What torrential rains! Glad to have them though they made it difficult to cover all the topics at our Queen Rearing workshop that we held this past Saturday- July 24th at our home farm. For those of you who were able to make it, we appreciate it and we enjoyed it- immensely!

We will be offering a rainy-day make over class to cover mating nucs, catching/harvesting of queens and bee beards!

We’ll post the make up date shortly! Thinking when the grafted cells are slated to be ready-which is in about ten days! Call for details.

M&M

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She knows how to say HONEY! and recognizes it in any container- of course demading a taste.

She can also say “BZZZ”, “bee” and “mama bee” (when she points to queen cages). She can even say- no exaggeration here folks- “Hive Tool” and “Propolis”!

Of course, we are astounded at her intelligence- especially coming from us goof balls ;)

Here’s a couple of pics in honor of Beekeeping Daddies and their bay-beez!

Happy Father’s Day Mark- believe it true, WE LOVE YOU! and – not one day goes by that we don’t recognize and give thanks for your being with us and caring for us in so many ways!

Helping daddy with various tasks- in the field and in the shop!

Daddy needs me to tighten the straps on this load of spring boxes.

  Caging little bay-bee queens was so easy before I became mobile!

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June’s Queen Rearing workshop was fun! We thank Seeds of Change for sharing their awesome facility and we also thank those who attended.

We will be offering a repeat workshop July 24th, 2010 @ our home farm at 8300′ foot elevation Truchas, New Mexico USA!

This is high mountain queen rearing at our best. See the following slide show for more info!

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d54637a4f446b344d7a6b3d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link

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Steve Wall of Santa Fe offers quality top bar hives for sale. They come with screened bottom board and a follower board. See flyer!

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Here’s a link for a lil’ brochure on our upcoming workshop for experienced beekeepers.

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5459354d4467354e7a6b3d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link

There are a few spaces left for June 12, 2010 Intro to Queen Rearing Workshop. Cost is $150 and includes: manual, grafting tool, cell cups, live queencells to take home & all day hands-on workshop & instruction.

Mark and I are excited to share. There are many details to queen rearing and breeding that we are still learning (and beekeeping in general). We are perpetual students to the bees, as they are our best teachers. We are aspiring breeders focusing on chemical-free management protocol. We strive to be conscientious in our methods and interactions. However, we are human and we are limited… 

Thus, it does take a community to raise bees. The more sincere bee stewards who are interested & willing to take their beekeeping skills to the next level the better. By helping to promote naturally hearty & regionally-acclimated stock, we strive to cooperate with Mother Nature to help establish a sustainable, hearty source for our bees. 

Cooperating together, we will nurture a solid paradigm for sustaining and growing our own bee supply. Our bees will benefit as well as our  individual communities & ultimately our broader American & global communities. We’re sure you’ll come away with a broader sense and appreciation for the colony organism as a whole & the “miracle” of  hive procreation. We continue to be in awe of the whole process. ;) MMK

A one-day hands-on workshop that overviews introductory issues pertaining to rearing One’s own queenbees; including:

* Establishing and maintaining cell-builders

* Learning to graft appropriate larvae

* Selection and placement of drone supports

* Creation of Mating Nucs

*Establishment of mating zones/apiaries,

* Harvesting of mated queens

This is a hands-on course demonstrating each step of the process of rearing queens: From the art of graftingTo mature harvest.

Flyer:  Intro to Queen Rearing Workshop

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What a pleasant visit from Mark and Dorothee from Organic Nation.tv!

We met in Santa Fe on a glorious sunny spring day, and made our way through Nambe and Chimayo up to Truchas- 8300 foot elevation. I’m sure they enjoyed the views! 

We talked much about bees and positive intentions. Looking forward to seeing the video footage!–MMK

Visit: http://www.organicnation.tv/blog/zia-queenbee-co-sustainable-beekeeping-in-new-mexico.html

Categories: All Bee Community Info  Slide shows  Zia Queen BeesNo Comments.

Hello Bee Enthusiasts- spring is indeed finally here though we just had a most awful fruit blossom freeze throughout the northern NM valleys. Pretty sad since it was just starting off and it seemed as if the chilly spring weather was finally wrapping up.

Fortunately, we hesitated early rearing here in NM this season due to the past few springs’ volatile manifestations. Our first grafts for NM queens and nucs won’t be ready until latter half of May. We will begin checking them then and as they are ready, we will contact those with reservations (in the order in which the reservations were placed so as to be fair) to arrange for pick up and to share directions.

