Newsletter of the Beekeepers Association of the ACT Incorporated
Newsletter Web address:
www.bindaree.com.au/newsletter.htm
Meetings of the Beekeepers Association of the ACT Inc are held on the second
Wednesday of the month at 7.30 pm at the CIT, Heysen Street, Weston in Building A
Contact No: Association President – David Lillis Ph: 62975202 (AH)
June 2002
Our
next meeting will be held on Wednesday 12th June at 7.30pm, at CIT Weston. It will be a gadgets and crafts night. Members are invited to bring along any gadgets
that they find especially useful at the hives, in the workshop, extracting,
or preparing wax and honey.
The business section of the meeting is from 7.30 and the activity will begin at 8.00. There will be time for a cup of tea and chat after the meeting.
Hi members, it’s that time of year again and I am writing this missive from the NSW Apiarist Association’s State Conference in Griffith, NSW. More on that in next month’s newsletter.
In
mid-May I attended the Southern Tablelands Branch AGM held in Bateman’s
Bay. There was an interesting field
trip to the State Forest to talk about Silviculture by a State Forest representative,
Steve Dodd. Under the new state
forest regional agreements the state has to manage the land as economically
and ecologically as possible and silviculture is one of those means.
More on that later.
Also at the meeting Doug Somerville reported he had attended a Rural Industries Development Council seminar in Canberra recently. He indicated he was working on a new research program involving the nutritional values of nectar to honey bees. We all look forward to your findings, Doug!
Bruce White, also from NSW Ag, reported on the success of a bee course through Animal Health Australia to do with a ready response group. The course involves being able to find and identify exotic pests and diseases in honeybees if the need arose in Australia. Bruce said he would be willing to conduct the course for our association members if we wished. He also reports that there are fifteen queen bees being held in quarantine from overseas at the moment. Mostly from France, Poland, Italy and the USA, some for as long as seventeen months.
An unbelievable day for the Anzac Picnic with the temperature reaching 25oC. Unfortunately as the risk of bees robbing was too great, no hives were opened for inspection as previously planned.
Owing to uncanny warm Autumn weather it will be important to be aware of stores through Winter; even though bees were flying there wasn’t much nectar available.
See you all at the next meeting.
David Lillis
Cheap
rates for the hire of the latest in apiarine temperamental diagnosis equipment.
“Cat Scan” won’t work for peanuts but seafood
platter does it every time …………
The
neighbours’ new, (totally inexperienced, stupid, dumb, oh gawd) kitten sticks
its head into the entrance of the newly acquired possum box hive – not once
but several times – and gets away without being molested in any way. I was told they were nice quiet bees. The “Cat Scan” agrees!
Bob Shaw
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Beekeepers
Association of the ACT The
Fourth Annual WINTER (S)WARMING Wednesday
10th July 2002 7
for 7.30PM
Wig and Pen Tavern &
Brewery Canberra
House Arcade
Alinga
St Canberra City(Marcus Clarke end)
Our swarming this year will help celebrate the Wig & Pen’s
official designation of Best Small Brewery in the World!!!! Make
sure there is a designated driver – 10 fabulous W&P beers on tap
– wine lovers rejoice also. POLLEN is being planned as we speak by mine host, Lachie McOmish,
famed brewer of the aforesaid NECTAR. THE STING: $25 per person. Drinks purchased separately. The
EMPTY SUPER award will again be presented. Late entries (preferably before
the night) to Lyn Shiels. Deposits made at the next meeting (12 June)
will be in the draw for something melliferous. HIVE
CRAWLS (tours of the brewery)
will be a feature event. No need to bring veils. BUZZ: Lyn
Shiels 6286 2421: Email lynshiels@netspeed.com.au Rob Gardiner 6231 0383: Email
gardiner@apex.net.au
RSVP: 20 June. A $5 per person deposit would be appreciated. |
More empty super stories are needed before our dinner in July. Those folk who are not afraid to admit to a funny or incompetent beekeeping experience please put pen to paper and give yourself a chance of taking home this coveted award for 2002.
