too bad.

I don't know what is involved in taking over the job. I believe there are access codes? The board felt that we are moving in a different direction as to what the club wanted and needed the website for.

that's too bad.

bye.

finally. some good news!

A special line of bees uses the power of hygiene to fend off its worst foe

[H]arbo and fellow entomologist Jeffrey Harris, who work in ARS’s Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research Unit at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have found a natural, more lasting antidote to the mite problem: breeding genetically superior bees.

They have specially selected bees with a “nose” for tracking down Varroa mites—and not just any Varroa, but those producing and rearing new generations of mites.

new (unofficial) sfba logo

Manuka Honey's Healing Power

Honey has been known for its healing properties for thousands of years - the Ancient Greeks used it, and so have many other peoples through the ages. [H]oney made from the flowers of the manuka bush, a native of New Zealand, has antibacterial properties over and above those of other honeys.

read more here

Mining Bee

A rare bee which burrows underground to hide its honey has been found. . .

Read all about it!

Honey War Is Over

The Honey War story is now complete.

Revisit the post to find out how it turns out.

Bee infestation bedevils church

Honeybees have infested the walls of the sanctuary, and the gooey moisture from honey has been seeping from the walls.

read more

Rock and Roll Queen

The other day I witnessed a behavior that was recently described to me. The rolling of the queen! I wondered if that queen is actually still viable, but just banished from her hive. If I start a new hive with her as the queen, will she still be rejected by any bees? Is she not going to be a good queen for any new hive ?

maggie

Crystlized honey in Supers

I have some supers that are plugged from the honey crystalizing in the cells. I wondered if it is better to scrape off the comb or will the bees be able to use these frames, and clean them out themselves. It seems like a lot of work for them to empty the crystalized honey - but maybe they like it!

Any thoughts?

maggie

more bees on stamps

Philatelic Lepidopterists Association

bugs on stamps

Philatelic Lepidopterists Association

The Honey War

(M)ore than 150 years ago . . . angry and well-armed Iowegians and Missourians geared up to fight each other. . . . (T)he nasty feud was over the destruction of three honey trees. . . . . (H)istorians refer to the encounter as the "Honey War."

As told by Duane Crawford at theAD-Express and Daily Iowegian

read all about it:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5

The Greening of Kenya

Jephunneh Mwangi shows off the boxes where he recently began keeping bees; honey brings a good price at the market. The Green Belt movement provides the hives in exchange for the planting of trees. (Photo: Ingrid Lobet)

Living on Earth

Wangari Maathai: A Watering Can, Some Seedlings, and the Greening of a Nation / Ingrid Lobet

Years ago, when Wangari Maathai looked around her native Kenya, she saw a bleak, rapidly degrading landscape of empty fields. In the face of growing hunger, Maathai managed to make connections that had eluded others, seeing in that same parched earth the potential for nourishment. Armed with three science degrees and a willingness to get her hands dirty, Maathai was determined to restore the land of abundance she remembered from her youth. Years later, the Green Belt movement has blossomed, empowering thousands of ordinary Kenyans to address problems in their communities. Maathai's merging of environmentalism, feminism, human rights, and development work – and probably her utter lack of fear – led the Nobel Committee to recognize her efforts with the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. But, as she and her fellow activists quickly learned, even the most positive changes to the status quo can encounter resistance from those in power. Living on Earth's Ingrid Lobet traveled to Kenya to witness Wangari Maathai's work firsthand, as well as Kenya's dramatic transformation.

listen to the show / read the transcript / view photos

One Future for Malawi

Beekeepers and a group of researchers in Nkondezi Village in Nkhata-Bay north have a point to prove to Malawians; that honey can replace tobacco if harnessed properly.

Small Bee-keepers Development and Research Association [SBDARA] is a grouping of researchers established in 1986 which brings together 2,000 clubs, with 4,000 farmers involved in bee-keeping whose aim is to conduct research and help farmers to realize their full potential for harnessing honey to improve on standards which can easily compete on the international market.

