Trouble in Paradise

I've been having trouble with my Google accounts which has prevented me from posting here on the blog. Hopefully that will bee resolved soon enough.
More importantly, I just wanted to get the word out about the upcoming KBee meeting. We'll bee meeting at our usual place (the Electronic and Technology Building) at KCC in two weeks on Saturday Oct 15 from 5:00pm to 6:30pm.
Francis and Joyce Takahashi will give us an update from the recent Western Apicultural Society Conference that happened last week on the Big Island. We'll also bee talking about upcoming courses at the KCC Apiary. Our first one will be a three session course for beginners wanting to learn more about beekeeping and how to get started. The course will be begin on Thursday Oct.27 at 6pm for two hours. The next class will follow on Friday Oct.28 at 6pm and end by 8:00pm. Both classes will bee in a classroom with the final session beeing starting on Saturday Oct.29 at 8:30 am at the KCC Apiary.
Hope you can make it to the meeting on the 15th. For more details about the meeting or the upcoming beekeeping courses please feel free to contact KBee Chair Jimmy Trujillo at 346 7725 or e.mail at jtrujill@hawaii.edu. You can also leave a message in the comment section on this post.

See You Today at the Seed Exchange

In case you haven't heard there will bee a great community event near Kilauea today. The 8th Biannual Kaua'i Community Seed and Plant Exchange is happening on the grounds of the Kilauea Community Gardens. Follow the signs along Kahiliholo Road. Its free and family friendly; the fun starts at noon. There will bee information booths, presentations and lots of smiles. Good fun and live music with the Malama Pono All Stars. We'll bee there : )

Mahalo to everyone who came by the KBee booth at the Fair. Click the link and scroll to the Honey Tasting photo by Dennis Fujimoto of the Garden Island Newspaper. It was a sweet event for sure.

 And here is a link from a friend to a video about some one concerned about pesticides. We gotta do something about that.

Today on Kaua'i Community Radio

There was a nice write up in today's Garden Island News. Mahalo to Nathan and Dennis for helping to get the word out. Also today, State Apiarist Danielle Downey will be a featured guest on KKCR's  (91.9fm) Back to the Garden Show.  Danielle will be joining hosts Paul and Kamran on the phone from Hilo and will be on Kaua'i tomorrow for the Honey Tasting at the KCFB Fair. The show is from 12pm til 1pm right after Democracy Now!  You can listen online  by clicking the live stream option.  Tune in and catch the buzz.
Hope to see you at the fair : )

Sweet !

Just a quick post about the upcoming Honey Tasting at the KCFB Farm Fair.  In a collaborative fashion, the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture and the Kauai Beekeepers Association will be hosting a honey tasting, featuring local honey from some of Kauai's beekeepers, on opening night, Thursday August 25, 2011 in the Kauai Grown Ag Demonstration area located in the Ag & Livestock Area. Here's a link to a map of the fair. 

This event will be an opportunity for local honey producers to showcase their wares and for consumers to sample some of Kauai's finest and ask questions about honey production and meet local beekeepers. The HDOA Apiary Program folks like Danielle Downey  and Jacqui Robson will be there to share information about the state of honeybees in Hawaii. Honey from KBee members will be for sale at the KBee booth during the fair but not at the tasting. If you are interested in showcasing your honey or know someone who might, please contact Joyce Takahashi at 245 9072. 

We'll bee at the Fair all weekend long so stop by our booth if you have questions about beekeeping  ,want to purchase some honey or just like to talk story about the bee's knees. If you're free next Thursday, come on down to the fair and sample the sweetness of Kauai's bees.  Hope to see you there !

Summertime Blues

Kauai Beekeepers Association

is hosting an

Informational Meeting

on

Saturday July 30, 2011

4:00pm - 5:30pm

Our featured speaker will be Jacquie Robson, who has been recently hired by the state to assist the HDOA with apiary support and planning. We will learn more about the state's plan to address the issues of varroa mite, small hive beetles and other issues related to beekeeping. We will also bee discussing plans for a honey tasting exhibit at the upcoming KCFB Fair in August. Please join us in welcoming Jacquie and learning more about beekeeping on Kaua'i.

