Massachusetts Beekeepers Assoc Fall Meeting

More information on www.massbee.org/meetings/2015-fall-meetingSpeaker: Don Hopkins – North Carolina Bee Inspector talks about colony inspections, diagnosis, and treatments of common ailments.Speaker: Ed and Marian Szymanski – talks about Massachusetts Honey Plants.
Time: 9:00AM – 3:30PM
Location: Red Apple Farm, Phillipston, Massachusetts

Lunch: King Phillip Restaurant – TBA
“MBA Honey Show” Enter your best honey and beeswax products.

Morning presentation “Apiary Inspection System in North Carolina” Considered a model inspection program, Don will provide an overview of the bee inspection program, and offer practical suggestion on how to evaluate a bee colony.
Afternoon presentation “Even Farther South: Bees in Bolivia”. Working with Dewey Caron and local beekeepers in Bolivia, Don will talk about his experiences and the importance of beekeepers taking responsibility for their bees.
Don Hpokins – became interested in bees at the age of 5, when beekeeper Dave Pruden was also the bread delivery driver in his neighborhood. He didn’t get a hive until he was nine or ten, but he has kept bees almost continuously since then. He joined the Morris County Beekeepers Association as a junior member, as well as the Somerset County 4-H Beekeeping Club. During his early years as a youth beekeeper he was inspired by New Jersey State Apiarist Jack Matthenius. As a senior member of the Morris county organization he served as program chair and then president of the MCSBA in the early 80s. He attended his first EAS meeting in Wooster Ohio in 1978.
After moving to North Carolina in 1988, Don started working for the NC Department of Agriculture in 1989 as a bee inspector. In 1994, he became the NCDA&CS State Apiarist. Joined the Apiary Inspectors of America in 1995. He was president of AIA in 2000 and 2010. At EAS, Don has presented several workshops, primarily on bee diseases. His primary interest is honey bee health and biology. The North Carolina inspection program is considered one of the best in the U.S. Don will discuss the NC program and the importance individual beekeepers make to a well organized inspection program.
Don has been on many volunteer projects to educate and learn from beekeepers in other countries. His trips to Bolivia have given him experience with Africanized Honey Bees and insight as to how the beekeepers there work with the bees. His observations will be part of his afternoon presentation at the Fall MBA meeting