Bee Yard Visit POSTPONED until Saturday, June 21 at 5 pm

Unfortunately, the June 14th visit to John & Melany Letourneau's bee yard had to be be postponed, due to cold weather. The new date and time will be next Saturday, June 21, at 5 pm. The same logistical information applies: attendees can park at the Apple Barn on Route 7; the yard is in the field down the hill from the parking lot. Please bring yourself, any interested friends, and your gloves and protective clothing (remember: it's good bio-security practice, as well as a friendly gesture, to wash your gloves & suit in unscented detergent the day before visiting someone else's bee yard, as keeping clothes clean reduces the risk of spreading pathogens between yards). Please do not bring your own hive tools, smokers, or other equipment in order to further reduce the risk of pathogen spread.

This delay does not affect our Club's planning meeting on June 26, starting at 6:30 pm at the Bennington Free Library, in advance of the upcoming Vermont Beekeepers' Association Summer Meeting on July 19 here in Bennington. Please see our previous message for details on the planning meeting.

Please stay tuned for further news from us, and we hope to see you at the bee yard visit and the planning meeting.

 Upcoming June BCBC Events

Please feel warmly welcomed to attend two events in June, hosted by the Bennington Beekeepers' Club.

     First, a visit to John & Melany Letourneau's bee yard this coming Saturday, June 14 at 5 pm. Attendees can park at the Apple Barn on Route 7; the yard is in the field down the hill from the parking lot. Please bring yourself, any interested friends, and your gloves and protective clothing (remember: it's good bio-security practice, as well as a friendly gesture, to wash your gloves & suit in unscented detergent the day before visiting someone else's bee yard, as keeping clothes clean reduces the risk of spreading pathogens between yards). Please do not bring your own hive tools, smokers, or other equipment in order to further reduce the risk of pathogen spread.

     Second, a planning meeting on June 26, starting at 6:30 pm at the Bennington Free Library, in advance of the upcoming Vermont Beekeepers' Association Summer Meeting on July 19 here in Bennington. Our Club is delighted and honored to be hosting this important event, which typically attracts more than a hundred beekeepers from all around our state. For us, this means all hands on deck! We need volunteers to assist with parking, registration, raffle ticket sales and organizing the raffle items, coffee breaks, and setup and tear down of the event space. Our meeting on June 26 will be to organize these jobs and more: please come if you're interested in helping out on July 19. If you want to help and can't make the planning meeting on June 26, please let me know by responding to this e-mail.

Please stay tuned for further news and notices, and we hope to see you at the bee yard visit and the planning meeting.

 BCBC Club monthly meeting upcoming May 8th 

The BCBC May meeting will be on Thursday, May 8, from 6:30--9:00 p.m., in the Rotary Room of the Bennington Free Library (upstairs). The library is located at 101 Silver Street in Bennington, and on-street parking is available.

This month's meeting will feature a talk by Club Co-Presidents John & Melany Letourneau of Frenchman's Garden apiary, based here in Bennington.

The first half-hour of the meeting will be a potluck dinner: while it's not required that you bring anything, we encourage you to bring a dish to share with the group, as well as a cup, flatware and a plate/bowl for yourself, if possible, to cut down on waste (there is a kitchen sink where you can wash your dishes before bringing them home).

At the conclusion of the meeting, there will be a raffle of donated items: should you wish to donate raffle items, please bring them (items need not be directly related to honeybees or beekeeping). Raffle tickets will be sold during the potluck dinner ($2 each or $10 for 6), and during the raffle, stubs will be drawn until all items have been claimed. Any dues-paying Club member who brings one or more items to donate to the raffle will be given one free raffle ticket.

A full agenda packet will be attached to the reminder to be sent next week.

Hope to see you there!---

 BCBC Monthly Club meeting Thursday, April 10th

A quick reminder about our April meeting on Thursday, April 10, from 6:30--9:00 p.m., in the Rotary Room of the Bennington Free Library (upstairs). The library is located at 101 Silver Street in Bennington, and on-street parking is available.

This month's meeting will coincide with the final day of our 2025 Short Course for beginning beekeepers, with the topic being a series of brief 'lightning talks' about .

Though we encourage in-person attendance, you can attend this meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams if you like. To do so, please use this link: https://bit.ly/BennBee_Jan2025_Remote .

For the in-person attendees, the first half-hour of the meeting will be a potluck dinner: while it's not required that you bring anything, we encourage you to bring a dish to share with the group, as well as a cup, flatware and a plate/bowl for yourself, if possible, to cut down on waste (there is a kitchen sink where you can wash your dishes before bringing them home). At the conclusion of the meeting, there will be a raffle of donated items: should you wish to donate raffle items, please bring them (items need not be directly related to honeybees or beekeeping). Raffle tickets will be sold during the potluck dinner ($2 each or $10 for 6), and during the raffle, stubs will be drawn until all items have been claimed. Any dues-paying Club member who brings one or more items to donate to the raffle will be given one free raffle ticket.

While the potluck begins at 6:30, the Library building's doors will be locked at 7 pm. If you intend to arrive after 7, you will need to notify someone who is at the meeting to come downstairs and let you in.

A full agenda packet, including timely announcements and Club business, will be provided next week when you receive your meeting reminder.

 February Club Meeting Thursday, 2/13/25

The Bennington County Beekeepers Club will be having it's monthly meeting on February 13, 2025 at the Bennington Free Library in the second floor meeting room starting at 6:30 with a light meal. Please bring a dish to share if you would like to partake.  After the meal, we will have a business meeting beginning at 7 PM and then a round table /discussion on how to get our bees safely into spring.  A raffle will follow this meeting. If you would like to contribute to the raffle, please bring any item you wish to donate.  

 Interested in Beekeeping?

Want to review the basics?

The Bennington County Beekeepers’ Club is offering an Introduction to Beekeeping course six Thursday nights: March 6, 13, 20, 27, April 3, and 10; 7-8:30 PM. Later in the spring there will be a visit to a bee yard.

The course will cover basic beekeeping principles, honeybee biology and health, pests and parasites, hive management, and how to get started setting up your own bee yard.

The cost of the course is $25 per person, which includes a one-year family membership in the Bennington County Beekeepers’ Club. Attendees will need to purchase or locate the textbook on their own. Classes will take place in-person at the Bennington Free Library on Silver St. in Bennington.

To sign up, or for more information, contact Erin: benningtonbees@gmail.com.

 January BCBC Meeting, the first in 2025

Hello All,

We're planning to gather next Thursday, 1/9/25, at 6:30 with a potluck and a 7:00 meeting upstairs in the Bennington Free Library.  Bring a dish to share and your own plate and utensils. Please come! 

We'll be discussing how your bees are doing and what measures you've been taking recently.  We'll have a raffle so if you have a donation please bring one, it doesn't have to be honey bee related. 

If you've had losses so far please consider getting a sample of dead bees tested by the UVM Bee Lab or the USDA Bee Lab.   

Follow the links below.

https://www.vermontbeelab.com/diagnostics/

https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-barc/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/bee-research-laboratory/docs/bee-disease-diagnosis-service/

We'll have a discussion about topics and leadership going forward.  Dues are due!  $15 individual and $20 family.  You can pay on Thursday or send it to Jeanne Davis 173 Pratt Rd. Pownal VT 05261  Checks made out to BCBClub! See you soon, Jeanne