The holidays are upon us, but in all the hustle and bustle, we should not forget our hives.

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I have been so busy making my holiday crafts, lotion bars, lip balm, candles and soap. Read More...

Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, November 15, 2009
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 31 Rider Ave, Patchogue, NY‎ Read More...

Two hundred years after his birth in 1810, Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, known as the “Father of American Beekeeping,” will be honored. Langstroth’s discovery of “bee space” and his invention of the movable-frame beehive will be celebrated with a national network of exhibits, workshops and seminars and, with your help, perhaps a commemorative U.S. postage stamp as well. Read More...

I congratulate everyone who won prizes at the Honey Judging! I thank everyone who participated!

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I am still preening from winning ribbons at the honey judging for my entries in the contest.
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By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

In previous Fall issues of Beeline I discussed watering and maintaining lawns endlessly. To sum it up, unless you hire a lawn service it is a pain in the neck, the back, the knees etc. There is a better way. Read More...

A heavenly velvety soup. Serve it as a first course with Thanksgiving dinner. Read More...

Since the discovery of the honeybee tracheal mite and the Varroa mite, the maintenance of the state's viable honeybee population has been of great concern to the NYS Department or Agriculture and Markets. Left undetected or untreated, apiaries infested with these parasites will exhibit a high rate of colony mortality. Read More...

In an effort to include all members in the process of nominating and electing new officers, nominations and votes will be accepted via e-mail and postal mail.

Nominations can be made by any member "in good standing", which means those who paid their 2009 dues in a timely manner. Any member in good standing (same definition) may be nominated for any office.

Our club has grown large enough that a significant number of members do not attend any one meeting for a wide variety of reasons, so it is hoped that those who cannot attend specific meetings to nominate or elect officers will be included.

The deadline for nominations will be Dec 1st, 2009.

A ballot will be included in the December newsletter, and votes can be e-mailed to correspondingsecy@longislandbeekeepers.org or mailed to:
Conni Still, 82 Stephen Road, Bayport, NY 11705

It is hoped that all ballots can be counted in January, so that the new officers can take office at the February meeting.

Offices In LIBC Include:
President
Vice-President
Treasurer
Recording Secretary
Corresponding Secretary

Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, October 18, 2009
Holbrook Ecology Center Read More...

Hello everyone,
I invite you to enter our Club’s Annual Honey Show! It’s not just honey!

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I harvested my honey this month, all 15 pounds of it. Read More...

Learn the ancient Art & Science of APITHERAPY, the medicinal use of products from the beehive: Honey, Pollen, Propolis, Royal Jelly, Bee Venom and Beeswax. Read More...

Attention all members: This is for our Club's 60th Anniversary celebration. If you have photos from past meetings (the older the better, but new ones are great too) or other historical items to display, please bring them to our LIBC meetings August through November. They may become part of a special display at our 60th Anniversary party in December.
Thanks!

Big thanks to our hosts who opened their hives and homes for this year’s Progressive Hive Tour.

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You can see photos of this year's hive tours on our 2009 Hive Tour Photo Album. Thanks to Conni Still for providing the images.

Rowen Jacobsen, author of “Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis,” discusses how honeybee health is linked to the health of the entire environment.

Read the entire article at: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/saving-bees-what-we-know-now/

By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

Wow! Summer is here with a vengeance. The only things doing well in my garden are weeds. Read More...

Our progressive Apiary Tour was a wonderful success. Thanks so much to the hosts, Debra and George, Moira and Dave, and Marianne. Read More...

Pennsylvania Master Beekeeper Bill Mondjack gave a wonderful presentation about macro-photography – which means getting great close-up photos of bees, flowers, and nature in general.

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A couple who are both enthusiastic beekeepers and work for the Nanhu forestry commission at Ning'an city in northern China decided to get married wearing clothes made of living bees. Read More...

