The day after I presented ‘Overwintering Your Bees’ at PSBA’s beginner meeting last Tuesday, I got an email from long time PSBA member (and former PSBA trustee) Kevin Gow. He complemented the class and said he thought people were really listening.
Although I was very near to passing out (I am not even close to being comfortable speaking in front of a group) I could tell that folks were listening as well as there were lots of question and comments coming my way. The room became a round table, folks asking and answering questions, throwing out ideas and suggestions. What I like about being part of PSBA is the sense of community I get from the folks that I have met there. I know a handful of members that I can call and get help/answers/guidance/a shoulder and hopefully, I’m on someone’s list myself.
Kevin also wanted to comment on a few things from the talk:
- Would the canvas I had folded and stapled onto the side of the quilt possibly wick moisture in? I had just made that quilt after seeing that plan on another site, but all other quilts I’ve made have not had the fabric exposed on the side. Not knowing whether or not it would wick in, I trimmed back the fabric as I know the other way works well.
- Given the spacer (for dry sugar feeding), candy board and quilt are fairly lightweight, maybe a brick/rock should be placed on top of hive? Yes, and I had an image of that exact point that I forgot to add to my slideshow (see below).
Here is a picture of my quilt (sans turned up canvas) sitting on top of a spacer that I drilled a hole into to serve as a top entrance!
Hives with heavy stones to hold things together. Alternatively, you could strap your hives down.
In 2014, we hope to increase this sense of community within PSBA. If you have ideas that would help make PSBA a better resource for you, please share them with us!
– Kim