Portland Urban Beekeepers held our second general membership meeting of the year on March 4, 2015. With an increase in memberships, we’ve once again had a packed house and have officially outgrown Calaroga Terrace. Our next meeting, April 1st, will be held at the Matt Dishman Community Center. This is a temporary location as we continue to scout out a more permanent home.
Dewey Caron and Janai Fitzpatrick are putting the finishing touches on this year’s PUB Winter Loss survey. We’ll be releasing it regionally by the end of the March. Additionally, PUB members have a marvelous opportunity to enlist on Hive Tracks Pro for free. Hive Tracks helps you with your beekeeping records, and this program allows PUB to see trends across our group and share it with our members. A coupon code will be issued to all PUB members.
Tour de Hives will be on June 20. PUB is looking for Portland apiaries that would like to be a part of the tour. We’re also looking for volunteers to be host assistants at each of the tour stops. If you are interested, please sign up here http://bit.ly/TourVolunteer2015.
Dewey Caron has returned to PUB with his What to Do in the Hive This Month. He advised on hive maintenance in this early spring we are having in Portland. He encouraged everyone to test honey stores through hive hefting, as well as a very brief inspection. He reminded us to not disrupt any of the frame arrangements at this time.
Jacqueline Freeman, a biodynamic farmer and pioneer in the emerging field of natural beekeeping, gave a passionate presentation on swarms. She went into depth about why and how swarming happens and shared wonderful photos and videos of capturing swarms on her farm. She encourages beekeepers to let their hives swarm because it is natural and supports healthy breeding. Jacqueline enjoys listening to her bees, and her new book, “THE SONG OF INCREASE: Returning to our Sacred Partnership with Honeybees” is named after her favorite bee process, swarming. You can follow Jacqueline on her website, SpiritBee.com.
Our meetings are digitally recorded into blocks of video that usually correspond to our meeting agendas and posted to YouTube soon after.