By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

Dahlias contribute bold splashes of color to gardens from midsummer until frost with blossoms of amazing shapes, sizes and colors. Their sturdy stems and attractive foliage also make them an exceptional choice for cut flowers. Read More...

A London taxi has been specially customised by artists and scientists for Pestival, a unique festival coming to London's Southbank Centre in September 2009 to celebrate insects in the arts and the art of being an insect.


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I took Jim Bob’s lecture to heart and made a new beautiful butterfly and bee garden in my backyard. Read More...

Honeybees may not be the first thing that come to mind when you think of Brooklyn. Yet here’s Yeshwant Chitalkar, high on a rooftop in the Red Hook section of the New York borough, opening a bright blue hive to check on its queen. The vista is a mix of parks, light industrial areas, and housing projects. Dr. Chitalkar works methodically, barehanded, carefully lifting out the hive’s frames, which are covered in a velvety, undulating layer of bees.

This year there are at least 30 new hives in community gardens, on rooftops, and in backyards across New York. Most are the result of a series of beekeeping classes taught last winter by Jim Fischer, a veteran beekeeper who lives in Manhattan.

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Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, July 19, 2009
Suffolk County Farm, Yaphank Read More...

Our Father’s Day meeting at the home of Ray and Ginny Lackey was great. The June monsoon held off for the afternoon! How do you like that poetry!

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Gala Holiday Party and Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of our Club
Sunday, December 6, 2009 from 2:30 to 6:30 PM
at the
The Flaming Hearth
Farmingville, NY

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Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, June 21, 2009
Sweet Pines Apiary, Bohemia Read More...

A sample edition of Bee Craft America is available in a digital format ready for direct access from your computer. To receive Bee Craft America please visit our website where you will be able to subscribe to four copies a year at £4.50 (about US $6.30).
http://www.bee-craft.com/

It is estimated that by the year 2020, half of all Americans over the age of 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass. One of the key strategies for reducing the likelihood of developing low bone mass is to consume adequate calcium. Of course, it is also very important that the calcium consumed is absorbed.

Researchers at Purdue University showed that honey enhanced calcium uptake in laboratory animals. In fact, researchers found that the absorption of calcium was increased as the amount of honey was increased. Although this data would need to be confirmed using human subjects, the preliminary findings are very compelling.

(National Honey Board)

By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

It’s the middle of June and my vegetable garden can’t take any more rain and neither can I. What is going on? I don’t even want to walk outside to look anymore. Give me some sunshine!! Read More...

Memorial Day was beautiful bee weather, so I finally mustered up my courage and suited up and opened my hive, by myself for the first time. Read More...

Last week was the 3rd Annual National Pollinator Week, and the nonprofit group Just Food organized a Beekeepers Ball to kick it off. Read More...

June 22 to June 28 is New York City Pollinator Week.

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Wow – what a turnout we had for our talk by Chairman of the Board of the Eastern Apicultural Society, Jim Bobb, at this month’s meeting. It was the one of the biggest meetings ever.

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Memorial Day was beautiful bee weather, so I finally mustered up my courage and suited up and opened my hive, by myself for the first time. Read More...

Since our first wedding anniversary is in July, and our honeymoon was in Jamaica, here is a festive treat for you all, from that beautiful island, perfect for summer parties. And honey is a prime ingredient! We will never forget all the congratulations and kindness we received from our Club members when we married! - Joanne Thomas Fischer Read More...

Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, May 17, 2009
Holbrook Ecology Center Read More...

Hello everyone!

First, I wish to thank our member Eleanor Bizzoso for her excellent presentation on gift baskets from the honey bee hive. She is a wonderful and gifted speaker, and creatively talented. Also, thanks, Eleanor, for contributing a package of gift basket goodies for auction.

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By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

May is here and it is time to fertilize your lawn. Hopefully you have done a good job and thatched and raked it out so it can breathe. The rule of thumb is: Spring fertilize around Memorial Day, Fall fertilize around Labor Day. Read More...

