Greetings to all of our beekeepers, from Don Moore August 8, 2009
Alamance County Beekeeping – Coming Events
1. Preserving our Heritage Day at Cedarock Park – August 22, 2009
Heritage Day at Cedarock Park will be held on August 22 this year. If your schedule allows and you are willing to help, please plan to come and participate. We will set up the bee cage with a “live hive of bees” and a beekeeper inside the cage (with the bees) explaining what is in the hive. We also plan to have an observation hive and someone talking about it, and of course, the “tools of the trade”. If you are helping to demonstrate the art of beekeeping, you can sell products of the hive, but our prime reason for being there is to educate the public about beekeeping and the honey bee. If we have enough participants, we could also have someone showing and explaining the 12 honey bee prints we have and the large chart about the honey bee. Cedarock Park is located about 5 or 6 miles south of I-85/40 off Hwy 49. Your participation in the event is worth one public service credit in the NC Master Beekeeper Program. We need to be set up and ready to go by 9:00 AM to accommodate the “early birds”.
For the benefit of all I will quote a part of the letter from Terry Isley of the Alamance County Recreation and Parks Department.
“… If you are selling items, you may need to bring a table to display them while you demonstrate to the public. Please remember that our theme is a turn of the century farm so, you may want to bring (a) covering for any of your modern day tables. We hope that some will dress as they did long ago with long dresses or skirts and bonnets and of course the men could wear their overalls and straw hats. Since we create no revenue from the festival, only participants who are demonstrating a skill will receive a free lunch. Participants who are just selling their products will be responsible for their lunch. With your help, we can continue to preserve the almost forgotten skills of long ago.”
If you plan to participate, please call Don Moore, 336-584-3195 or email dlmoore1@bellsouth.net
2. Alamance County Beekeepers August Field Day/Ice Cream Outing – August 29, 2009
Our August outing will be August 29 and the program will begin at 3 PM to allow a little under two hours for the program and then the ice cream goodies to follow at about 5 PM. If you have kids and they want to fish, bring along their fishing equipment and some bait. We have a pond next to the yard. Additional information and directions (for new folks) will follow in the August issue of the ACB Newsletter. If you want to take the Certified Level practical test of the Master Beekeeper Program, please call Don Moore by August 18 so we can schedule enough people to administer the test. If taking the test, you need to be at Don and Audrey’s place by 2:00 PM, with your protection equipment as needed.
3. Farm to Table day at Cedarock Park – September 22 and 23, 2009
The Farm to Table day this year is scheduled for September 22 and 23. Fourth graders from throughout the county are bussed to Cedarock Park and go through about 8 stations, learning about farms and their products. There are stations concerning cattle, corn, grain, forestry, soil conservation and of course, honey bees. We only have about 11 minutes to tell the story of the honey bee and her benefits to our food chain. The program starts at about 9 AM on those two days and concludes around noon time, with a meal provided for the participants through the Chamber of Commerce. Our part of the program, of course, is to tell the kids about the honey bee and her benefit to mankind. If your schedule will allow and you are willing to participate in the program please let us know by September 14, 2009. Call either Ken Pipes (336-229-5622, or email kgp3047@aol.com for September 22) or Don Moore (336-584-3195, or email dlmoore1@bellsouth.net for September 23). Participation in this program will also qualify for a public service credit in the NC MBP. The students are scheduled to start arriving at 8:30 AM, therefore we need to be set up and ready to go by 8:15 AM.
Don