May meeting is Sunday the 3rd

Mark’s note:

Hello BeePeople,

I trust your bees are enjoying the sunny warm days! News is some have even decided to swarm already!! New bees are arriving and lots of inspections are happening!!  

This month's meeting is on the first Sunday, May 3rd at Noon (it’s one week early as our regular 2nd Sunday is Mother's Day).

The Beginner session from 12-1 will be covering swarming.

Regular Business meeting from 1-2:30 will include a summary of the Field Day on April 18th, Business reports & Spring hive reports & bee deliveries/installs. Come ready to talk about your adventures in beekeeping!!

Where the bees are

At Sunday's NOPBA meeting, Cathy Martineau showed this great bubble map displaying the distribution of members' beehives around the peninsula.

We're also thinking of reproducing it in a poster to show at public events like the Lavender Festival and the county fair; people would probably be surprised to know how many beekeepers there are!

Our April meeting is on Sunday, the 12th

The beginners’ session at noon will focus on installation and feeding, by Mark.

After, Greg will present about 30 minutes on simple swarm management techniques: Adding space; Doing a very simple preemptive split — letting them raise their own queen, or providing one; Doing swarm simulation to keep them home.

And Cathy will show her mapping of the general locations of hives around the county.

First meeting of 2026 -- Jan. 11

Mark's message:

Welcome to 2026, beekeepers!

This has been the warmest "cold" season I can remember. The bees have been flying often and in large numbers, stealing the hummingbird food and getting into other mischief. I'm afraid some of the activity is robbing of weak hives but a closer check will have to wait.

We will meet this coming Sunday, January 11th at noon in the PA Library and I hope you can attend.

Beginning in February, we will devote the first part of the meeting to "Introductory Beekeeping", something we did for several years but discontinued when we started the class at Peninsula College. This is intended to be an opportunity for a complete beginner to ask questions and prepare for the upcoming year. Those with some (or a lot) of experience will probably find it too basic but you're certainly welcome to sit in.

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are full of excitement for what 2026 holds for us.


Notes for the new year

The NOPBA board met on November 22nd, to discuss club plans for the 2026 year. Here are a few highlights, including a change in the meeting format:

  • NOPBA has paid its 2026 membership to WASBA (Washington State Beekeepers Assn) -  if you want an individual membership join at WASBA.org

  • NOPBA club dues for 2026 are due after Jan 1st - current paid members will remain on our roster until March 31st then be moved to announcements  only if not renewed. The dues are $15.00 annually (one amount for individual or family). Lifetime dues are $150. May be paid at a meeting, by PayPal on our website or by mail to 1015 Towne Rd, Sequim, WA 98382.

  • Our meetings are the 2nd Sundays of the month at noon in the Port Angeles Library (unless otherwise noted). The format will be as follows: Beginning Beekeeping Class  12:00-1:00 ~ Regular Business Meeting 1:00 - 2:30, arrive as you prefer.

  • Tentative regular meeting topics/speakers & several hands on bee related demos/apiary visits  are planned. (MeetingTopics: Beekeeping HIstory; OA Strips-Mite Counts; Swarm Management Methods; Reading Frames, Queen Rearing) (Field Days: Apiary Visits; OA strip making demo; Queen Rearing; Beelining)

August meeting

Next meeting is Aug. 10 at noon Carver Room, Port Angeles Library

Greg’s note about the meeting:

I'm hoping your bees are happy and healthy and that you can join us for our regularly scheduled meeting coming up on Sunday, August 10 at noon. The bees do seem to know what’s up and with swarm season behind us, August is a great time to begin harvesting extra honey as well as getting the jump on any issues before our colonies begin slowly ramping back down for their much deserved rest. 

Agenda:   

  • General Discussion/ Q&A: We’ll start with the monthly “What’s Happening in the Hives” plus take offerings for any “Tips & Tricks”. 

  • Sign-ups Clallam County Fair (August 14-17): It's always a lot of fun showing off our bees at our fair booth and we do have spots open for volunteers to help out. (No experience whatsoever is necessary)  

  • Annual Club Picnic / BBQ (September) : We need to nail down the time and place.

  • Club Honey Extraction Equipment - I don’t want to forget to mention that we have a new electric honey extractor with all the tanks, tools, and accessories that was donated to us. Available now and free to use for paid members.

  • If anyone has anything for sale/trade/give-away - please prepare a listing with your contact info to share. 

  • Monthly reports 

  • Presentation: (Winter Preparations, 1:00 - 2:00pm) There is still a lot of beekeeping left this summer, but it’s not too early to begin thinking about having our bees ready for the eventuality of cooler weather.  The presentation will discuss what’s necessary for winter survival and will focus on energy requirements, quantity of resources they will consume, as well as moisture management. Whether you’re pulling honey or not, now is time to begin making sure they have what they will need.

Thanks as always for your support - Hope to see you there !

— Greg

July meeting -- please note start time is 1 o'clock

Greetings Bee Folks,

Sunday, July 13th at 1pm, Port Angeles Library (Carver Room) 

*note the time change due to room scheduling conflict

Agenda:   

  • Open with a short business meeting with the monthly reports.

  • Discuss upcoming events and volunteer sign up sheets.

