State Fair Booth Clean-Up Day

Beehive Honey Booth

Honey Ice Cream and Honey Lemonade Booth

Honey Candy Booth

It's that time of year again! Our yearly fundraiser at the MN State Fair begins August 23rd and continues on through September 3rd. The activities began last weekend when several of our returning employees came out to help clean up the booths.

You'll find all kinds of new and fun bee products from us this year! Treat your dog to some organic honey baked dog treats and treat yourself to one of the many new varieties we'll have on hand this year at the fair!

The New Minnesota Honey Queen!

Emily Campbell

 The new Minnesota Honey Queen was crowned during our recent conference in Duluth. Here is the essay submitted that will give you more information about this articulate young lady.

Honey Queen Essay

Emily Campbell

I would like to start by introducing myself. My name is Emily Campbell and I am currently 18 years old and attending the University of Minnesota Crookston to pursue a degree in animal science. I am from the small rural town of Aitkin, MN. Since I was a kid I have been involved in everything agriculture from 4-H to FFA. It was in these groups that I was first introduced to the amazing world of bees. In 6^th grade I started doing research projects on Honey bees. All of my bee projects earned trips to the state fair, where they also went on to become state champion project. I had really found my niche! Last summer when I was approached by the former Central Minnesota Honey Queen about being her successor there was absolutely no way I could say no! The central Minnesota honey producers have been absolutely amazing to me. They outfitted me with my own hive of bees, which I had wanted for a very long time, and a mentor to teach me along my journey. I didn’t realize how versatile honey is until I was exposed to this group of extremely knowledgeable people. It isn’t just a coincidence that honey is a golden color. Throughout time the color gold has symbolized wealth and prosperity. The same can be said about the wealth of benefits found in honey.  For centuries honey has been recognized for its many important attributes. There are even cave paintings dating back 8000 years portraying humans gathering honey! In modern days honey has become a favorite among athletes and health conscious individuals. Taking a spoonful in the morning or before a workout can provide a natural energy boost so you can go that extra mile. The natural sugars in honey can help stave off muscle fatigue, while the glucose gets absorbed quickly giving you the boost you need. Honey is also great for your immune system. It’s rich in anti-oxidants and has anti-bacterial properties that can really benefit your natural immunities. Those same anti-bacterial properties can also be useful when healing wounds, soothing sunburn and sore throats. Beyond health benefits honey can be an extremely useful tool in anyone’s beauty regime. Even Alexander the Great was embalmed in honey with the hopes that it would perfectly preserve him for the afterlife.  For those that are more concerned with their skin’s health in the here-and-now, honey can be used for many types of moisturizing facial masks, and is even a remedy for acne. When mixed with water, honey can also be used to smooth hair’s split ends. Honey has also become a huge part of the commercial beauty industry, where it is the main ingredient used in the “sugaring” form of hair removal.  Recently honey has also made an appearance on the weight loss scene. It’s sweeter and more flavorful than sugar so you use less sweetener, therefore, cutting calories.  It also contains no preservatives . It can be put on everything from toast and waffles to a ham sandwich to add a unique flavor you can’t find from anything else. There are countless recipes and uses for honey, many of which people don’t even know about. Over centuries honey has played an extremely important role in life and continues to play a major role in today’s society. It is important to continue educating the public about just how much “nature’s gold”, and also the bees that produce that gold, do for every one of us. As the Minnesota State Honey Queen it would be my top priority to educate the public about how versatile and beneficial honey and bees really are. I am fully prepared to invest myself 100% to this cause and sincerely care about bees and their future.

Highlights from the 2012 MHPA Conference

 

Our annual MHPA conference was held at Edgewater Resort in Duluth last weekend. Thanks to Dan Whitney, our Vice President, for organizing the event!

Temperatures were unusually warm and humid for Duluth, right next to Lake Superior, but a slight cool down the evening of our awards ceremony and dinner cruise on Lake Superior added to the enjoyment.

