In this month’s Beeline we will be recapping our October 5th PUB meeting. Our next meeting on Wednesday, November 7th will be at our NEW LOCATION – Rose City Park United Methodist Church located at 5830 NE Alameda St. Click here for directions. DO NOT meet at Alberta Abbey.
This coming Wednesday is our annual PUB Showcase! This will be an opportunity for all PUB members to show off your bee-related projects, plans, products, and employment. Whether you make a living, supplement your income, or just have fun with bees, you are invited to set up a table to show off what you enjoy doing. Spaces are free and tables will be provided. Please email us to reserve your table. Please show up at 6pm to set up your table.
(Due to church rules, please no alcohol.)
Once again, and in supreme style, Bridgetown Bees’ Glen Andresen shared his monthly Pollen & Nectar report with his extensive slideshow on current flowering plants. As he does each month, Glen provides information on the many blooming nectar and pollen plants still out there that are keeping our girls busy through November/December. For a more detailed report check out Bridgetown Bees for Glen’s monthly “What’s in bloom” report. If you run across any interesting honey bee plants be sure to email Glen with any photos and/or suggestions.
Our featured speaker this month was Mark Johnson. Mark is a former Vice President of OSBA and veteran of 44 years as a commercial beekeeper. Mark, who has over 1200 hives, provides pollination services to farmers starting with the California almond bloom in February, moving from crop to crop all spring and summer, until the time when he harvests honey in August. Honey harvesting is one of the more expense processes a beekeeper does and Mark shared which processes work best for him. “We do both pollination and honey, but honey is only about 20 percent. In western Oregon if you tried to keep bees for honey you’d go broke, it’s mainly renting hives to farmers.” Many thanks to Mark for sharing his big-picture view of what beekeeping is like for him, his family, and employees throughout the year.
Congratulations go out to Michael Carlson and Lil Reitzel who won the OSBA conference giveaway. We hope to post their experiences of the conference to our PUB Blog and Facebook page in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Upcoming Events
PUB Bee School is scheduled for Saturday, January 28th, 2017. If you or a friend have been wanting to take a beginning beekeeping course registration is now open. Click here for more info and to register.
Honey Tasting event – Wednesday, December 7. Location will be at Rose City Park United Methodist Church, 5830 NE Alameda St Portland, OR 97213, in the Youngson Hall (basement) meeting room.
Write-up and photos by Charlie Vanden Heuvel
Additional contributions by Linda Zahl
Summary: Portland Urban Beekeepers (PUB) hosted a delegation of enthusiastic,Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program students at the Portland Urban Beekeeping (PUB) treatment-free apiary located at Zenger Farm, SE Portland, OR, a sustainable, educational, urban farm. The delegation’s U.S. visit was financed by the U.S. Department of State arranged by the World Affairs Council of Oregon. Following a short presentation about bees, moved to a hands-on experience with beekeeping practices, and finally to tasting honey. The PUB beekeepers demonstrating honey bee care and health management were: Linda Zahl the PUB Board Member, Education Coordinator, Journey Level Oregon Master Beekeeping Program; Susie Wilcox, PUB Member; Charlie Vanden Heuvel, PUB Member, Journey Level Oregon Master Beekeeping Program; Annette Carter, PUB Member, Frank Gransha, Professor Geology Portland State University, PUB Member; Lily Glaeser, Botanist, presenter of The Honey Bee and Beekeeping, PUB Member; Micah Hamley, PUB Member; Luca, (teenager) PUB Member
This is the second year that the World Affairs Council of Oregon asked Portland Urban Beekeepers (PUB) to host a delegation from the middle east. Last year we hosted a group of Government Agricultural Agents from Afghanistan and we felt it an honor to contribute toward their understanding of American honey bee management practices. This year, when approached by the Council to host a group of teenagers from Iraq, we felt extremely privileged to be able to help the next generation become, if not beekeepers, then young professionals who understand the role of beekeeping in the world.
Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program Group
Beekeeping in Iraq has existed for 5,000 years until it was shut down in 1992 (Hartigan, Mahmoud and Michael, USA Today, 2005, Ancient tradition revived to turn honey into money). “The general situation is that conflict over the last decade and a half has devastated the beekeeping industry of Iraq, which at one time was a thriving activity with an estimated half million colonies of honey bees managed by a majority of the rural population.” (Sanford, Dr. Malcolm T., University of Florida)
It is currently being revived, so hosting teenagers from Iraq transcended cultural, theological, and language barriers. One look at the innocence on the faces filled with hope created an atmosphere for these students to experience first-hand apiculture in the U.S.
The Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) is one of the many exchange programs the State Department administers each year to strengthen people-to-people relationships between Iraqis and Americans. It enables Iraqi and U.S. high school students and adult mentors to develop leadership skills and build action plans to strengthen the future of Iraq and the U.S. The students on the IYLEP were introduced to new skills and networks through participation in community service activities and leadership workshops, interactions with U.S. students, and site visits to civic, youth, and governmental organizations. The group was comprised of students from Kurdistan and Iraq.
Throughout the four-week program, the seven Iraqi youth participants were accompanied by seven U.S. high school students and two Iraqi adult mentors. The group spent one week in Vermont, came to Portland Oregon for two weeks to emerge in environmental stewardship and cross-cultural leadership opportunities, and then will move on to Washington D.C.
The moment the group exited the bus at Zenger Farm their faces displayed excitement coupled with a bit of anxiety about meeting the apis mellifera ‘face to face’. Lily Glaeser gathered the group around the apiary for a short discussion on honey bee casts, drone congregation areas, plant pollination, nectar, and of course bee stings.
None of the students had prior apiary experience. Yet the students challenged the PUB presenters with insightful questions throughout the experience dealing with beekeeping management techniques and the honey bee.
PUB Members then broke the students into smaller groups delving into the hives to witness first hand hive activity and frames. Each ‘hive PUB mentor’ turned their hive tool over to the students to enhance their personal experience. The expression of joy was evident as they lifted frames of capped honey, capped brood, pollen, and nectar. Although fully suited, each smelled the hives’ honey and propolis all the while discussing the virtues of their apitherapy qualities. As the treatment of gout with honey is popular in their region it became a topic of discussion (Najafi, Tahereh Eteraf-Oskouel and Moslem) as did honey’s and propolis’s inhibitory effect on bacteria.
Group Inspecting Frame
The members began to take covers off Langstroth Hives in search of the queen. Then rapidly moving to the upper box where each handled frames in exploration of the intricacies of hive populations and their interactions. Being August only a few drones were evident, but when found the drone was picked up by the student to have an up close feel. Each PUB mentor brought the hives inner-workings into the personalized time.
One of the hives was experiencing Idiopathic Brood Disease Syndrome (Oregon State University insect ID Clinic, Oregon State University) allowing a great opportunity to visualize hive disease. Iraq’s existing hives, according to a report by Sanders in 2005 have 10% and 40% Varroa mite infestation. Due to time constraints, discussion on treatments of this devastating issues did not transpire.
When one of the students came away from the hive with a dozen of the girls on her finger, it became clear a bond, as we have all acquired, was fermented. Watching each of the group’s zeal as they held up frames, picked up drones, smelled the honey and propolis, and observed the bees on each frame proved the benefit of this occasion.
Girl Excited By Bees On Her Finger
Some of the group moved on to the Top Bar Hive for a discussion on the differences between it and the Langstroth Hive. While the Langstroth Hives predominately had frames with foundations, in the Top Bar Hive the students witnessed natural comb. This provided an opportunity to discuss the bee’s wax gland and how comb was created.
After the students’ apiary explorations the group moved to a honey tasting table to sample different types of the hives’ gold, donated by PUB members from their local bees. Evidently this proved delightful.
Enjoying Honey Tasting
While standing around the table, an open discussion of the morning’s events transpired. “What is swarming?” “How long does it take the hive to recover from a swarm?” “How do queens mate?” And more. This culminating forum was evidence of the impact the morning’s experience was for these eager minds. Allie Collopy, representing World Affairs Council of Oregon, at the end of the morning shared how excited the group was about their activities in the apiary.
