NC Honey Standards Committee

The NC Honey Standards Committee of the NC State Beekeepers Association was invited to the governor's mansion in Raleigh NC on Wednesday September 8th 2010. During this visit, the committee met at the NC Farmer's Market restaurant for lunch and a brief meeting. Then we all headed to the governor's mansion for a meeting with Commissioner of Agriculture Troxler and Governor Purdue. We had opportunity to explore the grounds of the governor's mansion grounds as well as take photos of the governor's beehives, the beautiful grounds and the house.

The governor came out to meet us all and we had a photo with her before she pronounced September as Honey Month in NC. This whole event was also to recognize and announce the existence of the new honey standard in NC. This new standard has been adopted by the agriculture department and press releases have gone out. It allows for regulation within the existing NC agriculture laws and will allow enforcement to stop selling of adulterated honey in NC as well as honey sold as sourwood when it is actually some other type of honey. More will be forth coming on the regulation of this standard.

Personally, I took advantage of this opportunity to take my daughter, Mackenzie, to NC State University for a tour. I am proud to announce she is VERY interested in attending there like her dad did. Mackenzie was very excited to meet the governor and also to take in the NC Museum of Natural History. WHEW! What a day! The photo shows Commissioner Troxler, Governor Purdue and Mackenzie as well as others at the event.

Did you know that September is National Honey Month?

Celebrate by buying honey from your local beekeepers. Here in Buncombe County you can find local honey at our farmers’ markets (http://buyappalachian.org) and at Earthfare and Greenlife.

You can become a beekeeper yourself and produce your own honey!
Check out these beekeeping resources on Buncombe County Beekeeper’s website: http://wncbees.org/ReferenceDocs.cfm and also on Cooperative Extension’s Growing Small Farms website: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/beekeeping.html

Visit the NC State Beekeepers’ Association website to find a local beekeepers’ chapter: www.ncbeekeepers.org

Here’s the web page for our Buncombe County Beekeepers’ Chapter: www.wncbees.org
Also, plant a pollinator garden to help provide nectar (and pollen) for our honey bees! Learn more at http://wncbees.org/ReferenceDocs.cfm and http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/ag/SustAg/chathammills.html

Hug your local beekeeper!

2010 Terra Madre

One of our very own beekeepers, Lady Cerelli was one of the eight people in our region chosen to attend the 2010 Terra Madre in Italy this October. The five-day meeting will bring together food communities, cooks, academics, youth and musicians from all over the world, who are united in a desire to promote sustainable local food production in harmony with the environment while respecting knowledge handed down over the generations. While attending the conference, Lady will have the opportunity to tour bee yards in Italy with a 30 year beekeeper. She will also be visiting with the Entomology Department's Apiary Program. Terra Madre will be paying for Lady's conference registration, but not her travel to the event. Lady needs our help! On Septmeber 18, Slow Food Asheville will be hosting a Terra Madre fundraiser entitled "Mountain Fire" dinner. This fundraiser will be held at Sunswept Farm Conservancy in Spring Creek, Madison County and will include a scratch-made, home-grown, gourmet feast as well as a silent auction of fine, local products and services. Event collaborator, Chef Mark Rosenstein, who founded The Market Place restaurant and has been dedicated to local, seasonal ingredients for the entirety of his 40-year professional cooking career, has designed the menu to be a medieval fantasy of fire-kissed offerings including Slow Roasted Porcetta,Chargrilled Chicken, Woodfired Breads, Riot of Fall Salad, Woodfire baked Ratatouille, Sicilian Cannoli, and Rustic Apple Tarts. The cost for this event is $45

More details of the event can be found here: http://www.jeweloftheblueridge.com/SLowFoodTerraMadreEvent.htm

Buy tickets in advance here http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/125156

To donate for the auction or to volunteer event help, please email MountainFire@charter.net.

We will need volunteers on the 17th, 18th, and 19th. Please inquire about free or reduced ticket prices in exchange for volunteering.

Hands on Beginner Beekeeping Workshop, September 12th, Call Jon Christie @ 828-689-4095 or visit www.wildmountainbees.com for details

Flowering Seasons for Western North Carolina Honey and Pollen Sources

The Flowering Chart for WNC plants put together by Edd, Chris, and John has been added to our website's Reference page at http://www.wncbees.org/referencedocs.cfm . This excellent guide shows typical blooming dates for honey nectar plants and seasons of special consideration by beekeepers. Many thanks to these dedicated beekeepers for assembling this great resource!

Don Hopkins in wax

One of the wax entries at the NCSBA was a wax figure of a mans head. No one seemed to notice the striking resemblance to Don Hopkins, until I made mention of it. Then Jack Hanel took the wax figure over next to Don and well, we all got a big laugh. I just had to pass it along.

NCSDA meeting

I had a great bee week during the week of the 4th of July. I started the week off by speaking at the monthly meeting of the Watauga County Beekeepers Chapter. I spoke to the group about non-chemical beekeeping and using natural comb. The talk was well received and I am pleased at the response I am getting about this program across the state. I have presented the program at Forsyth Co, Madison Co, Haywood Co, Burke Co, the NCSBA 2009 summer meeting and am scheduled to speak on it at the August Henderson Co and September Davie Co meetings. I am proud that Buncombe County has sort of taken a lead in going this direction in beekeeping.

After leaving Boone, I ended up in Asheboro NC, where I visited the NC Zoo. The reason for this visit was to see the Honeybee Garden that the NCSBA so strongly supports. My first impression was that the exhibit is nice, but not worth 1 million dollars. I actually stated, "this is a nice exhibit for about $100,000.00". I later learned the planned 1 million dollar exhibit was scaled down to $180,000.00. This made me feel much better about it. The exhibit is a very well done work that will draw the attention of the public and educate them about honeybees. Maybe it will spur them to find out more at our meetings.

I then headed to Salisbury for the 2010 summer NCSBA meeting. The meeting was actually in China Grove. I am proud to announce that I received the Master Beekeeper Medallion for Deb Roberts there. I also took the long put off written test to become a Master Beekeeper myself. The meeting produced one really great item. We voted to adopt a honey standard in NC and passed that on to the NC department of agriculture for tweaking prior to implementation. I am on the committee to oversee this process. Soon we will have legal recourse for those people that sell honey as sourwood honey when it is not and for those that do such things as mix corn syrup with their honey. I was also elected as a director for NCSBA and will join Steve in representing Western NC.

Hope to see you all at the meeting Monday August 2nd where I will hopefully be presenting Deb with her Master Beekeeper Medallion. At any rate, those of you who have never seen one of these medallions can see one first hand.