As usual, the University of Minnesota represented by Dr. Marla Spivak and Dr. Vera Krischik and their graduate students, shared an abundance of information on their honey bee research and the new programs being offered.

Other speakers included Mike Albers and Greg Hoch from the MN DNR, Dean Peterson from the ARS lab, Kristy Allen from The Beez Kneez delivery dotcom, Cathy Rufer regarding our education programs, Linda Newman, the manager of the MHPA State Fair Booth and David Schaaf, the new superintendent of the Bee and Honey Exhibit at the State Fair.

We are very appreciative of all of our speakers. Thank you for your time, efforts and support in our common goals.

Thanks to Cathy Rufer and her promotions team, we have a pollinator toolbox coming out soon that will help aid in the education of the public.

Our annual fundraiser, the MHPA State Fair Booth, is coming up soon and, manager, Linda Newman invited everyone to participate, whether it be by volunteering at the stand or providing honey to sell on consignment in the booth. Thanks to Linda for her continued efforts, raising funds for our organization.

Our "Beekeeper of the Year" Award was given to the most deserving, Roger Olson who was surprised when his entire family joined us on the dinner cruise to show their support. Congratulations Roger!

The Minnesota Honey Queen (MHQ) is the chief promoter of honey products and the beekeeping industry in Minnesota.Our new Honey Queen was crowned during our conference. Information on the articulate and talented person that received this honor to come.

Special Thanks to Mann Lake LTD, Golden Heritage Foods, Sioux Honey Association and Dan's Honey Co. for helping sponsor this event!

 

MHPA July Conference in Duluth

Dates and Location -  July 12, 13, and 14th, 2012
Edgewater Resort & Waterpark - Duluth, MN
www.duluthwaterpark.com
Roomrates are $119 - $139 per night
Reserve your room today! 1-800-777-7925

Registration - $35.00 (includes Friday lunch).

Pizza Cruise on Lake Superior -  $25.00/person.  Kids under 12 free.

Thursday, July 12th

11:00 am committee meetings

  1:00 pm Business Meeting

  3:00 adjourn

  3:30 early registration

  7:30 Informal Crop Report for early arrivals

Friday, July 13th

 7:00 Golden Heritage Foods breakfast (current and prospective producers)

 7:30 Registration

 8:00 Trade show Opens

 8:15 Welcome and Opening Remarks by Jeff Hull; President

 8:20 Invocation by Ray Nicholson

 8:25 Dr. Marla Spivak  U of M

          Forage, Health, Pollination of Honeybees from Upper Midwest

 9:15 Break and Silent Auction

 9:30 Katie Lee  Upper Midwest Bee Team

10:10 Mike Albers  MN DNR  Grand Rapids office

          Invasive Species Expert on EAB and Gypsy Moth control programs

10:45 Greg Hoch  MN DNR

           Prairie Habitat Expert

11:25 Dean Peterson  ARS lab Morris Mn

          Benefit of Future Alternative Crops for Honeybees

11:50  Lunch

 1:30 Judy Wu U of M Imidachlorprid on Queen Honey Bees

 1:50 Renata Borda U of M Propolis Study
 2:10 Mike Goblirsch Nosema Study

 2:30 National Scene Updates

         ABF

         AHPA

         NHBAB

3:00 Break and Silent Auction

3:30 Annual Business Meeting

6:30 Boarding for Pizza Cruise and Annual Awards Banquet at Vista Fleet Dock

         Boat is handicap accessible, however bathroom is not. Dock bathrooms are handicap accessible

7:00 Departure

9:00 Return

       

Saturday, July 14th

 7:00 Sioux Honey Association Breakfast (members only)

 8:15 Welcome and announcements by  Jeff Hull; president

 8:20 Dr Vera Krischik of U of M "Do Label Rates of Imidachloprid result in Residues on Plants that Kills Bees?"

 8:45 Jamison Scholer U of M "Imidachloprid and Clothiandin reduces Fitness in Bumble Bees."

