Mar 102023
 

Mark Your Calendars – SDC Beekeepers March Meeting

Greetings SDC Beekeepers,

We are excited to announce our first SDC Beekeepers meeting for 2023.  It will be held starting at 6:30 PM on Thursday March 23 at the Unitarian Universalist Church located at 107 W. Barcelona Rd, Santa Fe, in the library (new room).

We plan to discuss:

Sharing how our bees overwintered

Diagnosing dead outs

First things to look for when opening hives in spring

Sources for packages, nucs, and queens.

….and of course, Kate will be here to answer any and all questions

While we are hoping everyone can join us in person, we have scheduled a Zoom meeting at the same time so that those that cannot make the trip can still participate.https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83677869706?pwd=a2xtVlM2Qk9GcVFqRm1WYjRURVZ2Zz09
Meeting ID: 836 7786 9706Passcode: Honey

Hoping to see you all there,

Kate and Steve

Sep 162022
 

Please join us as we gather for our last meeting of 2022 this next Tuesday September 20th, starting at 6:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Church (107 W Barcelona Rd. here in Santa Fe).

Kate and I will share photos from a recent open-air beehive rescue she planned and executed a few weeks ago here in Santa Fe.

In addition, we will talk about preparing your hives for winter.

After this great beekeeping season, we will have a honey tasting so please bring a jar of your bees’ honey to share.

For those unable to attend in person, please join us via Zoom:


https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81562416566?pwd=NWUzREtnb1ZMSkgxVVl5Q1I2Ykg1Zz09
Meeting ID: 815 6241 6566Passcode: SDC

Hope to see you all there,

Kate & Steve

Aug 222022
 

2022 Summer Conference

Register for the Conference

Institute of American Indian Art Conference Center

83 Avan Nu Po Road, Santa Fe NM 87508

Saturday, August 27, 2022

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Secrets of Successful Beekeeping in Challenging Environments

It’s really hard to imagine a better theme for these times. Jose Villa and John Gagne are back with us to speak and lead the discussion. The 2022 meeting this summer is being held Saturday, Aug. 27 in-person at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. The day will feature a panel of beekeepers from different parts of the state revealing their “secrets” of successful beekeeping.  The Institute will have hives on its campus, so we will devote part of the day in the field for demos of mite washes, queen marking, or comb reading.

Be sure to become a member if you aren’t already. Your membership includes admission to conferences, newsletters, access to past recorded conference talks, and more.  Look for more information on the conference as plans unfold in the next weeks on social media FaceBook and Instagram. Another online auction is also in the works.

Dr. Jose Villa
Amy Owen
John Gagne

Register for the Conference

On line registration deadline is 6:00 PM, Thursday, August 25th. After the deadline, the buttons to take you to the registration page will not function. This will allow us to be prepared to welcome you to your conference Saturday morning. Walk in registration will be available Saturday morning, but please be prepared to wait in line.

Schedule

8:00  AM – 9:00 AM

Registration (Library and Technology Auditorium lobby – 5 on map)

9:00 AM

Welcome (Library and Technology Auditorium lobby – 5 on map)

9:30 AM – 11:45 AM

Workshop (Thunder Bee Apiary -12 on map)

The morning activities will be working in the IAIA Apiary.  There will be three groups of attendees working at three stations.  Please make sure you have signed the “Event Release Form” and wear personal protection equipment.  These stations are:

  1. Mite Monitoring 
  2. Queen spotting
  3. Comb Reading
  4. Queen Marking

Please prepare for this great experience by bring the following with you:

  1. A veil, jacket or bee suit.  There will be a limited number of loaner PPE equipment available at the conference.
  2. A water bottle.  Water will be available in the apiary.  Please keep hydrated.
  3. Sturdy shoes.  The ground in the apiary is uneven so be prepared.

12:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Lunch (Cafe Bon Appetit – 4 on map)

Lunch on you own.  The IAIA on campus restaurant, Cafe Bon Appetit, is highly recommended.  In your registration packet you will also find a list of nearby restaurants.

1:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Speakers (Library and Technology Auditorium lobby – 5 on map)

1:30 pm     “Bees; A Short Story” by John Gagne
2:15 pm     “A Year in beekeeping management in the foothills of the San Luis Valley” by Dr Jose Villa
3:00 pm     “A Year in Top-Bar Beekeeping” by Amy Owen
4:00 pm     “Secrets to Successful Beekeeping” with the panel moderated by Dr. Jose Villa
                        Scott Anderson, El Paso, TX
                        Brad Kohler, Las Cruces, NM
                        Lara Lovell, Albuquerque, NM
                        Moira O’Hanlon, Taos, NM

5:30 AM – 7:00 PM

Social and Honey Bar hosted by NMBKA (TBD)

A special opportunity to talk to the speaker and panel members.  We will also have a Honey Bar and all attendees are invited to bring several of their jars of honey to share with all the attendees.

There will be drinks (non-alcoholic) and hors d’oeuvres for you to enjoy while you visit with old friends and meet new friends.

The times, location and descriptions may change as we get closer to the conference.  Please check back frequently.

Register for the Conference

On line registration deadline is 6:00 PM, Thursday, August 25th. After the deadline, the buttons to take you to the registration page will not function. This will allow us to be prepared to welcome you to your conference Saturday morning. Walk in registration will be available Saturday morning, but please be prepared to wait in line.

Aug 152022
 

Our monthly SDC Beekeepers Meeting will be held this coming Tuesday, August 16th starting at 6:30 p.m.

This month we are excited to have Sante Fe’s own Steve Wall of Buckin’ Bees join us.  Steve will share his process for mite testing/treatment as well as fall hive management (preparation for winter).  Steve has been beekeeping since 2000 and maintains about 100 Lanstroth hives throughout the Santa Fe area and is a “fixture” at the Santa Fe Farmers Market each Saturday during the season.

Our in person meeting will be held a the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 107 W Barcelona Rd. here in Santa Fe.

For those unable to attend in person, pleas join us via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83707672407?pwd=UzNPbnI0ZU9SSjZ4T3ZWaUhxdjdBQT09

Meeting ID: 837 0767 2407

Passcode: SDC

Jul 172022
 


Our July meeting is this Tuesday, July 19, starting at 6:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 107 W Barcelona Rd. here in Santa Fe.
It has been great meeting in person again and so hope you all can join us!
Hopefully your bees have been enjoying this year’s honey flow and so our plans for the evening include discussions around harvesting honey……when to harvest, how to harvest, and how much to harvest.
Please come with any beekeeping questions or concerns and share your feel free to bring pics/videos and stories.
For those that cannot make it in person, we hope to connect with you on Zoom so you can participate from afar. 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81292934355?pwd=YmtrS0pEN3FYa0F6Wm9mQ3loTXFVZz09
Or by phone….346 248 7799
Looking forward to seeing you there! Kate and Steve

May 132022
 

Hello SDC Beekeepers,
We are excited to announce our first in-person meeting in over two years!
The meeting will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 107 W Barcelona Rd, here in Santa Fe, starting at 6:30 PM this coming Tuesday, May 17.  Please join us as Kate will be sharing spring hive management tips and answering any questions you may have about your hives.  
We also enjoy when members share their 2022 beekeeping experiences, especially any swarm capture stories and photos/videos.
We can also talk about queen replacement and the possibility of ordering mated queens as a group in order to save on shipping costs, which could drive the cost from $60 per queen to $30 per queen
In addition to the in-person element of the meeting, we will also have a Zoom element for those unable to attend in person.  Please plan on attending in person if at all possible as we are going to gauge the interest in future in-person meetings
Here is the Zoom link info:
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/89200231787?pwd=0UpA9-oXIGsskYk2-ncm0j25z3WvH_.1
Meeting ID: 892 0023 1787Passcode: SDC
We hope you all can join us,
Kate and Steve

Apr 152021
 

April 19
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (MT)Webinar

Join Kaitlin Haase and Emily May, Pollinator Conservation Specialists with the Xerces Society, to learn more about opportunities to create pollinator habitat in the Santa Fe area. Kaitlin will introduce the Santa Fe Pollinator Trail, an effort to create connected, climate-resilient habitat for pollinators in urban Santa Fe. As part of the trail launch, Xerces will be making native pollinator-friendly plant kits available to interested Santa Fe residents who commit to establishing and maintaining pollinator habitat in home gardens and public spaces, such as libraries, schools, parks, etc. Join us to learn more about how you can participate in conserving pollinators in Santa Fe!
To register visit: Protecting Pollinators in Santa Fe: Introducing the Santa Fe Pollinator Trail