March 19, 2026

Ann Zudekoff spoke on the fundamentals of splitting hives. Ann explained how to take advantage of your bees’ swarming instinct to increase your bees, instead of losing them. We also held graduation ceremony for the” new-bees” Class of 2026.

**Ann presenting the well-earned certificates to our “new-bees”.**

**Thanks to Lauren, the talented daughter of Terri and Mell Love, for making this “bee-utiful” cake for our graduates. Yes, she does take orders!**

Buy, Sell, or Trade

**Thanks to Robert Seekins for bringing the seeds to share on our “buy, sell, or trade table”.**

Congratulations to our club members…Ann Reed, Grace Tesdall and Julie Arthur. Charlie and Ann took home a blue ribbon in the “Black Jar” division at the Heart of Virginia conference honey show. Black Jar is a blind taste test competition for the best tasting honey. Grace won one of the raffle prizes at the HOVB Conference. Julie achieved her VSBA “apprentice” level beekeeping certification.

February 19

Mentoring: Forming lasting and productive “Bee Buddy” relationships and diagnosing deadouts.

Club president, Charlie Reed, presented information on establishing rewarding and educational relationships between experienced “Bee Buddies” and “new-bees”. Richard Lee and Charlie discussed how to diagnose dead outs, discovering why it happened so we can make different decisions in the coming year, and what to do with the remains of the colony. Richard used a hive from the Old City Cemetery and Charlie used one of his own hives for the “autopsies”.

January 15, 2026

The club kicked off our 2026 membership drive with the goal of growing to 100 members! We encourage current members to renew, past members to return and see what is new, and anyone interested in beekeeping to join us.

**We celebrated Ann Zudekoff and other upcoming February birthday members.**

**Emily Sartore introduced some new products from Dadant-perfect timing as Spring approaches.**

Did you say free?

**Richard Lee thanks Elena Black for giving some free items to club members.**

January 8th -10th North American Honey Bee Expo

Several club members traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to attend NAHBE 2026. There were lots of speakers, new products, and vendors with good deals. And, of course for some of us, shopping!