Thank you, IYLEP high schoolers, for all that you gave us. And thank you, World Affairs Council of Oregon and the State Department, for making it possible.
Najafi, Tahereh Eteraf-Oskouel and Moslem, Traditional and Modern Uses of Natural Honey in Human Diseases: A Review, National Institutes of Health, US National Library of Medicine
In this month’s Beeline we will be recapping our August 3rd PUB meeting. Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 7th at Alberta Abbey from 7-9pm. Hope to see you there!
In supreme fashion, Bridgetown Bees’ Glen Andresen shared his monthly Pollen & Nectar report with his extensive slideshow on current flowering plants. As he does each month, Glen provides information on the many blooming nectar and pollen plants still out there that are keeping our girls busy through October/November. For those hobby farmers with vegetable planters we say thank you! There are many veggies still flowering through November. For a more detailed report check out Bridgetown Bees for Glen’s monthly “What’s in bloom” report. Also email Glen with any photos and/or suggestions of other good honey bee plants.
Our featured speaker this month was Andrew Bray, who shared his best tips and tricks for new or experienced top bar beekeepers on how to manage a top bar hive. Also if haven’t taken advantage of Andrew’s 10% off at beethinking.com, now is the time. Head over to Beethinking.com and use coupon code BEEANDREWB. In addition, Andrew will be teaching an Intermediate Beekeeping Class, as well as a Winterizing Your Hive Class, in case you’re interested! Head over to http://www.beethinking.com/collections/classes for more info on the classes.
Honey Harvest parties are going on August 21st and September 18th at Zenger farm. Contact Lauren Smith to sign- up for a time slot. Time-slots are 2 hours each between 8am & 4pm. You get 1-1/2 hours to extract plus 30 minutes to clean up and prep for the next person. Final clean up begins at 4pm. Please don’t bring more than 2 supers, as you may not have time to finish more than that. Please bring your own honey buckets. Empty pint jars can be purchased from PUB during the party at $1.00/jar.
Finally, PUB was extremely proud to host a delegation of enthusiastic, Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program students at our treatment-free apiary located at Zenger Farm. The delegation’s U.S. visit was financed by the U.S. Department of State arranged by the World Affairs Council of Oregon. Following a short presentation about bees, moved to a hands-on experience with beekeeping practices, and finally to tasting honey. The PUB beekeepers demonstrating honey bee care and health management were: Linda Zahl the PUB Board Member, Education Coordinator, Journey Level Oregon Master Beekeeping Program; Susie Wilcox, PUB Member; Charlie Vanden Heuvel, PUB Member, Journey Level Oregon Master Beekeeping Program; Annette Carter, PUB Member, Frank Gransha, Professor Geology Portland State University, PUB Member; Lilly Glaeser, Botonist, presenter of The Honey Bee and Beekeeping, PUB Member; Micah Hamley, PUB Member; Luca, (teenager) PUB Member.
In this month’s Beeline we will be recapping our July 6th PUB meeting. Our next meeting is Wednesday, August 3rd at Alberta Abbey from 7-9pm. Hope to see you there!
As always, a huge thanks goes out to Glen Andresen for sharing his monthly Pollen & Nectar report. Alas, as the end of blackberry season is upon us, we also see the end of the honey flow. But there are plenty of blooming nectar and pollen plants still out there that are keeping our girls busy through October/November. For example, Scabiosa (also called the pincushion flower) will keep flowing and blooming on through November. For a more detailed report check out Bridgetown Bees for Glen’s monthly “What’s in bloom” report. Also email Glen with any photos and/or suggestions of other good honey bee plants.
We heard once again from Dr. Dewey Caron as he shared this year’s results for the PNW Honey Bee Survey. He also shared best practices for mite control. This is something that all beekeepers must do to keep their hives healthy. His presentation outlined three basic methods for monitoring mites which included the natural mite drop and the popular sugar shake method. Click here to download a PDF and choose a method for your own hives. Again this is an essential step in maintaining your hives to give them the best chance to survive winter.
