Letter from the President

President?! How did that happen?

I told Keith Fielder at the last meeting that he had missed his true calling in life. Anyone that can talk me into

running for President should be a used car salesman.

Actually, being President has proven to be very interesting, and I have already learned quite a bit. For instance:

I've learned that the president must have an "anytime, unlimited minutes" long distance calling plan. I have also

learned that the word "delegation" is a synonym for "self preservation" and that people look to the president for

answers whether you know those answers or not. However, it is all completely fine because I know everything.

Just ask my wife.

On a more serious note, I have spoken to many beekeepers, and I hear mixed reviews on colony strength and

health across the state. Some report heavy losses already as they move into winter, while others say that their

bees look great. I am sure that local conditions have an influence on all of this, and I know that the drought has

caused problems for many beekeepers. One of the things you will notice about successful beekeepers is their

ability to be flexible when the need arises. Whether it be moving bees to better pasture or feeding in the form of

protein and carbohydrates, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. I also believe that education is a

crucial part of being an effective beekeeper. Having the latest information on all aspects of beekeeping has to

help.

That is one of the reasons why I feel that organizations such as the Georgia Beekeepers Association are so

important. The purpose of the founding of the GBA so many years ago was to support, represent and educate

beekeepers, large and small, across the state of Georgia. As we move into 2008, these ideas are more important

than ever. Early members of the GBA would find some of the current challenges hard to comprehend and

beekeeping is definitely not what it used to be. However, beekeepers who are willing to take the time to stay

abreast of all the latest information and who can discriminate between what is useful and what is not have a good

chance of success.

This is why the GBA meeting should be considered both an opportunity and a priority. Here we have the

chance to inform and be informed.

This said, I would like to report that the meeting committee consisting of Jennifer Berry, Wally Batchelor and

myself, has been working very hard to put together a solid and informative spring meeting. I have to admit that

putting together a meeting date and meeting place, while taking into consideration the schedules of potential

speakers, other meetings and events, facility availability and the cost of it all is like putting together a giant

jigsaw puzzle. We were not able to accomplish all we wanted, but we came close.

Here is what we have:

The 2008 Spring Meeting of the Georgia Beekeepers Association will take place Friday, February 1st and

Saturday, February 2nd at the Georgia Wildlife Federation, 11600 Hazelbrand Road, Covington, Georgia.

Our speakers will be:

Reg Wilbanks, Wilbanks Apiaries Inc., Claxton, GA.

David Miksa, Miksa Honey Farms, Groveland, FL.

Dr. Gordon Wardell, S.A.F.E. Research and Development, LLC, Tucson, AZ.

Jack Hanel, Western North Carolina Bee Inspector, Asheville, NC.

Jerry Latner, Dadant and Sons, Inc., High Springs, FL.

Marsha Elliot, Wildwood Forest Studios, LLC, Alpharetta, GA.

Brian Higgins, Hometown Honey Inc., Kennesaw, GA.

Kim Flottum, Editor, Bee Culture Magazine, Medina, OH.

Greg Rogers, Haw Creek Honey, Asheville, NC.

About the speakers:

Reg Wilbanks

Reg is a fourth generation beekeeper and is President of Wilbanks Apiaries, Inc., which operates about

6,000 colonies and 15,000 queen mating nucs. They ship package bees and queens around the world. Reg

was a 3-term president of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, 3-term president of the American Bee

Breeders Association, past president of the American Beekeeping Federation and a present member of its

Board of Directors. He is also a current member of the National Honey Board, representing Region 6

(Georgia, Florida and Puerto Rico), and is a recipient of the 1984 Georgia State "Beekeeper of the Year"

Award.

Reg will be sharing slides and information about his outfit and will talk about his breeding philosophy as it

relates to the current needs and problems of the beekeeping industry.

David Miksa

As with many beekeepers, David has a history about which many of us know little. He worked with bees

with his father as a young boy, eventually learning grafting and queen rearing techniques at Cornel

University in 1961. He worked for the Bee Management Division of the USDA Lab in Madison, Wisconsin

for six years where he was involved in early studies of nosema and treatment with fumagillin. He built up his

own commercial outfit while working there, and after spending time migrating with the bees between

Wisconsin and Florida, he eventually settled in Groveland, Florida to establish what is now a substantial

queen rearing business.

David has many connections in both commercial beekeeping and research and has a reputation for being

an intelligent and insightful speaker. Some of what he will speak about is the CCD issue and how it relates to

nutrition, breeding and hive management.

Gordon I. Wardell, Ph.D.

