Bill Catherall

Our May 6th meeting was the first to be held at our new home, Alberta Abbey. It is a lovely venue which is big enough to accommodate our rapidly growing membership!

Our swarm hotline by Honey Bee Allies is up and running, and very active! To report a swarm call (503) 444-8446. Members can register to receive swarms, or to be a swarm mentor or mentee. If you’re interested, register at Bit.ly/pubswarmlist.

PUB will be hosting a photo and art contest. If you’re interested, start taking pictures or creating your art projects, and stay tuned for further submission details. Judging will take place at our annual winter honey tasting event.

Our Education Committee is requesting donations of fun educational materials. There’s a request for bee or flower hats, games (such as a beanbag toss), an a photo cutout stand. Additionally, we’d like to start collecting samples for an entomology display.

Tour de Hives will be taking place on June 20th. PUB is still looking for hosts and assistants. If you’re interested in participating, please volunteer at bit.ly/TourVolunteer2015.

At the meeting, Glen Andresen gave his monthly pollen and nectar report. Speaking of Glen, Dewey Caron wrote a lovely article on Glen in Bee Culture this month called, “Beekeeper, Gardner, Teacher: Glen Andresen.” Tim Wessels, our former PUB president, gave a presentation on “What to do in the Hive This Month”, where he spoke mostly of swarm control and supering.

We proceeded to gather for breakout sessions, divided by beekeeping experience. We had large groups of new beekeepers, which is very exciting!

Our monthly meeting on April 1st came with some exciting announcements!

First, our new swarm hotline is now live! We’ve partnered with Honey Bee Allies. They have created a swarm list tool for us that will be available to our membership. We will be retiring our old swarm list. To be a part of the PUB swarm list and take advantage of our new hotline (503 444-8446) for swarm notifications, register at bit.ly/pubswarmlist.

PUB will be hosting a photo and art contest. If you’re interested, start taking pictures or creating your art projects, and stay tuned for further submission details. Judging will take place at our annual winter honey tasting event.

Tour de Hives will be taking place on June 20th. PUB is still looking for hosts and assistants. If you’re interested in participating, please volunteer at bit.ly/TourVolunteer2015.

Glen Andreson gave his monthly pollen and nectar report. With this early spring, most of the fruit trees have finished blooming, and the great bee plants haven’t started blooming just yet. To see a full report, visit BridgetownBees.com/whats-in-bloom/.

Carolyn Breece gave an enthusiastic presentation on the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program, a collaboration between Oregon State University and Oregon State Beekeepers Association. It’s an exciting intensive beekeeping program, designed to support beekeepers at all levels. It starts with the Apprentice level, where beekeepers are matched with master mentors to support their learning in the field. Students can continue their training and education at the Journey level, and finally if a student completes the whole program, they will become a Master Beekeeper. Certification is available, but not required to participate. Many of the mentors in the Portland area are PUB members! For more information on the program and how to get on the waiting list, see OregonMasterBeekeeper.org.

Dewey Caron presented findings on last winter’s survey results. To participate in this winter’s survey, visit pnwhoneybeesurvey.com. This survey helps us share information and continue to develop best practices for overwintering bees in our unique Pacific Northwestern climate. Additionally, he gave his monthly “What Is Your Plan” presentation, where he reminded us that April is “the cruelest month.” As overwintered adults die off, and brood ramps up, the hive can be left in a vulnerable moment. He predicts that the early spring this year will mean a big beekeeping season, and some special practices might be interesting to try, such as opening the brood area to the supers to alleviate crowding. He reminds us to set out bait hives and be sure to have extra boxes and frames ready for the big swarm season upon us!

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.

Video Link

Video Link

Portland Urban Beekeepers held its first general membership meeting of the year the first Wednesday of January. We held new officer elections alongside the 2nd annual PUB showcase, where local business-owners and hobbyists shared their goods and projects. Among the displays were hives and the book “Winged” from Bee Thinking, the book “The Song of Increase” by Jacqueline Freeman, a candle-making demonstration from Brandi Rodgers of Ruhl Bee Supply, lip balms from Rachel Glaeser, a bee vacuum and homemade preserves from Brian Lacy of Live Honeybees, beehive woodenware and portland-raised survivor bee program from Tim Wessels and Glen Andreson of Bridgetown Bees, and hive scale, quiltbox, homemade deodorant, and candles from Bill Catherall of The Bee Vlog.

February kicked off our regular general membership meetings for 2015.

Lois Leveen was ecstatic to share the results of her efforts working with The City of Portland and Multnomah County to address the signature approval requirement to keep bees. Thanks to her hard work, the signature requirement has officially been reduced to a notification requirement. This has allowed Portland beekeepers an easier path to compliance with Portland City law, and many PUB  members have already taken advantage of the change.

Robert Leger spoke about The Yellow Jacket Free Home. He gave us an introduction to the yellow jacket biology and life cycle, as well as helpful tips on trapping and controlling them.

Our feature speaker, Dan Carr, gave a dynamic presentation about his experiences working with beekeepers and farmers in Malawi and Uganda. He learned to keep bees from a Malawian school teacher, and together they started the Mwazisi beekeepers association.  After returning to the United States and managing Stone Barns’ bees for three years, he was invited by the USAid Farmer to Farmer program to go back to Africa to work on a special project with a beekeepers cooperative in Kasese, Uganda called the Liberty Development Foundation LIDEFO. He spoke of the unique challenges of keeping bees in Africa, such as honey badgers, elephants, and poachers. He showed off the resourcefulness in hive design with top-bar hives made of bamboo and threads stripped from recycled tires. He had rich photographs and stories of his time, and reminded us that it’s not about the bees, it’s about the people.

Calaroga Terrace has been generous in accommodating our monthly membership meetings, but as membership continues to increase, we seem to be outgrowing the space. We are looking for suggestions of alternate venues that can accommodate up to 200 people.

Our meetings are digitally recorded into blocks of video that usually correspond to our meeting agendas and posted to YouTube soon after.

Video Link

Video Link