Pollinator Resource

Merry Christmas too each of you! I found this nice 24 page pollinator's booklet for the central appalachian region and wanted to share it with you. It's got a good list of species to consider planting when you are doing some landscape renewal this spring. I will try to remember to make a few copies to have at our January 9th meeting.

Follow the link below

http://www.pollinator.org/pdfs/CentralAppalachian.rx4.pdf

Kind regards,

Ben Cooper

December Meeting - Holiday Party

The final meeting of the year was so much fun! Everyone was in a festive mood and we all were looking forward to having a plate full of tasty snacks and exchanging jingle gifts. The 2009 Officers were recognized - President: Fred Litten; Vice President: Ben Cooper; and Secretary/Treasurer: Mike Burkett. The club is in good hands!

Steve started the meeting by reviewing the highlights of each meeting to include the topic and who the guest speaker was. Ruth had created a summary chart for each month to include the topic and who gave the presentation. Then made up a poster board of the entire year highlighting each meeting. We covered a lot of ground in 2008! Thank you Steve for providing the club with interesting guests and discussion topics!!! Also your work setting up the Google work space and blog gave the Allegheny Mountain Beekeepers Association a professional presence and the ability to share information "between" meetings and that will enable the club to accomplish so much more.

Ben Cooper was selected as "BEEKEEPER OF THE YEAR - 2008" for Outstanding dedication to beekeeping in 2008. This includes activities related to the Allegheny County fair, support of youth programs, knowledge sharing and overall beekeeping activities; marketing efforts such as the bee costume and displays; Generosity of the numerous hand crafted beeswax molds that he gave to individuals and donated to the club raffles; The sharing of knowledge and contributions of pictures and reporting on the AMBA blog and workspace; Research and initiation to support current AMBA grant applications; Continually being upbeat, optimistic and engaging during discussion of beekeeping and related activities. Congratulations Ben!

2008 Annual Banquet

The annual banquet was held at the Cozy Kettle restaurant on Rt220 near State Line, PA.   The dinner was exceptional!   The main entrees were Fried Fish fillets, BBQ ribs, and Roasted Turkey breast.  Salad, veggies, bread basket, and dessert was also provided.  Everything was home made and delicious.  

Forty-five members attended.  We had over 60 door prizes provided from bee supply vendors.   Everyone had a nice time.  Winners were asked to write a thank you note to the vendor who donated their prize.  

The 2009 Officers were elected.  Fred Litten, President; Ben Cooper, Vice President; and Mike Burkett, Secretary/Treasurer.   

Allegany County fair 2008

Here is a picture from the Allegany County fair.

Some of you were able to see the "bee" at the August meeting / Honey Feast. The donated honey and wax figures brought $100 for the 4-H scholarship fund at the bake sale auction Tuesday evening.

A special thanks goes out to all who took the time to display some of their products and for those who came out and talked with the people about beekeeping. Thanks goes out to Harry Mallow for providing the observation hive each evening.

Honey Feast

Our meeting this month focused on foods and snacks that are made with honey. Members brought in their dishes and recipes. We discussed the recipes and then enjoyed the snacks. I provided some brief information about fall treatments that I had received from the Brushy Mountain
enewsletter. Perhaps this "Honey Feast " will become an annual event that coincides with the annual honey harvest time frame.

July Meeting

Several members were traveling to the Heartland Bee Association meeting in Huntington, WV this month. Mike Burkett provided the group with a demonstration of some honey extracting equipment.

More Photos - June 21st Field Day

Janet Kessel took a lot of photos at the Field day. Here is a slide show of her photos. Thanks Janet.