Dr. Gordon Wardell has over 30 years experience as a professional apiculturist. He holds a Ph.D. in

Entomology with emphasis in Apiculture and Pest Management from Michigan State University. After

graduation, he worked for 12 years in Asia and Southeast Asia helping improve beekeeping methodologies

and honey industry standardization. His experience stretched from Nepal to Fiji, with most of his time spent

in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

In 1988, Gordon joined the faculty of the University of Maryland as the State Extension Apiculturist.

During this time he also acted as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State and the Agency for

International Development in matters of international apiculture development. He moved to Arizona in 1996

where he founded S.A.F.E. Research and Development, LLC in Tucson, AZ. SAFE specializes in products

for the honey bee industry. Their most recent achievement is the development and release of "MegaBee™

The Tucson Bee Diet." SAFE also cooperates with the USDA-ARS under a Cooperative Research and

Development Agreement at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, AZ. Under this agreement,

SAFE investigates areas of honeybee nutrition, diseases, parasites and Africanized Honey Bees.

Dr. Wardell will speak to us about bee nutrition and other nutrition related issues.

Jack Hanel

Jack has been involved in beekeeping since he was 12 years old. He spent time working for a commercial

outfit that migrated between Mississippi and South Dakota, and he has been a bee inspector for 19 years.

What makes Jack unusual among bee inspectors is the amount of time he spends attending meetings and

speaking for beekeeping associations.

He will be sharing a slide presentation and speaking about diseases and parasites.

Jerry Latner

Jerry is a lifetime beekeeper that most of us simply know as "the guy who knows more about anything

than anybody" when it comes to beekeeping. Besides beekeeping he has been involved in the manufacturing

and sales of beekeeping equipment for years and is a longtime Dadant and Sons branch manager in High

Springs, FL.

Jerry will be speaking to us about the latest research on sugar types, the pros and cons of each, and the

latest news on pricing and availability.

Marsha Elliot

Marsha owns and operates Wildwood Forest Studios, which is a web design firm offering website

development, graphic design, and database integration. She has been in business since 1999 and has clients

across the country including Carl and Virginia Webb, Fred Rossman and myself. If you want to know more

about websites, this is your chance to get all your questions answered.

Brian Higgins

Brian has been a North Georgia beekeeper for 15 years. The two things that make Brian stand out are: the

fact that he averages over 100 speaking engagements about bees and beekeeping a year, and the fact that he

retails honey at as many as five farmers markets a week in the summer.

Brian will talk about how to speak to children all the way from daycare ages to high school as well as how

to speak with non-beekeeping adults. He will also share his strategy and techniques for selling honey both

wholesale and retail.

Kim Flottum

Kim is the editor for Bee Culture magazine and spends quite a bit of time attending meetings and

conventions, investigating the latest research, and learning all he can about what is going on in the

beekeeping community.

Fresh from the conventions in California, he will be sharing what he learned there and will talk about the

latest developments in beekeeping from 2007, including CCD.

Greg Rogers

Greg has been a beekeeper for 25 years and makes a fair living with just 325 colonies. As a commercial

beekeeper, he pollinates, collects and sells pollen, and produces and sells honey, including Sourwood, Tulip

Poplar, Wildflower and others.

Greg will be speaking to us on two subjects: "How to raise your own queens," and "How to collect, clean,

and sell pollen."

Now if you are beginning to think that this a lot of stuff to cram into one meeting, you are right. This will be a

full two-day meeting and we recommend that everyone plan on attending the entire meeting as most speakers

will speak on one day and not the other. Some of the most important issues in beekeeping today such as

genetics, breeding, nutrition, diseases, viruses, parasites, and the potential for having a bee that can survive it all

will be touched upon by people who are very successful at what they do.

This meeting should have something for everyone, and whether you have one colony or 10,000, you should

come away with plenty of ideas and information that can help make you a better and more effective beekeeper.

On top of all that, we will have our traditional "Low Country Boil" for lunch on Friday, and Keith Fielder and

Robert Brewer will oversee a full-scale outdoor barbecue (I am told they know how to do this), complete with

entertainment on Friday night. Remember: it's February, so bring a warm coat.

I hope to see you all at the meeting, and in the meantime, I sincerely wish you all a great holiday season and a

prosperous, happy and healthy new year.

See you in 2008,

Bob Binnie

President,

Georgia Beekeepers Association.

Directions to the meeting:

Approximately 30 miles east of Atlanta on Interstate 20, take exit 93 to the north.

Go approximately one block, turn right (east) onto Hazelbrand Rd.

Georgia Wildlife Federation is 1½ miles on the right.