May flowers are up, trees are green, and the hills are alive with the sound of bees hard at work. If we’re lucky.

The work of keeping bees is part anxiously watching the activity of nature around us for what our bees are experiencing, the blooms, the cold snaps; and part watching the horizon for what challenges await.

One perennial challenge that has dogged the inspections of beekeepers around the world has been the Varroa Mite. This ever present parasite, since the 80s in the US, has caused the decimation of many a colony and it’s not likely to stop soon.

The May meeting will be about managing pests like this. We will have a presentation by our own Richard Burroughs on this particular pest as well as treatment options, focusing on the newly approved treatment VarroxSan. The spring is a particularly important time to begin the management to keep the numbers of this unwanted insect low and we aim to assist our fellow beekeepers in this endeavor.

Following will be a workshop presided over by our own Stephanie Wardwell. As the season progresses, we all often find ourselves looking at our hives and asking ourselves ‘How did we get here?’ Keeping a record of observations and actions we took in our hives can help to answer some of our questions when that time rolls around. Together we will work together to make a custom worksheet to help us record what we see in the hive.

The educational program will be followed by our business meeting and then we will have light refreshments courtesy of Mike Hoyt.

Mike recently traveled to Colorado where he stayed at a hotel that hosted 7 beehives on its roof and sold the honey. Attendees to the meeting will have the chance to have a taste.

The Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Assocation meets this month at 7 p.m. on May 22, at the Fenimore Farm and Country Village, 5775 State Highway 80, Cooperstown.