Well, my wife and I went to the Heritage Festival at Krul Lake in Munson. We rented a 30′ motor home from Cruise America on Friday, then loaded our camping supplies and went to Krul Lake that afternoon. We got there about dusk and had to hurry to get it set up and hook up to the utilities before it got too dark. We still had to have the flashlight to finish though. Then before we could settle down, there was the bed to make, hand held radios to plug in, and read the operator’s manual just to get the refrigerator to work. But when every thing was set up, we could sit at the table and drink some soft drinks and plan what we were going to do in the morning to get set up for the fest.

We went to bed about 2300 hrs Fri. and got up about 0600 Sat. The camp served the participants breakfast, so I enjoyed some visiting with old friends. The ones that participate every year. Some of them get the same campsite every year. I have been there from the beginning and haven’t had the same campsite twice yet.

After breakfast, my wife and I set up the display. The head honcho came by and was very upset that I did not bring my observation hive. There was a reason. My hives are so weak that not one could have spared a single frame of brood. I am thinking that Colony Collapse Disease (CCD) has set in. I don’t know for a fact that that is the reason. Anyway, my darling spouse said that the man was upset because I couldn’t show and tell. I was just a vendor at that time and this was supposed to be a crafts show with selling privileges. I will get an observation hive next year if it kills all my colonies!

I was going to take my teaching posters with me and have them set up so I could at least talk about my bees with some props, but a fellow beekeeper borrowed them to go to a school and have a class with some kindergartners. When it rains, it pours. Oh! well! I got a lot of talking done anyway.

We took 3 types of honey for the people to taste. Then they could decide if they wanted to buy and what kind. We had Wildflower, Gallberry, and Tupelo honey. The 2 sizes of containers we had were 12 oz. bears and pints of each kind. There wasn’t honey to fill the 1 lb bees or quarts. I only had a few inquires about quarts. I did field some questions about comb honey. I explained that the reason we didn’t preload comb honey was if we didn’t sell it all, we run the risk of having the honey crystallize and when I reliquify it, the comb wax would melt and we would lose it. I did, however, have a notepad and pen to take orders. One lady left her name and number.

There were 2,300 people in attendance on Saturday. After closing Sunday, the park reported that with the rangers and volunteers (excluding the participants), there were a little over 4,000 people there that weekend. That was more than in the past 3 years.

There were crafts there that I didn’t get to see but I was told that some of them included: grinding corn for cornmeal at the gristmill, beeswax figurines, corn shucks dolls, basket weaving, weaving cane bottom chairs, an old mule drawn freight wagon, animal hide tanning, cooking in cast iron pots (Dutch oven style and over campfires), spit cooking, and squeezing juice out of sugar cane and making cane syrup. There was a man there making some 4 string Dulcimer musical instruments. He also made some X boomerangs for the kids. Then there was a log sawing exhibition, handmade ceder shingles the old fashion way with a pull knife, and some old oxen yokes and paraphernalia. These were just some of the exhibits. There were several singing groups there for entertainment so everyone had something they enjoyed. I made money and didn’t have to bring much of my honey back. That was a blessing. Now I am getting ready for a elementary school class of my own on the 31st. It is Country Day and is something like the Food for America. The classes will be shuttled through each of the different areas of farming expeditions and then assemble in the main auditorium for the finale. Then I will leave from there to go to Winter Haven, Fl for the State Beekeepers Annual Conference.