I write this as sulking as I can bee! I should be lying on a beach on the Mayan Riviera! Instead I am in my dreary office typing away and being depressed and angry as a hornet. Read More...

Honey has antibacterial properties and is proven to speed up healing, so treat minor scrapes, cuts, or burns to a touch of honey, says Joseph Kellerstein, a doctor of naturopathic medicine in Toronto. Apply twice a day for best results. (From HEALTH magazine).

Wish I had done it after I burned my hand on the roasting pan making Easter ham! I'll keep some in the medicine cabinet now!

Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, April 19, 2009
Holbrook Ecology Center Read More...

The Wild Side guest columnist for the New York Times, Leon Kreitzman, writes:
"Honeybees really are nature’s little treasures. They are a centimeter or so long, their brains are tiny, and a small set of simple rules can explain the sophisticated social behavior that produces the coordinated activity of a hive. They live by sets of instructions that are familiar to computer programmers as subroutines – do this until the stop code, then into the next subroutine, and so on."

Read the entire article at: http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/guest-column-lets-hear-it-for-the-bees/?emc=eta1

The Annual Eastern Apicultural Society Summer Conference is a five-day event held in early August. It includes lectures, workshops, vendor displays, short courses for beginning and advanced beekeepers, and the annual business meeting.
Each year it is hosted by a member state or province and offers opportunities for both beekeeping education and social activities.
It presents a who’s who of hobbyists, professional beekeepers, educators and scientists, as all gather to learn and celebrate the honey bee and beekeeping.

This year the conference will be will be held August 3-7, 2009 at Holiday Valley Resort, Ellicottville, NY.

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By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

This has been an exceptionally wet and cold spring so far. All you could do is longingly look out of the window and fret about the things you could do if only it wasn’t raining or snowing or too damn cold! Read More...

Last month's meeting was quite something, with 60 members attending! I was so busy filling out new membership forms I didn’t have a chance to say hello to a lot of old friends. But it was so exciting to see so many new faces and so many familiar faces come out to the meeting. Read More...

Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, March 22, 2009
Holbrook Ecology Center Read More...

In March, we had a much-anticipated meeting with our NY State Apiarist Paul Cappy, who traveled to us all the way from Albany. I hope Paul answered all your questions and concerns about registering your bee hives with the State of NY and about varroa and nosema and apiary registration and inspection on Long Island. It looks like we are in good shape.

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4 pounds Ham; boneless, fully cooked
1 can Lemon-lime soda
1/4 cup Honey
1/2 teaspoon Mustard
1/2 teaspoon Cloves; ground
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon; ground

Place ham and lemon-lime soda into crock pot. If your pot has a rack, you can use it. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours (high 3 to 4 hours).

Thirty minutes before serving, combine honey, mustard, cloves, and cinnamon, and 3 tbs drippings from bottom of crock pot. Spread glaze over ham and continue cooking.

Let ham stand for 15 minutes before serving.

1 cup of Honey
1/4 cup of Orange juice
Grated rind of 1 orange
3 Eggs, separated
1 teaspoon of Vegetable oil
1/2 cup of Sugar
1/2 teaspoon of Ginger
1 3/4 cups of Matzo meal
1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon of Coffee; instant
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of Cloves

Heat honey to boil; add orange juice and rind.
Cool.
Beat egg yolks.
Add oil and sugar, sift together matzo meal and dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients and honey to egg yolks.
Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake in one oblong or 2 loaf pans.
Line pan with wax paper.
Bake @ 300 degrees for 50 minutes.

Looking for local honey for your Passover Honey Cake? Check out our Classifieds and Local Honey Directory.

CATCH THE BUZZ
From the perspective of probably every beekeeper in the U.S., the first day of spring, 2009, should be one of the most memorable in decades. It was on that day that Michelle Obama announced that not only would there be a garden on the White House lawn, the first since FDR’s Victory Garden, but there would be, yes, BEE HIVES!