 9:10 Break and Silent Auction

 9:30 Jody Gerdts of  Urban Bee Squad

10:00 Krisy Allen   Bees on Bikes

10:20  Break and Silent Auction

10:35 Linda Newman MHPA State Fair Manager

           Website and State Fair Updates

11:00 David Schaff Superintendent of Bees and Honey Division

          Minnesota State Fair

11:20 Cathy Rufer Education and Promotion Committee with Updates and Ideas

11:45 Final announcements.   2013 convention info.  Silent Auction Ends

 1:30  Informal workshop sponsored by N.E. Mn Beekeepers Association at Fond du Lac Community College in Cloquet. Tentative topics will include overwintering bees.  Refreshments provided

 Special Thanks to Mann Lake LTD, Golden Heritage Foods, Sioux Honey Association and Dan's Honey Co. for helping sponsor this event!

We've been asked by Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota's Bee Research Team to post the following. Please share this with any beekeepers that you know. - Worker Bee

Dear Friends,

We are leading the effort for a nationwide beekeeping effort called
The Bee informed Partnership, a joint project among numerous
universities and laboratories.

I’d like to ask you to please send the following email to all the
beekeepers that you know and encourage them to participate in this
effort.  Both surveys are open only from 30 March through 20 April
2012.

 Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to
contact the project at: askbeeinformed@gmail.com or call us at
443.296.2470.

You can learn more about the Bee Informed Partnership at
www.beeinformed.org.  Thank you for your time, help and participation.

We really believe this effort will be able to change our industry by
giving beekeepers the tools they need to make informed management
decisions. But, for it to work it needs participation – lots of
participation. SO please pass the letter below to your beekeeper
contacts and encourage them to participate!

*****************************************
Dear Beekeeper:

We need your help.  Please take 20 minutes out of your busy day to
complete these two surveys.  Both surveys are only open from 30 March
2012 through 20 April 2012.

1) National Winter Loss and Management Survey:

http://participate.beeinformed.org/Surveys/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=76KI4p3

The winter loss survey should take less than 5 minutes and the
management survey should take less than 20 minutes.

The purpose of the Bee Informed Partnership is to use beekeepers' real
world experiences to help solve beekeepers' real world problems. We
will use the data generated from these two surveys to help you decide
which management practices are best for beekeepers like you, who live
where you do and have operations similar to yours.  For this to work,
we need as many participants as possible...so please take the time to
fill out the questionnaire and SEND THIS EMAIL TO ALL THE BEEKEEPERS
YOU KNOW asking them to fill out these questionnaires too.

You can see what type of results we will generate by visiting the
www.beeinformed.org website and browsing through our results section.
Currently we are in the process of posting last year’s management
results, so visit the site often to see these results as they are
posted and discussed in our BLOG section.

Depending on the number of participants we hope to have the results
from this year’s survey broken down by region and should have those
results posted within months of the survey close date now that we have
built the infrastructure needed to automate report generation.

Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to
contact us at askbeeinformed@gmail.com or call us at 443.296.2470.

You can learn more about the Bee Informed Partnership at www.beeinformed.org.

BE INVOLVED, BE INCLUDED, BEE INFORMED.

Thank you,


The Bee Informed Partnership Team

A recent comment to our blog prompted this reply from our association's Vice President, Dan Whitney.  Worker Bee 

"The demand for honey has increased steadily for several decades, thanks to good promotion from the National Honey Board. Unfortunately, with the decreases in colony production,  number of colonies,  and a lack of new beekeepers,  the United States can only produce 1/2  of all honey consumed annually.  The difference must come from other sources.
 

In answer to your question;  if you want to be sure its pure, local, or MN honey, read the label.   Buy from a local producer.  Or look for the MN Grown label.  MN produces excellent table grade honey.  I am sure you will be pleased with a 100% Mn product.

Almost every town in Mn has a local beekeeper.   In a few months we should have a list of producers on this website.   Check back."

Dan Whitney
v.p. MHPA

Hello Everyone and welcome to the MHPA Blog! We've recently launched our new website and can't be more excited about the potential to provide ongoing information and updates to our supporters with our new Blog!

Please click here to visit our website.