You do not have to be a member to attend. Meetings are the 4th Monday of the month (sometimes we skip May or December). Come early because beekeepers like to buzz around in front of the hive.

SPEAKERS FOR 2018

January - Randy Overton
February - Kent Williams
March - Dr. Clarence Collison
April - Trevor Qualls
May - Meeting CANCELLED, due to Memorial Day Holiday.
June - Randy Rolen

JULY  - Dennis Barry travels down from Tennessee's Sevier County to talk to us about bee diseases. This is Dennis' 15th year keeping bees. He is a past president of the Blount County Beekeepers Assoc. and the current president of Sevier County Beekeepers. He has been a state bee inspector for a number of years. This year he was elected the east region VP  for the Tennessee Beekeepers Assoc. He currently has 8 colonies of bees but has had as many as 20 in the past. Dennis has been married 43 years has 8 children and 13 grandchildren.

AUGUST  - Jeff Herel of "Herel's Half Acre Farms" is coming down from Sparta, TN to talk to us about Varroa mite treatments, including his own special "flash" treatment he uses on his nearly one THOUSAND hives. Jeff is a former Tennessee Beekeeping Association board member and has been keeping bees for 45 years. He is a major honey producer, with a special "honey house" capable of processing 50 gallons every half hour, who exports to countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. 

SEPTEMBER - NO SPEAKER, annual picnic.

OCTOBER - (subject to change) Bill Owens, of Georgia Bee Removal. An old friend of club members David and Phyllis Reed, Bill is one of the few who has achieved the highest level of "Master Craftsman" beekeeping certification from the University of Georgia. He is a fireman and also runs a full-time bee removal service that serves customers from Atlanta to Augusta and stays busy all year round. He has developed a bee vacuum that is now built and sold by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. See also http://www.gabeeremoval.com/

NOVEMBER - Local Experts Forum with David Reed, Ken Dale, Mike Coulter and Jim Gentry. While it may be true that five beekeepers have six opinions, these four beekeepers at least have opinions worth listening to. This session will be about "applied" rather than "theoretical" beekeeping. They will start with some general questions to get the flow flowing. 

DECEMBER - No meeting.