White Paper / Next NewBee Class and Beyond

[chuck]

Looking for thoughts about an effort to put together a hand out for the next class and/or down loadable in PDF format that covers essentially a year in the life of trying to do the right thing by the bees.

I would treat it as a continual work in process (no room for pride of authorship here).

Example... Why...? All too often a reference is made to nectar flow but to a new class attendee - What does that mean? and if it is explained, Is there time to transcribe the note for future reference?

My vision would be a document that would provide a rough outline for the year at a pragmatic level. Definitely a yawner for the professionals but "done right" it could be strong reference material for the less experienced amongst us, certainly me.

My limited experience has taught me that the experience is "out there" but "possibly with variable answers to any question". I try to read but find conflicting messages or "too soon" diving into some esoteric perspective (yea.. I was around in the 60s).

I for one don't feel real comfortable asking "newbee" questions to the same person just because one knows how to get in touch with him. Many thanks to "Electric Herb", he was always gracious but at some point you gotta quit buggin' the guy.

Link the paper to a thread on the site and try to keep it a bit specific to the nominal "Willamette Valley" "Tualatin" geographical area. Specific enough for the locality but granular enough to be relatively easily edited for other locations. For you techies out there - sorta like "Data Base Design"....

Would a planning session before, during, or after a monthly meeting be a good place to start? Hey, There's 12 months, there's feeding, there's medication, there's equipment and supply ordering, there's adding and subtracting honey supers, inspections(who me - ), What the heck do you do with honey supers during the winter?, What's the recipe for making one of Harry's Nucs?, Did I mention medication and what to use incrementally?, and more....

It's all out there. I am either looking in the wrong places or didn't think what I found was compact enough. My vision is one of an easy read but indexed and specific enough to use as a quick reference. The monthly notes on the web site may be invaluable but my focus is on what to do now in preparation for a couple of months from now. My vision would include a focus on a time line which could be used as a planning tool. Kinda like - order the equipment before you order the bees.... Start feeding at the correct time so your medication regime is completed before Nectar flow. Did I mention...? When the heck is the nominal start of nectar flow?

The professionals in the group could provide invaluable insight at the same time there needs to be a tempering of perspectives between the commercial and the amateur. I know I'm willing to spoil the "girls" a bit to keep them happy and I definitely qualify as a "happy" amateur.

[Electric Herb]

Great idea, Chuck. Sounds to me that you could use you on our Bee School committee as we could benefit greatly from the new beek perspective. What do you think, Paul?

Chuck, we have some good material for the white paper...a graph of the Willamette nectar flow that has been a big help to me. I will get that to you.

I know Dewey Caron has been concerned with the lack of locally-oriented books for beekeeping in the geat Northwest and specifically in Oregon. He will also be a big help.

The beekeeping tips that Todd publishes are also a great source of information.

So, you will have plenty to work with and many good beeks (hobbyist and professional) to review and comment on the material.

[chuck]

I'm ready to spend some time but am very sensitive about stepping on any exposed toes out there.

I can bring a perspective that would hopefully contribute.

Done right a few pages of perspective and timing and references could be very helpful.

Out of that another suggestion... of a slightly more structured mentoring thread on the site. Everybody, especially Herb has been good at answering questions for me but I find myself nervous about becoming a pest. The structure of a site specifically for "newbee" questions answered or commented on by experienced bee keepers could be a bonus for the group. While experience is invaluable a naive perspective from a "newbee" like using steam to clean an extractor can be helpful at least until somebody says don't do it because it corrupts next years beet crop.

With all respect to Dewey... I'm talking about people like myself with a couple of hives that need to get up to a higher level before they engage Dewey if for no other reason than to maximize his willingness to contribute.

So when do we start...? (In IBM marketing terms that's the presumptive close)

[drew]

I love this idea, i like to hear the questions of new folks.
After having bees for a few years one forgets those little things that is automatically done without thought.
Honey flows that is a good questions, when are they etc...

I take that for granted, but it is a good question. And a loaded one at that. I for one know about when a flow starts and start taking walks to the woods etc, to see where the flower buds are at.
So if the bees have been ramped up but the flow will be late I can take measures to hopefully keep the bees from blowing out

To have a couple new beekeepers on this task is important, so it contains the information they are after.
A lot of the time we start looking at all these fancy techniques and forget about basics. "THE BASICS" is what makes it all work.