According to SBDARA Chief Director John Harawa, bee farming is better than any other farming. He said it helps other horticultural and crop farmers because of the pollination work that bees conduct. He also indicated that even in the conservation of forestry bee keeping helps.

read more

Killer Bees & the Lone Star State

The bees have become so common they're now in most Texas counties, prompting agricultural officials to announce publicly this week that restrictions on the movement of commercial bees have been lifted.

Learn more.
And even more about Texas bees.

bee suit

get ready for apimondia!



An Irish beekeeper has failed to take the world record for attracting the most bees onto his body after managing a 200,000-strong 'bee beard'.

Dozens of people watched his attempt, which was to raise money for charitable causes in Africa.
read more

skep workshop

click on the above image to download a copy of the flyer in PDF format

two feral hives

Hannah and Ada and Elsie and I have seen two feral hives in the past few days. One is in the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park, near the pond in the Asian Garden.

The other is in Glen Park along the fire road that runs into the back of the park. Its near the small bridges that cross Islais Creek by the daycare building.

Both are in the bases of trees fairly close to the ground. Just look for the bees coming and going.

why b.log is dead quietly off the site

I haven't had much to say lately that is bloggable. i do feel resistance because it doesn't seem to fit for me. Your the only one i've heard from that has been into it. I think in other subjects it works as I read about it all the time. i've never seen another blog so I don't know. I rely on my intuition on what avenues to pursue and this one hasn't. When I need to reach everyone, I can e-mail and get replies right away. I talk to the club members a lot on the phone. Beekeepers love to talk I've found. I've spent most of my time meeting newsletter deadlines. I do appreciate your intent though. Can we quietly take it off the site? 'blog is dead" is a little > strong.

b.log

b.log is dead. long live other communication modes.

Pictures of the Flower and Garden Show

The title says it all.

We had a another good year of showing off our bees and our beekeepers. To show their gratitude, the bees in the observation hive swarmed the follwing week! The Flower and Garden show is our opportunity to meet and educate the public about beekeeping especially in San Francisco. It's been a long standing tradition to participate in the show and we hope to continue in the years ahead.

two books

The resources page of sfbee.org has two new books available for download.



Thanks to Bill Evans at the Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers Guild.

New Events

There are several new upcoming events.
Please visit the events page for details.
Here are the basics:

MONTHLY MEETING: Spring Management Chores
Wednesday, March 9th, 7:30 pm
RANDALL MUSEUM

Beginning Beekeeping Class
Saturday, March 12th and Sunday March 13th
Randall Museum

San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
March 16th through the March 20th
The Cow Palace

Intermediate Beekeeping Course
Saturday, April 9th


Also: From Philip:
Hives(and bees) are slowly arriving at Golden Gate Park. Since the hives are seen by and close to the staff at the Nursery it is essential we practice good beekeeping. IE. check your hive often! Put your name on your hive so we know who's it is and isn't! Saturday is the only day we can do our beekeeping there at the present.

Plans are in the making to have a "club bee burn" soon of all the wonderful abandoned equipment not claimed or not wanted at the watershed. Make sure your names are on your hives there as well. Time and place TBA.

NOTE:
Any member can post material on this b.log!!!
That is the reason we have the b.log!
Instructions are here: new posts.
If you need information about the b.log, go here.

bumblebee site from UK

Hello all --

Check out this great Bombus site from UK:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/bombus/index.html

Potter

New Posts

To publish a new post:

Click on the orange blogger logo found in either the upper left corner or lower right corner of the b.log page.

Log in.

The dashboard will open.

Click on the green plus sign ( + ) under the words new post and to the right of the words sf beekeepers | b.log.

Enter the title for your post.

Enter the content of your post.

You can preview your post by clicking on Preview above
the content input area on the right.

You can check the spelling by clicking the spellcheck button .

And always feel free to email the web services
department for further clarifications.

b.log away

Monthly Meeting

Wednesday, February 9th, 7:30 pm
Randall Museum

Helene Marshall and Roxana from Marshall's Honey will be talking about their bee business.

