“Hacks and Techniques From an Experimental Beekeeper”. Ryan Williamson of Sourwood Farm is a second generation beekeeper running a full time operation of 250 colonies with his family in Earlysville, Virginia. A proclivity to tinker and experiment has resulted in endless humbling mistakes but also occasional success. The presentation will focus on those tips, unique management techniques and equipment modifications that have proven useful in his operation with the hope that a few might be useful in yours.
Bob owns Blue Ridge Honey Company and has a long history of sharing his great knowledge freely to local and far-away groups as well as his YouTube Channel. He will talk with us tonight about Issues With Old Comb and Toxic Interactions In Our Colonies.
Our next regular meeting (December 5th is the holiday dinner potluck at Dan’s house) will be January 2nd. Master Craftsman Beekeeper, Cindy Hidges, will discuss the importance of propolis.
Georgia Zumwalt is a Master Photographer & Certified Beekeeper from Jackson County GA. She serves the beekeeping industry as Secretary of the Georgia Beekeepers Association and President of the Northeast Georgia Mountain Beekeepers Association. She serves as a photographic educator, a State Representative for the elite American Society of Photographers, and runs the physical print division of the International Photographic Competition for the Professional Photographers of America. She’s had a camera attached to one hand and a coffee cup attached to the other for over 30 years and in 2018 she decided to periodically set the coffee cup down in order to manage a bee smoker. She began her photography career in the late 1980’s. One of her first professional jobs as a photographer was for the California Optometric Association. She was asked to photograph Folsom Prison (yep, the same one Johnny Cash sang about) for a story about the prisoners’ role in eyeglass production. Over the years her work has been used by the National Audubon Society, Estée Lauder, Kubota, FleishmanHillard and, as of 2021, her work is featured in the GBA “Save the Honey Bee” license plate campaign.
Dr Kate Ihle, is a Research Molecular Biologist at the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Lab in Baton Rouge, LA. She will share some of their preliminary research results on social apoptosis and varroa mite resistance as well as introducing us to the other work they do at the lab.
This meeting will be in person with Dr Ihle Zooming in.
For the past 18 years, Jennifer Berry has been the Apicultural Research Professional and Lab Manager for the University of Georgia Honey Bee Program. She has discovered a love of pollinator plants for gardens and will share them with us!
Harold Lanier is a Georgia Journeyman Beekeeper and a member of our club. He operates Lanier Bee Barn right up in Commerce GA, where he teaches hands-on classes in beekeeping as well as offering equipment, packages and nucs for sale. Tonight he’ll be speaking to us about beekeeping equipment.
