stores were against the edges<strong>of</strong> the box, away from the cluster. A fewpuffs <strong>of</strong> smoke and I could move thoseframes next to the cluster. Other hiveswere fairly light and, after another puff<strong>of</strong> smoke, a large slab/pile/glob <strong>of</strong> Fondantwas placed directly on the frametops above the area where the clusterwas located. As the day wore on, thetemperature rose to the high 40s andI could check some frames. It was thedead <strong>of</strong> winter and some <strong>of</strong> the hiveshad brood spread across three framesalready! Mental note – have to checkthese hives again in couple <strong>of</strong> weeks tomake sure they do not run out <strong>of</strong> storesas they are already starting to build upin February.One observation/revelation aboutworking bees in the snow that might beobvious to beekeepers that live in winters<strong>of</strong> endless snow is that you haveto be very careful that you do not spillbees on the snow. If there are bees onthe inner cover and they drop <strong>of</strong>f as youmove the inner cover to work the hive,they will walk around on the snow for aminute or two and then freeze to death.Bees on the ground in the sun on warmdays will eventually fly back to the hivebut not bees standing on snow.The second revelation is that carrying50-pound boxes <strong>of</strong> Fondant in thesnow is not fun – even if I had had snowshoes. I bought a plastic sled (don’tknow what happened to mine from 30years ago) and can now easily load all<strong>of</strong> my equipment on the sled and pull itthrough the snow to the hives.If any <strong>of</strong> you have interesting storiesand advice for beekeeping in thesnow, let me know. It will be fun toshare them with other beekeepers thissummer when the temperature hits100° and we all start to complain aboutthe heat.Now, working bees is not the onlything that has captured our attentionthis winter. Kathy, Will, Dave, John,Kim, Everett, Ed, Bill and others havebeen fixated on summer <strong>EAS</strong> conventions.Will Hicks and Dave Tarpy havelined up a fantastic group <strong>of</strong> speakersfor <strong>EAS</strong> 2010 in <strong>North</strong> Carolina. Notto be outdone, Everett and Ed pickedthe coldest day <strong>of</strong> the century for DanConlin and I to visit sites for <strong>EAS</strong>2011in Rhode Island. The temperature thatday was -15°F (yes, that was Fahrenheit)with a strong wind blowing fromthe north so it felt like -50°. (I may beexaggerating a little bit on the exacttemperatures.) Dan spent the followingweek at home in front <strong>of</strong> a fire drinkinghot toddies. I have been assured thatsummers in Rhode Island are actuallyhot and that the site for <strong>EAS</strong> 2011 doeshave air conditioning. That was a refreshingthought as the wind howledthrough my four layers <strong>of</strong> sweaters andcoats.Ok, so maybe I have too much coldand snow on my mind. But spring is onits way. In fact, as <strong>of</strong> last weekend, it hitGeorgia. As I drove up I-95, the maplebuds were just popping open and therewas a red haze to the trees. So, for myfriends in Virginia – only two states togo before spring arrives for you. For myNew England friends, you have to waituntil after spring hits Philly.A wise older beekeeper from upstatePennsylvania who wished to remainanonymous used to tell me to stoptalking about working bees on warmdays in winter. Glenn Crimbrig wouldtell me that in his part <strong>of</strong> the state itnever gets above freezing in the winter.If this is your case, maybe you shouldtake some advice from Dan and sit infront <strong>of</strong> the fire, drink a hot toddy, opensome bee catalogs, and start makingplans to visit balmy <strong>North</strong> Carolina for<strong>EAS</strong> 2010 this summer. It will be nottoo hot and not too cold, but just rightfor a fantastic <strong>EAS</strong> Conference.See you there,A Glance At 2010 ShortCourse Level 1Level I 2010 short course is shapingup.-All student evaluations from lastyear have been reviewed; the MasterBeekeeper teachers from last year haveall received their evaluations.-All teachers from last year werepolled; interestingly enough ALL <strong>of</strong>them would do it again.-The structure <strong>of</strong> the course will remainchronological; starting with the“bee year” in late summer and progressingfor the next 12 months.-Some new classes will be added: oneis “Pollination 101”– this, <strong>of</strong> course,will be a “spring” season class. A wholeclass on nucleus colonies will be added.-Some very popular teachers in 2009will not be attending 2010 <strong>EAS</strong>. Thereforethere will be some changes in thepersonnel teaching those classes. Forthose classes not essential ( such as AllenHayes’ extremely popular “gadgets”,that class will be dropped this year becauseAllen will not be at <strong>EAS</strong> 2010).- Student evaluations last year wantedlonger class time and a longer periodbetween classes.Hopefully this can be arranged: (1hour class time? and 15 minutes betweenclasses?)-Dave Tarpy has been instrumental insetting up a computer “preview room”and getting an IT person from the universityto be on site.This is good: the most frequent criticism<strong>of</strong> last year’s course was the problemswith the computers and AV equipment.-The schedule <strong>of</strong> the Level I classeswill cover Monday and Tuesday. OnWednesday morning, Level I and LevelII will have a combined session.Brenda KiesslingMaster Beekeeper DirectorHAS 2010The Heartland Apiculture <strong>Society</strong>(HAS) annual conference will be heldin Cookeville, TN on the campus <strong>of</strong>Tennessee Technological Universityin 2010. The dates <strong>of</strong> the conferenceis July 8-10, 2010. For more informationcontact Jim Garrison, President<strong>of</strong> HAS, at jimg1850@live.com,or go to our web site for assistance.4 Winter, 2010
Winter, 20105