The State of the Bees, Part 1
by David Papke
I became a member of the Central Maryland Beekeeper’s Association in 1987, when I moved to Baltimore from rural southeastern Ohio. I'd been keeping bees for eleven years, and though I knew a few beekeepers where I lived there wasn’t an established beekeeping organization in the area.
I was a solo sideliner with 40 colonies I needed to sell before moving, not knowing where exactly I might land; it turned out to be a row-house in Baltimore City. So, when I heard about CMBA, it seemed like the place where I might find some comradery, maybe some colonies for sale, and ... if I was lucky ... an apiary location where I could make a new start.
At my first meeting, the first person I met was a forthright energetic man named Jerry Fischer, a Baltimore fireman who was a founding member of CMBA and who continued to be a driving force in the association’s growth and success. He was a talker, an experienced, knowledgeable beekeeper and a state apiary inspector who later became Maryland’s Chief Apiaries Officer.
For many years, Jerry taught the beginner’s beekeeping classes for CMBA, and it was customary at every meeting throughout the year for Jerry to take a few minutes to talk about what was happening in the hives and what beekeepers should be doing or anticipating. There was a kind of running joke that Jerry’s ‘five minutes’ would often stretch on for 10,15…20 minutes or more with questions. But Jerry's time was always interesting, informative, and entertaining. Over the years it became commonly referred to as his “The State of the Bees”.
Perhaps part of the humor was the formality of the title contrasted with Jerry’s ardent, yet folksy, style of presentation. After all, it was only “Bee Talk,” like Richard Taylor’s long-running column in Bee Culture from which I had learned so much about the craft of becoming a beekeeper.
Whatever the name, the concept of a monthly, seasonally-focused presentation on managing honey bee colonies, with the opportunity for questions and follow-up discussion, seems like a foundational feature of any informative, reliable beekeeping meeting. Hopefully yours includes a monthly presentation of this kind as well.
When my wife and I moved to an old farmhouse and property in southern York County (PA), I remained connected with CMBA for several years, even after establishing a sideline pollination and honey-producing business here. But the apicultural times were changing, and so was the York County Beekeeper’s Association, with a new president, Jeremy Barnes, and the unexpected influx of a slew of new beekeepers that appeared after the shocking news of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in 2007. I accepted a role in that transformation by offering to give a brief ‘bee talk’ at every meeting about what was going on in the hives (mmm, sound familiar?) I don’t know when or how it happened, but that little bee talk also became known as “The State of the Bees.”
Today the membership of YCBA stands at around 200, a diverse group of experienced, intermediate, and novice beekeepers. Alongside the typical activities of most associations : monthly meetings, intro-to-beekeeping classes, community outreach and education, picnics and banquets for members and families; YCBA also has an in-house Guild, fashioned after the medieval model of progressive levels of craft and competence (Apprentice, Journeyman, Craftsman, and Master) for which there are specific criteria to be met and reported in a brief narrative on one’s demonstrable skill and mastery of craft, then reviewed by a panel of three Masters.
The goal is to develop beekeepers who practice, learn, and experience the progression of skills that all dedicated beekeepers eventually master. The reward comes with the recognition that one has successfully acquired the requisite skills, knowledge, and experience at each level.
With the world of beekeeping continuing to change, “The State of the Bees” remains an important segment of every YCBA meeting; it’s an enduring feature that continues to evolve. Nathan Pears, YCBA’s current president, has adapted “The State of the Bees” by relying on the wealth of experience and diverse talent among the YCBA membership, often calling on Guild members to deliver “The State of the Bees” and by creating a panel of first and second year beekeepers to talk about their beekeeping experiences, both the good and the not so good.
Different beekeeping perspectives are freely shared in an open and supportive environment allowing members to consider, question, and decide how their own perspectives are similar or might be transformed. It is a far cry from voicing strong opinions or defending entrenched positions which all too often can characterize ‘bee talk.’
(Continued next month with Part 2 -“The State of the Beekeepers” watch for it on the Maryland State Beekeepers Facebook and Instagram)