September Minutes

Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association
Orange County Extension Building
Rose Room
6021 S. Conway Road
Orlando, FL 32812

MINUTES
September 17, 2009
7:00 p.m.

Attendees: Paul Allison, Chuck Ashdown, Eileen Barnes, Shawn Boltz, H. Bombardi, Yvette Burford, Mellain? Croh?, J.R. Denman, Beth Fox, Kevin Hanna, John Hatfield, Sandy Holdeman, Steve Holdeman, Michelle Keefer, Jeff Kosik, Georgia Lee, Ann Lewis, Kelley McKinnes, Millie Meehan, Joe Meehan, Rob Nutman, Derek O'Donohue, Joanne MacPherson, Phil Robertson, Chris Schwarz, George Searls, Rob Smith, Marylou Stubbs, Andrew Tittsworth, David Mendes, Debey Von, David Webb, Robert Wiggins.
Beth said that she and Chris Stalder are going to sell shirts and honey at the Friends of the Library in Mount Dora on October 17th. Beth gave out Certificates of Appreciation to members who participated in the Honeybee Appreciation Event on August 18. She said J.R. did AV stuff from PBS and Nova and it was just amazing.
She said Dave Mendes is here, who is a large scale beekeeper, and our unscheduled speaker. He is the Vice President of the American Beekeepers Federation. Beth urged us to join. She said their convention is January 12-16, 2010 in Orlando.
Dave said that there are two national beekeeping organizations. The American Honey Producers Association, which is the largest commercial honey producer, and the American Bee Federation which has 1,000 members. He encouraged us to attend the convention. He said we could come for one day or for all. He said several top research organizations will be here. One each from the American Research Association, Canadian Research Association, Brazil and Sweden. The Florida State Beekeepers Association Convention will be on November 5-7, 2009.
Dave said the ABF has the education, is active politically, makes several trips to Washington, D.C., and has a conservation program for bees. He believes there is a pesticide component to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Their representative in Washington is working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There will be a field day on Sunday after the convention. He said there will be a barbecue and we will talk bees on the extension office property. On Friday night there will be a banquet, raffle and a honey queen will be crowned.
Dave said he will be elected President at the convention. It will be at the Wyndham Resort at Sand Lake and Wyndham Drive. All vendors will be there. He said he hopes we will come. He said he is looking forward to having the field day here. There will be workshops all day on Saturday. Dave said he will send Beth the link.
Shawn took photos of Beth and Paul Allison in their Welsh honey judging white coats. Beth introduced Bert Kelly as our guest speaker for the evening, who will talk about Honey Houses, before they went out to judge honey from some members.

Bert said he started out as a small scale beekeeper in the 1980's. Before that he was in air conditioning and submarines. He said he is a studier and reads a lot. He got a beehive for his birthday in February and got to 400 hives, but is down from that now. He bought Joe Bradley's outfit in 2002 in South Lakeland, between Mulberry and Lakeland. Kelly McKinnis, his niece, is now his office manager.
He said a new bee inspector came out one day. He built two 16' x 16' rooms to accommodate her. He had to have a 3 hole sink, washable walls, floors and ceiling. He joined FDNR and is in the 'Fresh from Florida' campaign and got a nice sign. He said getting a new bee inspector is expensive. He's had her now for 5-6 years. She keeps coming up with new things. It is $400+ a year to get inspected. His well is checked by the city once a year. You have to have food safety manager certification. People working under him do not have to be certified. He said he had to register with the FDA because of 9/11. You need to have two separate buildings. In the bottling/packing house, no extracting is done there. Air conditioning is not required, but is nice.

He said honey houses are not inspected. They try to regulate you as much as they can without putting you out of business. Bert has small scale beekeepers use his. He rents space. The bottles have to say 'packed at Kelly's Apiaries.' It is o.k. with Food Safety. He sells at farmers markets and at his home. Theoretically, per the inspector, the small scale beekeeper would have to have a mobile food vendor's license, too. You cannot have insects or rodents in the facility. The pallets and drums have to be at least six inches from the walls for the inspector to look. Bert said she has a flashlight that makes a pill look like a cowpie. The head inspector came back told him he'd have to hire pest control. He showed him a black bait station (which he showed members). Bait stations are put outside and big rat traps are placed inside along the wall. Do It Yourself and Lasko sell them.

I asked Bert what he charges small scale beekeepers. He said he charges about $50 to heat and process a drum of honey for small scale beekeepers. He requires them to purchase bottles from him, which he will sell at a wholesale rate. He will charge $20/hr. for the room and it must be clean when you leave. I also asked why he heats the honey. He said he heats the honey and filters it because it pumps faster. It is heated at 110-120 degrees F. The bakery he sells to wants honey heated higher to kill yeasts.

He started extracting honey with a white bucket with a white gate and jelly bag (which he displayed to members). He used white control top pantyhose, which he showed and put one leg inside the other. THe said that way you get a double filter. Then he used an embroidery hoop to put it around. An iron molasses gate will impart darkness to honey. He graduated to a poppet valve. He said Maxant's are real good. There is a better control of the flow.

He has an uncapping tank from Dadant. He said you can put the queen excluder on the top and can cut comb on it though that's not what it's for. He bottles in bears and queenline, quart, half gallon and gallon. Self serve is available for his customers when he is not there. He sells one gallon jugs for the baking industry. One time the inspector saw small hive beetle larvae in a honey filled bucket. He filled the bucket with a hose and poured the whole mixture down the drain. He said is was a waste of honey.

Someone asked about beeswax candles. Bert bought a six gallon $300 stainless steel heater. You can make dipped candles in it . He has hot wax all the time. He doesn't wash cappings. He puts all in the melter and only gets two barrels of the bad honey and gets thirty to forty cents for it.

He said If you're going to bottle it, do it safety, cleanly and under the law. Don't go ask Food Safety. Dave Mendes said his Fort Myers group is getting their kitchen certified. He said there is a move afoot to get less regulation.
Bert said his place has to be kosher for the bakery. The less you interact with Food Safety the better.
Beth urged people to join OBBA. Bert urged us to join the FSBA. He is the treasurer.

Beth then asked for honey judging results. Millie Meehan read the winners aloud. J.R. Denham won 4th place. Shawn Boltz won 2nd and 3rd place. Dave Mendes won 1st place.

Members thanked Bert for coming tonight. Beth said that Bert has honey for sale.
Beth said that the October 15 meeting will be a consortium of members and what they do to winterize their bees. She said you should be opening your hives once a week in the summer and once a month in the winter (to check on them). The county may come in and talk about mosquito spraying. She said what they use doesn't kill bees.
Bert said Golden Rain Tree and Brazilian Pepper are in bloom now and will fill hives with bright yellow honey which granulates quick. Golden Rain Tree has almost black pollen. Dave Mendes said they have citrus honey and Spanish needle pollen, which is better than citrus pollen, right now.
Beth said that Bert sells Dadant supplies. He is 1-1/2 hours from Orlando and is easy to find if you want to pick up your supplies there. Bert said to call ahead. He is open on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Someone asked where to get bees. Beth said that Richard Martyniak will be able to provide bees if some want them. Dave said to be careful. Beth said it is better to buy bees from someone in the club.

Beth got an email from a woman with the Central Florida Fair which will be held in February 2010. She wants us to come out and man a booth on two weekends from 4 p.m. to ? She told her to call Bert Kelly and David Westerveldt. Dave suggested David Miksa to a person in the group who is from Clermont looking for mentoring his first beehive.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, October 15, 2009 in the Magnolia Room.
Respectfully submitted,

Eileen Barnes,
Secretary