Well the state fair is imminently upon us and I expect it to be another great one this year. As I understand it we have more entries into the honey competition than in many years before. We’ve even had discussions that possibly next year there will be a few new classes for entries. More to come on that later. A sincere thanks to all those who have worked to get things ready for the fair, and to those who have committed time to be at the booth. If you go to the fair, be sure to stop by and say hi at our booth.

I had another opportunity to work with a first year beekeeper whose bee colonies are doing fine but they recognized that some of the information they were told didn’t make sense. We talked a bit before the hive inspections and I remembered how too much bee information too fast can actually make it challenging for a beekeeper to get started. There was a little bit of this information and a little bit of that information that really had nothing to do with each other but somehow had become merged together to create a totally inaccurate statement about how the colony functions.  The point I’m making is as a seasoned beekeeper we often take for granted that we have come to terms with some of the concepts, biology, and methods by which to keep and manage bees but for a new beekeeper it a lot to take in and assimilate. With just a little bit of time investment and focusing specifically on this new beekeeper we were able to clear up some misunderstandings and boil it down to the basics such that they felt they now understood what the bees are trying to do each season of the year. That understanding leads to a greater confidence in their beekeeping skills. I guess that’s really what our mentor program for the club is all about.

Many of our members are formal mentors, and there are many more that are informal mentors. But whether you officially designate yourself as a mentor or not, we all have the opportunity to coach, guide and maybe even listen and learn something new ourselves to make beekeeping more successful for all of us. I still recall several concepts that I held onto for a long time until I finally read research are spoke with people who are more knowledgeable than I and I came to realize that the “truth” that I was holding on to was not accurate. And that’s okay. We all need mentoring no matter what our level of experience.

Thanks for being a part of our group, and I’ll see you at the next meeting!

Dane