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 – Bob Shaw  Ph: 62540018

Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday 11th March at 7.30pm, at CIT Weston.  The AGM has been postponed until April 8^th.  Please note the change to a Thursday evening. This will be a permanent change made necessary by the unavailability of a room at CIT on Wednesdays.  On the agenda are show reports and discussion of plans for meetings during the coming twelve months and disposal of the caravan. There will be time for a cup of tea and chat after the meeting.

REMINDER NEW MEETING NIGHT THURSDAY AT 7.30PM

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Notice of Annual General Meeting

Our AGM will be held on Thursday 8th April at 7.30pm at CIT Weston.  Election of office bearers and hearing of reports will be followed by an ordinary meeting.  Some Committee members are unable to offer themselves for election this year.  Please let Bob Shaw know if you would be prepared to serve in any capacity.  New committee members and ideas are always welcome.  Most committee positions require only a small time commitment and help is available if needed.

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Beelining Training Day

A beelining training day will be held at Des Cannon’s, Burra on Saturday 20th March from 10am-2pm.  Please ring Bob Shaw if you would like to attend as we have to give numbers. The session will be followed by the NSW Apiarists Meeting and a barbecue.

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President’s Note:

Hi everyone!  I hope this finds you well.

Autumn is upon us and another Canberra Show has passed into history.  Our Association stand was. as usual, very well received by show-goers, with hundreds of questions asked and mostly answered by our ever-willing team of volunteers who deserve a profound thank you from all of us.

The honey competition saw a number of first time entrants, who surprised themselves by taking wins or places in numerous classes.  Congratulations to all our entrants.

An item of interest to us all is the often mistaken identification of European wasps as bees.  The ACT Government has begun a program of baiting in an effort to reduce wasp numbers. Your participation in this program will hopefully see a successful outcome.

Remember the meeting night has changed to the second Thursday of the month. See you there.

Bob Shaw

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Almond and Honey Facial Scrub

2tbsp ground almonds

2tsp honey

4tbsp buttermilk

2 drops rose oil

Place the ground almonds and honey in a bowl and mix in the buttermilk to make a thick paste. Beat in the rose oil. Gently massage the mixture into your face and neck for about two minutes, avoiding the area directly around the eyes. Rinse off the mixture with tepid water. Pat dry, tone and moisturise.

This is a mild exfoliant. The rose oil is not essential but it makes a luxurious preparation if added. Do not use a synthetic rose oil.

Thank you to Pam Crouch for this recipe. More health and beauty recipes to follow.

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Royal Canberra Show: Exhibits Report

The Royal Canberra Show was held on the weekend of 27-29 February.  Apiculture entries increased this year despite several regular exhibitors being unable to enter.  We had 16 adult entrants in 17 classes.  It was pleasing to see the increase in some classes, especially Canberra Garden Honey which attracted 9 entries.  Quality was high and presentation excellent.  Nine new exhibitors entered this year, some in several classes. Congratulations to Sophie Feint, Stephen Drummond, Mark Elliott and Lindsay Jolley who took prizes in their first year of exhibiting.  Three people who regularly exhibit in other sections entered exhibits with us as well and this is a pleasing trend.  The children from the After School Care program at Garran Primary again entered the children’s candle classes and Jennifer Elliott was our first individual entry in this class.  Campbell High School entered in the Schools Confectionery section.  The standard of the Junior entries was excellent.  Next year I propose to replace the schools sections with similar sections for Junior entries (under 16 years) and have a separate class each for jams and chutneys rather than grouping these together as previously.  Otherwise classes remain the same as for this year.

Next year we hope to build up entries in the candle, wax and cookery classes and in granulated and creamed honey, chunk honey and frames.

Thank you to Judy Burgess for judging and stewards Linda Hyslop, John Hyslop and Pat Shiels for all their help leading up to and on judging day.  Thank you also to Rob Gardiner for preparing the judges kit and score sheets.  Unfortunately Rob was unable to judge this year as planned.  Thank you also to John Lewis for giving me the benefit of his advice and experience with judging.

The Show Society provided an extra cabinet for our display this year and Pat rigged up some temporary backlighting which we hope will be made more permanent by next year.  It certainly was more effective display with the light shining through the honey and less crowding of exhibits.

Bindaree Bee Supplies and Ridapest Pest Control were again sponsors of the Apiculture section.  Please give your support to these businesses which support the Apiculture competition.

Lyn Shiels

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European Wasp Baiting Program

Canberra Urban Parks and Places (CUPP) will conduct a wasp baiting trial program this Autumn.

This will be trialled in areas where there is a large population of wasps and where a nest is unable to be located.

CUPP would be interested in hearing from anyone who has large numbers (at least twenty or so) of European Wasps coming to their house or garden.

Contact is Jenny Conolly

Pests and Weeds Officer

Canberra Urban Parks and Places

JENNY.CONOLLY@act.gov.au

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Royal Canberra Show: Association Stall

As usual we were busy answering questions and chatting to people about beekeeping.  Interest ranged from the very general to more specific from people who were thinking of keeping bees or are already keeping them.  Children are often our keenest customers, asking many questions.  As usual the display box with marked queen was a major attraction and many of our helpers spent of their time explaining what was happening in the box.  The new arrangement of the stall worked well and gave us a more effective space for our display.  People enjoyed tasting the different kinds of honey and many were surprised to find a considerable difference between the varieties.  Thank you to exhibitors who provided a jar for tasting.

