End-of-Year Summary, Short Course Announcement, January Meeting Save-the-Date, and Officer Position Open

The Bennington County Beekeepers are looking forward to a new year. We ended 2025 with new and old friends. We had a great series of training in the early spring, we hosted the Vermont Beekeepers' Association Summer Meeting in the summer, and ended the year with a wonderful get together. Most folks had a good year and bees are put to bed for winter.

Want to review the basics?: We will be offering our beginners' Short Course again this year, January 29 through March 12, 2026. If your dues are paid through 2026, please simply respond to this e-mail to let us know that you are interested. If your membership is not current for 2026, the course costs $25.00 and includes 2026 membership; you may also respond to this message to indicate your interest.

Please be aware that, while we run our annual Short Course, there will be no regular Club meeting in February. The March meeting will coincide with the last session of the Short Course, on Products of the Hive, and all Club members are warmly invited to attend and welcome the new beekeeper "graduates" into our club. Ahead of the April meeting, where we hold officer elections, please consider whether you would like to step up as a candidate for an officer position. In particular, the secretary position will be vacant effective at the April meeting.

More urgently, please save the date for our January meeting, which will be on the second Thursday of the month (potluck starts at 6:30, meeting from 7-9), at the Bennington Free Library, where Jeff Battaglini will be discussing and demonstrating mead-making.

We would like to encourage you to attend the January meeting to let us know how you are doing, if your bees are well, and if you have any questions or suggestions for the club.

Best Regards,
John, Mel, Jim, Jeanne, Erin, & Peggy

 Beekeeping introductory course 

The Bennington County Beekeepers’ Club is offering an Introduction to Beekeeping course six Thursday nights: January 29th through March 5th; 7-8:30 PM. Later in the spring there will be a visit to a bee yard.

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

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: benningtonbees@gmail.com or call 802.442.5783 (Melany)

 Kirk Webster at the Mini Isley

November 13th at 6pm

Come to the Mini Ilsley at 30 Main Street in Middlebury to listen to Vermont beekeeper Kirk Webster talk about his book, Many Best Kept Secrets: A Wonderful and Unusual Life Around Honey Bees.

Many Best Kept Secrets is the story of local beekeeper Kirk Webster's lifetime lived in close association with honey bees and the land that sustained them. It is a book about bees, yes-but more deeply, it's about mentorship, memory, discovery, loss, and the pursuit of a meaningful life. It follows a trajectory from suburban alienation to rural immersion; from stumbling first steps on a school farm to a resilient apiary built with homemade tools and hard-won knowledge. It's also a clear-eyed account of how small-scale, nature-oriented farming and beekeeping can succeed-when the work is guided by observation, patience, humility, and respect for systems older and wiser than ourselves. Kirk Webster, a beekeeper with 50 years experience tending Addison County's pollinators, was profiled in Bill McKibben's unforgettable memoir, Oil and Honey, his account of two necessary and mutually reinforcing sides of the global climate fight: the local and the global.

Entrance is free.

 November 13th Club Meeting features Catered Get Together

We would like to share the successes of 2025 with you at a special meeting. There will not be an agenda, just a time to get together and share our 2025 experiences.  An opportunity to get to know each other better, and share 2025 Bee conversations. BUT, we need a headcount of those wishing to attend as it is a catered event and the amount of food needed has to be calculated. You and your guests are welcome and we are looking forward to meeting with all of you and enjoying your company. Please RSVP as to whether you will or will not be coming. Hopefully, we will see you for dinner on Nov 13th



When:   November 13, 2025 Time: 6:30 PM

Where:  Old First Church Barn, Old Bennington (on Monument Circle)

Dinner: Catered buffet with several options and desserts

Cost:   $20.00 per person, pay at the door
RSVP:   Jeanne Davis at  jeannedavis59@gmailcom;  by November 1st, if you are coming and if you are bringing guests how many.

We look forward to sharing this time with you.

 VBA Zoom Meeting on Winter Preparation

The latest on hive wrapping, insulation, and ventilation in preparation for winter

October 23, 2025, 7:00 P.M. via Zoom

Presented by Andrew Munkres

Event Details

Andrew has been experimenting with alternative ways to wrap and insulate colonies for winter. He'll present his latest findings and add his own experience on survival and winter colony strength. Andrew overwinters several hundred colonies.

Sign-up available on the VBA website www.vermontbeekeepers.org

 Bennington Beekeepers Club Meeting on Thursday, October 9

The Bennington Beekeepers' Club is pleased to announce that our October meeting will be held on Thursday, October 9, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the Rotary Room of the Bennington Free Library (101 Silver Street, Bennington). 

On-street parking is available.

This month's meeting will feature speaker Nick Delaini, who has served as an assistant bee inspector in Vermont.

The evening will include a potluck and social time from 6:30--7:00, 

a brief business meeting from 7:00--7:20, 

and the speaker's talk, followed by the raffle at 8:45. Donated raffle items are welcome.

An agenda packet will be sent electronically the week of the meeting and will also be available on paper at the meeting. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Save the Date for the

VBA Winter Meeting

Saturday, January 31st, 2026

Middlebury Union High School

We’re looking forward to seeing you all in late January for our Winter Meeting to be held in Middlebury on January 31st, 2026. We’re working on the agenda but here are a couple of things that we can confirm:

• The Honey Show will be back. Make sure to save a jar of this season’s harvest for the competition!

• Landi Simone from Goose Rock Farm will be the keynote speaker.

Registration will be available on the VBA website later this fall.