Read more at: http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.03.22.11.15.archive.html

Well, it takes a lot to get this Queen Bee down, but this time it happened. Read More...

My husband Jim Fischer and I wish you well as we travel toward Spring with our bees!

Not much to report, since I decided to cancel the February meeting because of no speaker – staying in indoor “cluster mode”!

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Are we going to have an early Spring? It depends on which ground hog you listen to, or whose bees. Read More...

Happy, healthy New Year everyone!
Of course, in the winter cold, Jim and I are leaving our bees alone, to cluster and keep warm together in their hives. We’ve been doing much of the same! Hope you are, too! Keep warm and well!

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This year, Dyce Lab is offering six different workshops with classes being held at Dyce Lab, Betterbee and in Western NY as part of the Eastern Apicultural Society’s 2009 Annual Summer Meeting. Read More...

Wicwas Press now has an exciting collection of books that you will find very useful if you are a new or small-scale (hobby) beekeeper. Read More...

This is a very useful book, and in many ways amazing due to Doolittle's insight into bee biology and the importance of quality queens in a beekeeping operation. Read More...

Annual dues are $35.
Please send a check to Conni Still, at 82 Stephen Road, Bayport, NY 11705, payable to LIBC.
Please e-mail membership@longislandbeekeepers.org if you change your postal address, phone number or email address.

By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

• If thorough Fall watering wasn’t done and protection not given to exposed broadleaved evergreens...

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By Juergen Jaenicke, MG
(Courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension)

Aren’t you sick and tired of the cold? Relax, just a few more weeks and the tulips will come up, the sun will be shining and you will be tuning up the old lawnmower. Read More...

Happy New Year Beekeepers. Did you remember to eat some honey on New Year’s Day to make sure that you will be sweet for the coming year? I forgot to eat my traditional herring this year this year, that was the first time I’ve forgotten that, so I hope the honey makes up for it. Read More...

Ingredients:
1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
Assorted fresh vegetables (celery, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli)

Directions:
Combine mayonnaise, honey, curry and vinegar; mix well. Refrigerate about 1 hour to allow flavors to blend. Serve with vegetables.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (per Tablespoon)
Protein: 0.3 g Fat Total: 2 g Sodium: 18 mg Carbohydrates: 5.3 g Calories from Fat: 44% Cholesterol: 8 mg Calories: 37 Dietary Fiber: 0.1 g

Cranberries’ nutrients soothe skin. Try this body scrub from the Wauwinet Spa by the Sea in Nantucket, MA:
Blend 1/4 cup honey, 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, and 1/4 cup unscented body oil in a blender. Apply and relax for 10 minutes, then rinse.

Combine 30 peeled, deveined shrimp, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon honey, salt and pepper.

Thread 3 shrimp on each skewer topped with a small hot pepper (if desired).
Cook each side 2 minutes on an oiled grill pan.

What a wonderful holiday party we enjoyed on December 7! Thirty-seven members attended and were treated to SO much good food, it was almost overwhelming!
Read More...

A local Long Island newspaper, Newsday, is reporting that doctors at North Shore University Hospital applied a dressing made of sterilized honey to a man's calf to treat a bacterial infection, thereby avoiding possible amputation of the leg.
Read the entire story here: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-lihone095992172jan09,0,5559138.story

Big shipments of contaminated honey from China are being laundered in other countries to avoid U.S. import fees, protective tariffs or taxes imposed on foreign products that intentionally undercut domestic prices.

A five-month investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer found that in a series of shipments in the past year, tons of honey produced in China passed through the ports of Tacoma and Long Beach, Calif., after being fraudulently marked as a tariff-free product from Russia.

[All the more reason to buy local honey!]

Read more at http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.01.02.12.02.archive.html

To read articles and other news items from prior years, visit our Bee-Line Archive.