The Mid Winter Madness Barbecue Picnic will be held on 22nd June at Surveyor’s Park from 12 noon until whenever. The park is located near New Parliament House. If you are travelling from Woden, or Tuggeranong come along Yarra Glen, Adelaide Avenue and onto State Circle. The right turn into the park is just past Flynn Drive. From Belconnen via the expressway take the Cotter Road to Adelaide Ave and follow directions above. From North Canberra via Commonwealth Avenue turn right at Coronation Drive, left into Flynn Drive, right onto State Circle and almost immediately right into the park.
Bring your own eats and drinks. There are two barbecues and a couple of tables in the park. Toilets are five minutes easy walking away.
By
now all hives should have been checked for disease and stores and prepared
for Winter. Make sure the hives
are receiving full sun and are tilted slightly forward to allow any moisture
to drain away. Small blocks of wood
may be inserted to make the entrance smaller to conserve heat and prevent
robbing. Excess boxes can still
be removed if you chose a warm sunny day and have the hive open only a short
time. Similarly hives can be opened
briefly to fill top feeders if necessary.
From time to time lift the hives to check weight and assess the amount
of stores left.
Stored
boxes need to be checked regularly to make sure they are not being attacked
by wax moth. Winter is a good time
for making new boxes and frames, repairs and cleaning of old equipment,
and general preparation for the Spring honey flows.
Some
people may take the opportunity to try some beeswax crafts such as candle
making, making of furniture polish or cosmetics and ointments. Come along to the June meeting to get some
ideas for this and see some handy gadgets to make your beekeeping a bit
easier
Lyn Shiels
Des
Cannon spoke at our last meeting about his experiences as a commercial beekeeper.
Des began as a hobby beekeeper and as he built up numbers of hives
became a part time and then full time beekeeper.
He now has about 800 hives divided into seven or eight truckloads.
A normal week will consist of three days spent going to the bees
and four days in the plant extracting, wax melting, building and repairing
boxes and frames. The bees are moved
regularly to follow honey flows and Des hopes to average 100 kilos per hive
per season.
Des moves his bees with open entrances usually setting out in the early morning. While the truck is moving the bees will not leave the hive and the few that are left behind are mostly older bees and the loss is not significant to the strength of the hive
Lemon and Honey
Coconut Slice
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons coconut
2 tablespoons caster sugar
125g butter
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, extra
Lemon Filling
Combine the following ingredients in bowl:
1 cup coconut
½cup lemon butter
½cup sweetened condensed milk
Grease
a 20cm by 30cm lamington pan.
Sift flours and cinnamon into large bowl, stir in rind, coconut and sugar. Combine butter, honey and juice in pan, stir over heat until butter is melted, stir into dry ingredients.
Wrap one third of dough in foil, freeze for 15 minutes. Press remaining dough over base of prepared pan, bake in moderate oven for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Stand base for 10 minutes before spreading evenly with filling. Coarsely grate frozen dough over filling, sprinkle with combined extra sugar and cinnamon.
Bake slice in moderate oven for about 25 minutes
or until lightly browned.
Almond Honey Bars
1 cup plain flour
½teaspoon ground nutmeg
½cup packaged ground almonds
½cup brown sugar, firmly packed
90g butter, melted
1½cups slivered almonds
Topping
3 eggs, lightly beaten
¼cup brown sugar
¼cup honey
100grams milk chocolate, melted
Grease a 20cm by 30cm lamington pan. Combine sifted flour and nutmeg, ground almonds, sugar and butter in bowl.
Press mixture evenly over base of prepared pan.
Bake in moderate oven for 12 minutes or until lightly browned; cool.
Pour topping over base, sprinkle with slivered
almonds. Bake in moderately slow
oven for about 40 minutes or until topping is set.
Cool in pan, refrigerate for several hours before cutting.
Topping
Combine eggs, sugar and honey on bowl; stir in chocolate.
From “Biscuits and Slices” – Australian Women’s Weekly
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Richard Johnston Phone: 02 6281 2111 Email: bindaree.bee@bigpond.com Website: www.bindaree.com.au Shop open: Wed, Thur, Fri 4 pm to 6 pm, Sat 9.30 am to 4pm Closed: Sun, Mon, Tue. |
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