Video – Tim Polling: A True Bee-liever – West Virginia
This is a great Video from the West Virginia Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture program. Some people are aking, “Why bees?” Here’s at least one answer.
Video from the West Virginia Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture program.
Pollen 020218
February second and it’s in the low 60s out. This is way too warm for Reno this time of year. I went to check on the Nuc in our back yard and found the girls bringing in pollen.
Gratitude
Thanksgiving was unseasonably warm here in Northern Nevada and our honeybees were out in force enjoying the weather. Despite most of the rabbitbrush dead and gone, we could still see pollen dutifully carried into the hive and found lots of fresh nectar in the comb. Our industrious bees provided almost 60lbs of honey this past season – that’s approximately 120 million flowers visited and equivalent to circumnavigating the earth over 120 times – I’m exhausted just imagining that!
We are so grateful for the support we have received here at Bees4Vets, and wish to thank everyone who has reached out and asked “How can I help?”, or “Have you talked to <insert entity here>?” Your enthusiasm and ideas to assist our veterans and honeybees thrive encourage us to keep going – and we will! So please keep the ideas coming, and also the requests for us to come and meet with you about our veteran program.
Bees4Vets recently attended the California State Beekeeper’s Association’s Annual Meeting at Lake Tahoe. The presentations were very informative and we met lots of new contacts in the beekeeping industry. We’d also like to give a shout out to GloryBee, a beekeeping supply company – we won their raffle! Thank you!
Bees4Vets will be attending the 2018 American Beekeeping Federation Conference & Tradeshow – we hope to see you there!
It’s official! We’re a 501(c)(3) charitable organization!
We are excited to announce that effective August 9th, 2017, the IRS has officially approved our 501(c)(3) charity. Bees4Vets is honored to be a part of Nevada’s non profit community!
We are eager to invite veterans outside into our apiaries and teach the art (and science) of beekeeping. Bees4Vets currently has nine hives (in four apiaries) across Washoe County; our goal is to have twenty-five teaching hives in Spring 2018. We are looking for community donations, and donor partners to sponsor hives and equipment for our program. Our veterans pay nothing, the program is offered free of charge.
Please consider donating, and help our veterans have a sweeter tomorrow!
June’s Recap
June provided three speaking opportunities and a festival!
We were delighted to speak at a medieval event for the Society for Creative Anachronism in Reno, “Silver Desert Arts and Science” on June 10th. The presentation included information on St. Gobnait the patron saint of beekeeping; monastic medicinal gardens, and pollinator friendly herbs and flowers for today’s gardener.
On June 12th, the Retired Public Employees of Nevada, Washoe Chapter, honored us with time at their meeting to present the Bees4Vets program to their members. Thank you!
Pollinator Week (June 19-25, 2017) is always a great time to get out and appreciate the hard working pollinators (and their advocates) in your local area. We were privileged to be invited to the Pollinator Festival at Urban Roots to present a talk called “Our History with Apis mellifera”.
Out in the apiary, our girls were bringing in the honey flow. We were able to pull off a surplus frame to taste the bounty of the high desert – the floral notes were so distinct!