 

Rm 114 Multipurpose Room 

Electronic and Technology Building 

Kauai Community College

For more information contact

 Jimmy Trujillo 346 7725

jtrujill@hawaii.edu

*************************************************************************

It's been a while since I've had time to sit and log on to a computer to share more about beekeeping on Kaua'i. It didn't help to leave for the mainland for three weeks either. But it was a great trip and it's nice to bee home to tend to the garden and the boxes of bees that reside in the yard. I've got a few removals to do soon and the frames are getting full so my blogging time will be limited to announcements about upcoming KBee events and activities (and maybe posting some photos of beekeeping on Kaua'i).

My inbox was full as well and here are two related items of interest that folks e.mailed me while I was away. The first is a Maui News article  about the work of Danielle Downey , the state's new apiarist. She was to visit Maui and inspect local hives. The second item is a HDOA Press Release with the results of the inspections. Not good news for Maui beekeepers.

The upcoming KBee meeting this Saturday will feature the state's recently hired apiary planner. Ms Jacquie Robson will be our guest for the first half of the meeting. KBee events planning and discussions will follow Jacquie's presentation. Here's a map of KCC to help find our meeting location (in the ETRO building). If lost look for the KBee banner. Hope to see you there. Bee well and have a great day !

Today's Buzz

A reminder of today's KBEE meeting at KCC. The meeting will start at 4pm and be finished around 5:30pm. We'll be in the Electronic & Technology Building . Look for the KBee banner at the north end of the campus' Performing Arts Center main parking lot and you can't miss us. We'll bee discussing at length the work involved with removing unwanted bees from buildings and relocating them to where they will be wanted ( and easier to manage).

Kapahi beekeeper Roy Kawamoto has been invited to share his expertise in this area. We'll also talk a little about a project by the Marin County Beekeepers and the Penn State CCD research team to study the effect of pesticides on local pollinators. We'll see if there's interest to do something similar here.

We'll wrap up the meeting with an update on upcoming beekeeping courses from KCC. Most likely these will begin in August and run through the fall. State apiarist Danielle Downey will provide much of the instruction along with local beekeepers.

Hopefully we'll bee seeing you today or at an upcoming event to share more info about keeping Kaua'i bees clean, healthy and free of the maladies that are so common elsewhere.

Untill then, bee well, bee happy and if you can't bee with the one you love, love the one you're with. Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there : )

Staying Bizzy!

The Kauai Beekeeper's Association (KBee)

invites the public to attend

an informational meeting on

 Saturday June 18, 2011

4:00-5:30pm

KCC-Technology Building

Open Invitation to all beekeepers, farmers and anyone

concerned about honeybees on Kaua'i.

 Learn about Small Hive Beetle & Varroa Mite Prevention

Strategies for Kauai

and how to become involved with KBEE's effort

 to keep Kaua'i bees stay clean & varroa mite free.

For more information please visit us on the internet at:

 http://kauaibuzz.blogspot.com/

or contact

Jimmy Trujillo 346 7725 or Erik Coopersmith 335 0710

We will bee briefly discussing :

*County Sunshine Market Draft Legislation

*Interest in KCFB Fair-Booth & Honey Tasting

*KCC Apiary Program Update

* COK OED Grant

We will also bee discussing in great detail, 'How to Remove and Relocate Honeybee Colonies' featuring KBee member Roy Kawamoto.  Roy and his wife Diane recently moved back to Kaua'i and have been building up their apiary by capturing swarms and removing unwanted honeybee colonies and relocating them to their yard. This is a task that requires some skills and tools and Roy will share tips and techniques that can help make your first colony extraction a success.