  • Bee or equipment exchanges (for sale, trade or needs) - have details prepared with your contact info, transactions conducted outside of the library

  • Discuss draft Member Directory - comments

  • New Business

  • Main Topic: "Local Beekeeper Networking"  Come with topics of  interest, concerns, hive issues, questions or tips - let's use our combined experience to help each other.

Looking forward to seeing you there -

June 8 meeting -- here's what to expect

A note from Greg on this Sunday’s meeting:

Welcome to June!  The early summer weather has pretty much been ideal this year and we're hoping everyone’s bees are happy and thriving. 

Apologies once again for having to cancel our May meeting last month.

Please join us Sunday, June 8, beginning at 12:00 noon at the Port Angeles Library (Carver Room).

Agenda:   

  • We’ll start with “What’s Happening in the Hives” along with “Tips & Tricks” followed by the monthly Q&A session, so bring questions for discussion. 

  • In case anyone is offering bees or equipment for sale, it may be helpful to prepare a listing prior to the meeting that includes your preferred contact info along with asking prices, etc.  Library policy prohibits our using the meeting space for conducting monetary transactions, but we can certainly share our information with each other.

  • We’ll follow general discussions with a short business meeting for the monthly reports.

  • New business:  What is the general consensus on sharing member contact information amongst each other? We used to publish and distribute a member directory twice a year, but this practice was discontinued. Would it be useful to bring it back?  What are the thoughts on this idea? 

As was planned for May, the presentation this month, (Evaluating Treatment Effectiveness, 1:00 - 2:00pm) will build upon keeping our bees healthy and will introduce a Varroa population modeling tool useful for our more advanced beekeepers as well as our beginners. This is a critical time of year to be aware of numerous factors that affect colony health further down the line. To this end, we’ll explore the application, timing, and effectiveness for many of the options available to eliminate losses and minimize the harm caused by Varroa.

Thanks everyone - Hope to see you there !

 ~ greg

Monthly meeting is May 11

Welcome to May! 

Swarm season is upon us and we’re seeing our colonies around the region clearly benefiting from the tremendous spring weather we’ve had.

May Meeting Schedule:  Owing to constant room scheduling conflicts, we’ll be meeting on Mothers’ Day this year.

Please join us Sunday, May 11, beginning at 12:00 noon at the Port Angeles Library.

Agenda:   We’ll start with “What’s Happening in the Hives” along with “Tips & Tricks” followed by the monthly Q&A session, so bring questions for discussion. We’ll follow with a quick business meeting for the monthly reports and any new business. 

The presentation this month, (Evaluating Treatment Effectiveness, 1:00 - 2:00pm) will build upon keeping our bees healthy and will offer something for our more advanced beekeepers as well as our beginners. This is a critical time of year to be aware of numerous factors that affect colony health further down the line. To this end, we’ll explore the application, timing, and effectiveness of the many options available to eliminate losses and minimize the harm caused by Varroa.

Hope to see you there !

 ~ greg

Meeting coming up April 13

Our April meeting will be on Sunday the 13th at noon in the Port Angeles Library (Carver Room). Hope to see you there.

Agenda:

* What’s Happening in the Hives

* Tips and Tricks - Installing Bees (Mark)

* Open Q&A

* General Business & Discussion - Proposed 2025 bylaw updates & swarm listing policy

Main Presentation

* The Craft of Bee-Lining (Rex Roberton)

March 9 meeting on all things Varroa

Our meeting will be at the regular time and place, 12 noon at the PA main library. Greg’s summary:

“Following a short business meeting, the presentation topic this month will be "pests & diseases".  We'll briefly review a few of the older (now less common) problems, then switch the emphasis to Varroa.  Specifically, we'll take a look at what Varroa is, how they damage our bees and how we can view monitoring as another one of our beekeeping tools. Finally, I'd like to discuss pros and cons for the numerous management options.

I’m hoping it will be a fairly thorough introduction for beginners as well as a useful refresher for our old pros.”

January 12 meeting, February classes

A couple of reminders from Mark:

We will be meeting this Sunday, January 12th at noon in the Port Angeles Library. The education topic of the meeting will be mid-winter hive maintenance. 

The Beginning Beekeeping course at Peninsula College is open for enrollment. Classes begin the evening of February 4 and run through March 4. Please see their community education site to sign up.

October meeting, including special topic: Mason bees

Mark’s note: I hope you are enjoying the most beautiful weather of the year but hope you will be able to come to the PA Library for our October meeting this Sunday at 12 noon.

We will have a special guest presentation. Carrie Morlang of Knox Cellars Mason Bees will present a lecture on the Orchard Mason Bee and the harvesting of cocoons to store over winter. 

We will also have a short business meeting and will accept names for people who want to serve on the Board, particularly the President. If you are interested, please let me know.

Start preparing your bees for winter. Some of mine are taking sugar syrup, some are not. Also think about insulating to some extent, whether just some rigid foam on the top or a full wrap insulation blanket. We'll touch on this topic more at the November meeting.

North Olympic Peninsula Beekeepers' Association - Clallam County, Washington
1015 Towne Rd, Sequim, WA 98382
info@nopba.org