We also heard from Tim Wessels and Glen Andresen, co-owners of Bridgetown Bees. In addition to providing honey and beekeeping equipment at their brick-and-mortar store, the primary mission of Bridgetown Bees is to selectively breed and raise queen bees in the city of Portland that are suitable for year-round survival here and in other cities in the Pacific Northwest. Tim and Glen shared an informative presentation for their queen raising methods. If you have any questions for Tim or Glen on their methods give them a email at contactusbridgetownbees(at)gmail.com.
Tour De Hives 2016 was a smash success with our largest turnout yet! Thanks to all the volunteers, hosts and people behind the scenes that made it happen. Check out the Photo Gallery. Also if you haven’t filled out the Tour De Hives survey it would help us make next year’s event even better. It takes only 3 minutes. Thanks!
This month we will be recapping our June PUB meeting. Our next meeting is Wednesday, July 6th at Alberta Abbey from 7-9pm. Hope to see you there!
Rita Ostrofsky started things off with an overview of the Oregon Master Beekeepers program. The OMB program is celebrating it’s 5th year and is a cooperative effort between Oregon State University and the Oregon State Beekeepers Association.
Glen Andresen shared his monthly Pollen & Nectar report. Glen took us through annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines and flowering trees that are contributing to this year’s record honey flow. For a more detailed report check out bridgetownbees.com for Glen’s monthly “What’s in bloom” report. And please email Glen with any photos and/or suggestions of other good honey bee plants.
Our featured speaker was Washington State Master Beekeeper Morris Ostrofsky, who explored best practices for varroa mite control. Morris’ passion for teaching and beekeeping becomes apparent when he shares his knowledge with others. An interest in genetics and queen rearing has led to a quest to breed locally adapted, treatment free bees using the Miller Method. Below is his presentation.
Tuesday’s PUB booth at Pioneer Courthouse Square had a great turnout of both PUB members and public visitors. The weather cooperated 90% of the time and lots of people were out and about during the lunch hour, stopping by and learning about bees and Tour de Hives.
We’re less than 10 days from Tour De Hives 2016 which is the weekend of June 25-26! This is our yearly fundraiser and PUB’s best opportunity to introduce Portlanders to the art and science of beekeeping. Tickets now on sale here so please spread the word to all your friends.
Bill Catherall, President of Portland Urban Beekeepers, was interviewed this morning about bees in Portland and the upcoming event, Tour de Hives. Stop by Pioneer Courthouse Square anytime between now and June 14th to see their Festival of Flowers. PUB will have a booth there on June 14th from 11:30 am – 2:00 pm.
For our June 1st meeting Morris Ostrofsky came to present “Mite Keeping 101.”
Now approaching his 47th year as a beekeeper, Morris, a retired biology instructor, says he learns something new every day about bees and beekeeping.
Since 2010 Morris has participated in the development and implementation of the Oregon Master Beekeeper program. He is both a mentor and an instructor. Morris is also an active member and past President of the Lane County Beekeepers Association.
In October 2013 Morris was awarded the Washington state Master Beekeeper certification. He is the first Oregonian to receive this certification and is among only a half a dozen who currently hold this title.
Morris is an occasional contributor to Bee Culture magazine; his last article, Glass Jar Beekeeping, appeared in the May 2012 issue. His newest article, Overcoming Barriers to Beekeeping: How to Continue Doing What You Love, appeared in the May and June 2015 issues of Bee Culture.
Morris’ passion for teaching and beekeeping becomes apparent when he shares his knowledge with others. An interest in genetics and queen rearing has led to a quest to breed locally adapted, treatment free bees using the Miller Method.
The following article was written by Tom Unger, Oregon Region Communications with Wells Fargo, regarding recent connections made between Wells Fargo and Portland Urban Beekeepers at their Eco Fair. Reprinted here with permission.
