Bennington Beekeepers
A gathering of beekeepers in and around Bennington, Vermont
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Saturday, June 21, 2025
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.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Upcoming June BCBC Events
Monday, May 5, 2025
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!---
Friday, April 4, 2025
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.
Monday, February 10, 2025
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.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
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.