I want to apologize to you who have been following my experiences. I have been detained, derailed, and just plain procrastinating. Since my last posting, I have been to two workshops and have been bottling honey for sale. One of my outlets called me and said he had only two pints left and wanted to know when I could bring him some more.

Here is the rundown on my time and what I did to come to this post. My son, a missionary to Latin countries, came back to the States from the Yucatan peninsula , Mexico with a utility trailer sporting a bent axial, broken tongue (welded twice in Mexico) and new tires and wheels that were trashed on a bad stretch of road. I took it on my own to repair it. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I am not a welder, but—-, I was the one on the welding rod. In the meantime, I went to the Tupelo workshop in Chipley hosted by Laurence Cutts, formerly of the Florida State honey bee inspection dept. He was the big cheese there. He also is a past President of the Florida State Beekeepers Association.

We had as instructors:

Dr. Jamie Ellis of the University of Florida’s Entomology Dept. He is one of the heads of the research dept. His subject was history of the African bees and how they are surviving in the southern US.

David Westervelt is a bee inspector and a researcher for the State of Florida. He talked about pests in the bee hive.

Doug Corbin is a bee inspector of NW Florida. His subject was about diseases of the bees.

Larry Cutts, son of Laurence, explained about queen rearing and why we as beekeepers need to know how to raise our own queens.

Back on the trailer. After setting the axle, welding the tongue and latch on, I had to get a schedule ready for a Fish Fry/Mini-Workshop for Beginners. This had to be finished by the following Saturday. In the meantime, I have been getting my study information from the computer so I can attend a Master Beekeeper course sponsored by the University of Florida. My level at this moment is Apprentice beekeeper. I am studying for the Advanced beekeeper patch. This will be in Monticello, Florida on the 5th of November. I am running out of study time!

The 6th and 7th will be the State Beekeepers convention. On Sunday the 8th, there will be a honey judging at the State Fair in Tallahassee which I will probably not enter as my wife will be with me and she will be ready to come home by then.

Back to the Fish Fry/Mini-Workshop for Beginners. We had 50 people in attendance with maybe 20 newbee’s. Laurence Cutts talked about what we needed to be doing right now to get ready for Winter. David Westervelt talked about getting ready for the Spring honey flow. Doug Corbin talked about controlling the mites now to help the bees overwinter and come out stronger than going in.

We had fish deep fried on location by our unofficial cook who by the way, did a real good job. The food was excellent and the trimmings were supplied by the association members.

The afternoon was taken up by three stations showing how to melt wax and apply it to plastic foundation, nailing different ways (power and hand) of pre-cut hive boxes and frames, and the last station was talking about the bees using 2 hives that were supplied by one of our members.

As always, we had a vendor there. This time it was Millie Bee out of Marianna, FL.

Now I am printing my computer modules so I can study and my wife can use the computer at the same time.

Maybe now, I can settle down and continue my posts on a more regular basics. Thank you all for bearing with me and I hope your interest has not deserted me. Until later, keep your veil close, you hive tool sharp, and your smoker lit.

PS. By the way, I did get the honey poured and delivered and in the meantime I think I picked another outlet. I will know by Monday.