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• Monthly Meeting

  • Start
    25 Jun 2018
  •  
    (EDT)
  • End
    23 Dec 2019
  •  
    (EST)
  • Schedule
    24 sessions
  • Location
    Red Bank Presbyterian Church, 4320 Dayton Blvd, Chattanooga, TN, 37415

  
  

  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 traveled 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 came 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 - 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 5-gallon pail bee vacuum that is now built and sold by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. For more info see 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.

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• 2019 Beginning Beekeeper Mentorship Class Registration

  • Start
    23 Oct 2018
  •  
    12:00 AM
  • End
    04 Jan 2019
  •  
    12:00 AM
  • Location
    online registration ends 1/3/19 - at this site

  Register

  This is where you sign up for the opportunity to be in the 2019 Beekeeper Mentorship Class. 

  We encourage all who are interested to register. However, in order to ensure the quality and effectiveness of our program, there are a limited number of class spots available. To help us find who is sincerely interested, we are requiring a brief quiz be completed as part of the registration. Details are under "Additional Information" in the email sent to you upon submitting this registration.

  YOU MUST SIGN UP BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 3rd, 2019.  

  Due to the anticipated high level of interest we will for the moment not accept any applications past this time.

  To register, click on the orange "Register" button to the left and when completed, CONFIRM your completed registration.

  Beekeeping and this class require both a time and a financial commitment. Beekeeping is not easy and not cheap. You will often get sweaty. You will sometimes get stung. Don't start this thinking to make money. It can be rewarding and fun, but you should think of it as "bee farming." There is a lot to it. 

  1. TIME: This mentorship program will meet once a month for several months on nights or weekends, There will be a few hours in a classroom session, sometimes with a follow-up session in the bee yard, or vice versa. 
     

  2. FINANCIAL: The cost for the program will be about $500.00. The cost depends on our suppliers' bee and equipment pricing for 2019, and will include everything needed to establish a Spring bee colony. It does not include your personal protective equipment (such as veil, jacket and gloves). Your training is a free service of our association, provided by unpaid volunteers.
     

  If you are interested you should register now. We also encourage you to attend our TVBA meetings held at 7 pm Eastern time, on the fourth Monday of each month at the Red Bank Presbyterian Church, 4320 Dayton Blvd., Chattanooga, TN 37415. 
  

  If you have questions contact me, Doug Eckert, at dougeckert@hotmail.com . 
  

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