Mother Nature is ultimately the conductor and we must yield to her direction. Each season manifests itself differently- requiring us to be observant and patient. To rush the bee’s natural process of hive cycle reproduction results in the loss of quality - which is against our protocol- so we won’t go there. We and the bees appreciate everyone’s patience.

Come on Primavera- Bosque come alive!!!–MMK

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Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Grants and outreach to advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture.

The Xerces Society’s Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course will be offered in 36 states over the next three years. Funding for this effort has been provided through three grants from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education’s (SARE) Professional Development Program.

The current Farm Bill makes pollinators and their habitat a conservation priority for USDA land managers and conservationists. The Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course is a first-of-its-kind training on those Farm Bill provisions. It also provides instruction on how to translate these provisions into real world conservation efforts.

The Short Course is an intensive, day-long training designed to equip conservationists, land managers, farm educators, and agricultural professionals with the latest science-based approaches to increasing crop security and reversing the trend of pollinator decline, especially in heavily managed agricultural landscapes. It has already been conducted in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, and Missouri.

Short Course topics include the basic principles of pollinator biology, the economics of insect pollination, recognizing native bee species, and assessment of pollinator habitat. Advanced modules will cover farm management practices for pollinator protection, the development of habitat enhancements (including selecting appropriate plants) and using Farm Bill conservation programs to help farmers restore habitat. An overview of additional funding sources and technical support available to land managers will also be provided. Throughout the workshop these training modules are illustrated by real case studies of pollinator conservation efforts across the country, and will be supported by field observations.

With the support of North Central, Northeastern and Western SARE, the Xerces Society will offer the Short Course in New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, Ohio, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, North Dakota, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah.

Additional Short Courses (not funded by SARE) are also planned for Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, and Missouri where earlier Courses have already been held.

REGISTRATION
To register please visit the Events section of the Xerces Society website.

ABOUT THE XERCES SOCIETY
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international non-profit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Launched in 1996, the Xerces Society’s Pollinator Conservation Program works with leading native pollinator ecologists to translate the latest research findings into on-the-ground conservation. Our Pollinator Conservation Resource Center provides access to all one needs to complete a pollinator conservation project in any region of the United States.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Eric Mader eric@xerces.org, National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator, The Xerces Society, 503-232-6639

See All SARE Publications

Distributed by SARE Outreach for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) USDA. SARE’s mission is to advance – to the whole of American agriculture – innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland and the University of Vermont to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Visit www.sare.org for more information

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Intro to Queen Rearing Workshop

June 12, 2010 at the Seeds of Change Experimental Farm in El Guique (San Juan Pueblo), we will be offering a one day workshop on Queen honeybee rearing. This workshop is for already established beekeepers. Thematic content is rather technical and suited for those who have already been keeping bees for several seasons. This workshop will advance one’s understanding and appreciation for the reproductive cycle of the hive organism as a whole, man’s approach to complimenting management protocols within the bees’ natural cycle and for the art of queen honeybee propagation- whether for exploring one’s own hives’ genetic make-up or for those wanting to learn how to multiply their colonies.

We also plan to offer this same Intro to Queen Rearing Workshop later in the summer as well (possibly July 17th) for those interested in learning how to rear later summer/fall queens for overwintering nucs and for re-queening.

All inquiries: Zia Queenbee Co. Tel: 505/689-1287. Or email ziaqueenbees@hotmail.com

Categories: Queens  Zia Queen Bees1 Comment

TB slide wordpdf.

TB slide part 2 wordpdf.

Finally able to upload the Top Bar Integrative Approach slide show which I made back in 2007/8. MK

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Here’s a colorful flyer for our upcoming 2010 Sweet Spring Sting: Thinking In & Out of the Bee Box

Symposium will be held March 20th- Spring Equinox- in Santa Fe.

For Pre-Registration, send an email to ziaqueenbees@hotmail.com

All flyer photos taken by me, Melanie- depicting various scenes from our beekeeping efforts.

2010 Spring Sting

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Hi Beeks and Geeks and to those of us in between ;)

Check out Nate Downey’s new blog at  http://backyarddigest.blogspot.com/

Nate Downey of Permaculture Santa Fe will be joining us at the First Annual 2010 Northern NM Rocky Mountain Sweet Spring Sting- A Symposium for Bee Stewards; on March 20, 2010 in Santa Fe http://ziaqueenbees.com/zia/2010/first-annual-n…stewards-32010/

He will be sharing a little about Permaculture Santa Fe and discussing his new book: Harvest the Rain: How to Enrich Your Life by Seeing Every Storm as a Resource,  which will be released on April 22, the 40th Anniversary of the first Earth Day.