Thank you to all the members who helped on the stall during the show.  I hope you had a good time Thanks also to Bob Shaw for providing the bees with a marked queen and transporting the display boards and tables. Thanks to Dick Johnston who loaned us an extractor and beehive for the display and to Weston Creek Community Centre who generously loaned us the tables and chairs.  Thank you to Cec, Paul and Bob for help setting up and packing up and Pat for making new shelves and setting up the backlighting for the cabinets as well as a hundred other little tasks over several weeks.

Lyn Shiels

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Annual Subscriptions

Annual Subscriptions of $35 are now due and can be paid to the Treasurer at the meeting or by mail to: Beekeepers Association of the ACT Inc PO Box 1482, Woden ACT  2606

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Class 295-One 500g glass jar, produced from Eucalypt

1^st – Richard Johnston

2nd – Mark Elliott

3rd – Cec Mercer

Class 296 - One 500g glass jar, produced from sources other than Eucalypt

1st – Paul Hooper

2nd – Richard Johnston

3rd – Robert Shaw

Class 297 - One 500g glass jar of Canberra Garden honey

1st – Paul Hooper

2nd – Cec Mercer

3rd – Stephen Drummond

Class 298 - Three 500g glass jars of honey from the same source

1st – Brian Pearce

2nd – Lindsay Jolley

3rd – Paul Helliwell

Class 299 –Natural Granulation: One 500g glass jar, fine grain

1st – Paul Helliwell

2nd – Richard Johnston

3rd – Robert Shaw

Class 300 – Creamed Honey: One 500g glass jar

1st – Robert Shaw

2nd – Cec Mercer

Class 301 – One frame of Comb Honey, suitably enclosed in a glass or perspex case

1st – Paul Hooper

2nd – Robert Shaw

3rd – Paul Helliwell

Class 302 – Chunk honey: One 500g glass jar of liquid honey containing 1-4 piece of comb honey from the same source

1st – Robert Shaw

2nd – Paul Helliwell

Class 303 - Block of Beeswax, up to 1kg

1st – Robert Shaw

2nd – Richard Johnston

Class 304 - Collection of six beeswax moulds, natural beeswax

1st – Sophie Feint

2nd – Richard Johnston

3rd – Robert Shaw

Class 305 - Two moulded candles, natural beeswax

1st – Robert Shaw

2nd – Richard Johnston

Class 306 - Two Rolled Candles, natural beeswax

1st – Robert Shaw

2nd – Jennifer Elliott

3rd – Jennifer Elliott

Class 307 - Two dipped candles, natural beeswax

1st – Robert Shaw

Class 308 - Child’s Candle

1st – Andrew

2nd – Zara

3rd – Alexandra L

Class 309 - One 750ml bottle of mead

1st – Richard Johnston

2nd – Robert Shaw

Class 310 - Bread and Cakes

1st – Robert Shaw

Class 312 - Jams and Chutneys

1st – Evelyn Everson

2nd – Robert Shaw

3rd – Jean Thomson

Class 314 - Confectionery

1st – Robert Shaw

Class 315 - Confectionery (Schools)

1st – Lacey Bullock

2nd – Jack Saunders

3rd – Joshua Holgate Mannall

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Honey Ginger Puddings

90 gm butter

½ cup milk

½ cup dark honey

1 cup self-raising flour

½ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 12 hole, ½ cup capacity muffin tin. Place butter, milk and honey in a small pan, stir over heat without boiling until melted and combined. Cool 10 minutes.

Add flours, bicarb, sugar, ginger and eggs and mix until smooth. Pour mixture evenly into tin, filling ¾ full. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool before loosening from tin. Serve warm or cold with cream.

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Unforgettable Honey Christmas Cake

550gm sultanas

250 gm raisins, chopped

125 gm ginger in syrup, chopped

125 gm glace cherries , chopped

125 gm glace apricots, chopped

125 gm mixed peel

3/4 cup overproof rum

250gm butter

1 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

4 large eggs

250gm dark chocolate, melted

2 ½ cups plain flour

1 teaspoon each ground nutmeg cinnamon and allspice

1 cup chopped walnuts

Blanched almond halves for decoration

Place prepared fruit in a large earthenware bowl, mix through rum, cover and allow to stand for 24 hours.

Beat butter and honey together until light and creamy. Beat in vanilla essence, then eggs, one at a time. Beat in melted chocolate then fold in prepared fruit with rum, sifted dry ingredients and walnuts.

Spoon mixture into a brown paper lined deep 20 cm round or square cake tin. Decorate top with almond halves and bake at 140°C (310°F) for 4 hours.

Remove cake from oven, wrap in a towel and allow to cool in tin. Store wrapped in an airtight container.

Recipes first published in the November- December 2004 edition of Honeybee News, The Journal of the New South Wales Apiarists Association Inc.  Published by permission.  Honeybee News is sent free of charge to all members of the NSW Apiarists Association.  Non-member subscriptions are welcomed: $33 per year in Australia and A$42 per year overseas (air-mail)

 

 

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