Marshall's Farm has a hand-crafted approach to traditional honey production, harvesting small quantities of superior quality gourmet honey in the very special microclimates of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The diverse and constantly changing seasonal blooms of the Bay Area produce floral nectars and pollens that differ greatly in taste, texture and color. Harvesting after each bloom and isolating the honey harvested from each apiary creates the special flavor nuances and wonderful color variations in Marshall's Farm delicious honey.

Questions from the audience will be entertained.

All are welcome.

less about bees than the b.log

The previous post closed with a reminder to write your senators in opposition to the idea that Alberto Gonzales could be made Atorney General of the United states of America, the country in which most of us in the SFBA keep our bees.

I mistakenly posted that paragraph under the ADMIN signature, which I maintain as webmaster of this site and should use for administrative purposes. Other than official business, posts should appear under my personal signature, as below.

I should also note that a few days after the aforementioned reminder, a call was made to create a list of blogs opposed to Mr Gonzales's nomination to the AG post. The b.log was added to this list.

The compilers of that list have issued a further call to action:

Thank you for adding sfbeekeepers | b.log to the list of weblogs opposed
to Alberto Gonzales's confirmation as Secretary of State. We now have 553
weblogs on the list, and it is still growing.

We want a broad coalition to draw a line in the sand on this nomination.
The floor vote for Gonzales is expected this week, so there's no time to
waste.

If every blogger on the list, and then every reader of those weblogs,
calls his or her senator, we could have a significant impact on the vote.

More information about this project is available here: newsfare.com

More information about Mr Gonzales is available from a wide array of sources.
Here is a good place to begin.

I guess part of blogging is being part of the blog-o-sphere.

January Closeout

Welcome new b.loggers!

The list of contributors (on the right ---->)
continues to grow.

The rest of you: jump in, the water's fine.

Phillip is still anxious to get survey forms.
If you don't have a computer program that allows you to electronically fill out the survey he emailed to you, just print it out and usps-mail it to him, or arrange an afternoon coffee-clatch.

Our bees are coming home with yellow and bright orange pollen.

It looks like rain is on the way, so tell your bees to stretch their wings today!

Also, remember that besides all this other stuff (torture, inadequate advice on commuting death penalties in Texas, lying & obscuring, covering up Bush's DUI, general disrepect for the rule of law, etc.) Alberto Gonzales has never helped any of us move a hive, catch a swarm, or extract some honey. Write your Senators to remind them he is unfit to be Attorney General.

BClub Electric Extractor

It may be good to have a thread here for the topic of the Extractor - its whereabouts, performance and related issues.

I am currently the person with the extractor in my possession, but intend to take it over to the Randall today or tomorrow for safe keeping. A nasty cold/flu thing has kept me from doing much outside the perimeter of my house for the last week, but now I am on the mend.

maggie

HouseKeeping

As a matter of form, responses to previous posts should be made as comments attached to the relevant story.

I have deleted the reply to Philip's post and added it as a comment in the thread below his announcement about the packages.

Bee Packages from Strachans

I called Strachan's today and ordered their last three packages for the club for pick up April 19th. The cost was $39.50 per 3LB package before the deposit for the container.($5.00)

Whoever is interested let me know. I'll put your names into a "hat" and pull a "winner".

Let's do this soon so those that want bees can call else where. The "winner" can choose one, two, or three.
Not many bees to be had so hurry!  

January Meeting Round-up

With the new officers in place, after a brief interuption to challenge the electoral slate from Glen Park, the January meeting was a complete success.

The library was open, refreshments were excellent, the presentation was informative and the banter was delightful.

Please fill in details below.

Club Meeting

Wednesday January 12th 7:30pm
Randall Museum

Speaker: Dan Stralka
Topic: Beeswax

Notes: Dan Stralka of the Marin County Beekeepers Association
will discuss the wide world of beeswax.
He will also take questions.

Refreshments will be served.

All are welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome to b.log, the weblog of the San Francisco Beekeepers' Association. If you are a member of the club, you will be invited to join this blog in the next few days.

If you are interested in becoming a member, please come to our next meeting on Wed, January 12th at 7:30 pm at the Randall Museum.

More info about the meeting in the next post.

a photo from Steve Martin

And so it begins

Welcome to the sf-bee-blog