You can read more info on him and his book at  www.harvesttherain.com
  & www.santafepermaculture.com

Nate is the president of Permaculture Santa Fe

http://backyarddigest.blogspot.com/

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This article of Kirk’s was first published in The American Bee Journal March 2008 issue. This same magazine issue also contains our first ABJ article announcing The Southwest Survivor Project. I’ll be uploading archival publications and previews of upcoming articles I  am writing. MK  

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 ANNOUNCING:  The First Annual Northern NM Rocky Mountain Sweet Spring Sting- “Thinking In and Out of the Bee Box”- A Symposium for Bee Stewards

With keynote speaker- Kirk Webster of Champlain Valley Bees and Queens from Vermont. Kirk has been breeding survivor stock Russian base queens for close to a decade without the use of chemicals. He is widely respected in various beekeeping and farming circles. I’ll post Kirk’s, “A New Paradigm for Beekeeping” shortly.

Also joining us will be Nate Downey of Permaculture Santa Fe. Nate has a new book which will be released on April 22 (40th Anniverary of Earth Day) entitled, Harvesting the Rain.

We also have special guest Corwin Bell from Colorado. He is known for The Back Yard Hive and is author of, The Bee Guardian

I will post links and articles for each of our guest presenters shortly- on this new blog, HIVE JIVE!

*Pre-Registration $20 (or $25 at the door)

To Pre-Register, and for additional info send an email to ziaqueenbees@hotmail.com

Registration can be paid  online via PayPal with credit or debit card (no PayPal account needed).

See attached flyer!   2010 Sweet Spring Sting Symposium

What a great way to bloom into spring! There will be loads of info, good company and fun surprises! Hope to see you there!- sponsored by Zia Queenbee Co. with help from The Sangre de Cristo Beekeepers.

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MK- Here is Part II scan copy of article, Integrated Top Bar Management: the Rest of the Story, which was published in the Jan. 2010 issue of Bee Culture. I have also pasted the whole article in basic text below for easier reading. Top Bar slide show will be up en seguida…

TB article draft 1

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In our neck of the woods, there is a growing trend to house bees in top bar hives. For those who are unfamiliar- a top bar hive is a single level, horizontal system which does not have side comb supports as do vertical Langstroth frames. My interpretation of both systems spans over a dozen years whereby I first learned on one, came to appreciate the other and have come to terms with working and keeping bees in both systems. I have also come to develop my own system (with respect to efficiency and conscientious beekeeping management) whereby I utilize the “best” of both systems to incorporate and adapt the diversity of each into a usable, workable and standardized method.

I have wanted to put this method and its reasoning to paper for some time now being that when I first started meeting top bar enthusiasts in plethora these past few years, I found that their interpretation of top bars was more of a contendership battle: top bars vs. Langstroth. With the manifestation of CCD and its correlation to “modern” agricultural  and beekeeping management practices as foes, there has been a rise in the misconceived mentality that top bars are “more natural” or “better” and more “respectful” for housing bees than Langstroth colonies. I find this to be an utterly narrow perspective being that most folks who have decided to keep bees in a top bar abode, have never even seen the workings nor themselves had the opportunity to work within a Langstroth system for any amount of time.
[Read more →]

Categories: Articles  Zia Queen Bees1 Comment

Spring FlingMarch 2010 Seminar!

Hello fellow beeks! Winter is in full form this year- plenty of moisture to help the spring blossoms bud!

We are excited to offer several seminars and workshops this season. Our summer course schedule will be posted soon.

First seminar to be offered coming up in late March with visiting beekeeper Kirk Webster of Champlain Bees & Queens. Kirk has written a series of wonderful articles, “A New Paradigm for Beekeeping.” I’ll post these articles soon!

Also joining us for this first seminar is Nate Downey- president of  Santa Fe Permaculture.  His book, Harvest the Rain: How to Enrich Your Life by Seeing Every Storm as a Resource, will be released on April 22, the 40th Anniversary of the first Earth Day. 

Hope to see everyone there!

more info at www.harvesttherain.com
www.santafepermaculture.com

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We are celebrating 5 years of small-scale commercial survivor stock production!

We are appreciative to everyone for their support. Working with our fellow colleagues to produce healthy bees, we are striving to promote honeybees chosen by beekeepers for beekeepers!

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