Barnhart team members help save bee swarm in Beaverton
Team members save endangered bees by tapping a connection made at their Eco Fair
5/12/2016
Page Content
By Tom Unger, Oregon Region Communications
BEAVERTON — The [Wells Fargo] Barnhart Center is usually a beehive of activity as our team members are busy as bees serving customers by phone. But last month the center was the site of an actual swarm of endangered bees and our Green Team team members jumped in to save them.
Two team members first noticed the swarm on a tree near the call center’s patio on April 26. They told Sandra Busch, a member of the center’s Green Team. She informed JT Davis, secretary of the Green, who reached out to Bob Wayman, a CBRE building maintenance technician based at the Barnhart Center.
Bob checked out the swarm before leaving work that night.
“It was very small at that point, about the size of a racquetball. I was thinking maybe they would take off and go to another area. When I came back early the next day, it had grown to the size of a basketball,” Bob said.
There is a middle school near the Barnhart Center and one of its staff members was about to spray poison on the bees. Bob intervened and told him not to.
“These were honey bees and they are an endangered species. We don’t have enough of them,” Bob said. “But the swarm was so big, I knew I had to do something.”
Eco Fair Connection
Luckily, the Beaverton center had held its annual Eco Fair last month where the participants included two beekeeping groups. The groups had passed out cards with the phone number of a “Swarm Hotline” (staffed by a network of bee associations throughout Oregon). The network locates and contact beekeepers closest to where a swarm is located.
Bob called the hotline around 6:45 a.m. on April 27. He used the phone keypad to enter the center’s address and phone number into the automated system.
A woman beekeeper in Hillsboro [Lynnea L-K] called Bob within a few minutes and was on site by 8 a.m., Bob said (see photo below).
“When she came out, she was amazed at the size of the swarm. There were probably around 4,500 to 5,000 bees there,” Bob said.
“I thought it was great that through the Eco Fair, we made a connection we might not otherwise know about and then were able to reach out and get help for an unusual situation,” said Operations Processor Debra Kennedy.
Bob remained on scene the entire time to warn team members to stay away. He also asked the school to keep the students inside their building.
The beekeeper had a wooden container. She sprayed a mixture of sugar water and honey into it and to coax the bees into the box, filling it completely (see photo below).
“She was very nice and answered a lot of questions from curious team members,” said Sandra.
A Thick Cloud of Bees
At one point during this two-hour process, the bees started swirling in the air between Bob and the beekeeper. The bees were so thick that Bob couldn’t see the beekeeper standing only 10 feet away.
“I was covered with bees all over my shirt and hair for about 45 minutes,” Bob said, adding he got stung a couple of times.
After the beekeeper got all the bees into the box, she taped it off to keep curious bystanders from getting stung. She came back early the next morning to take the bees to her home where she has a few beehives.
“It was a wonderful experience for me,” said Bob. “I was amazed to see how this person was taking care of these bees and how careful she was.”
Once again, and in supreme style, Bridgetown Bees’ Glen Andresen shared his monthly Pollen & Nectar report with his extensive slideshow on current flowering plants. As he does each month, Glen provides information on the many blooming nectar and pollen plants still out there that are keeping our girls busy through November/December. For a more detailed report check out Bridgetown Bees for Glen’s monthly “What’s in bloom” report. If you run across any interesting honey bee plants be sure to email Glen with any photos and/or suggestions.
Our featured speaker this month was Mark Johnson. Mark is a former Vice President of OSBA and veteran of 44 years as a commercial beekeeper. Mark, who has over 1200 hives, provides pollination services to farmers starting with the California almond bloom in February, moving from crop to crop all spring and summer, until the time when he harvests honey in August. Honey harvesting is one of the more expense processes a beekeeper does and Mark shared which processes work best for him. “We do both pollination and honey, but honey is only about 20 percent. In western Oregon if you tried to keep bees for honey you’d go broke, it’s mainly renting hives to farmers.” Many thanks to Mark for sharing his big-picture view of what beekeeping is like for him, his family, and employees throughout the year.
PUB Bee School is scheduled for Saturday, January 28th, 2017. If you or a friend have been wanting to take a beginning beekeeping course registration is now open. Click here for more info and to register.
