Spring has finally sprung. Make sure you’re ready to spring when your bees decide that swarming season has arrived.

At the next meeting of the Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association we will learn about Honey Bee swarming and how to capture them with Cliff Herring; followed by setting up a new colony and building the hive for your bees with Mike Hoyt. Rounding out the night will be Steven Davis presenting an education committee recap of 2024-2025.

That will be followed by the month by month preparations with group discussion and Q&A.

After that we will be raffling off a nucleus courtesy of Kutick’s Everything Bees.
You must be a member of the club in good standing to participate so make sure your dues are paid!

This month light refreshments will be available after the meeting with local honey for tasting.

In other news, we will be passing a sign up sheets for tabling at the Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 26 in Milford. This is a great time to hangout with fellow members and talk to the public about the bees.
Education Committee Director will be attending a workshop on observation hives at BetterBee in July and has offered to carpool with up to 3 people. A sign-up sheet will be available at the meeting.

We will also be holding club elections at this coming meeting for Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Thank you Stephanie Wardwell, Emma Wallace, and Richard Burroughs for accepting nominations for these roles.

The Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association will meet Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. at the Fenimore Farm & Country Village.

Spring is upon us and the beekeeping season is nearly here.

The time is now to order those nucleus colonies and package bees and come down to the next meeting of the Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, at the Fenimore Farm & County Village (formerly The Farmers’ Museum) in Cooperstown.

This months meeting will feature a presentation all about nucleus colonies vs package bees. Their pros, their cons, and how to install them once you have them with our mentoring coordinator Steve Davis and Honey Chef Richard Lercari.

The meeting will include discussion of the upcoming monthly beekeeping activities and time for a Q&A session so bring your questions and your notebooks.

In club business, membership dues will be collected at the March meeting. They are $10/individual or $15/family. This supports us as we bring you educational presentations each month and connect everyone to mentors in their area. If you can’t attend you can mail your dues to:

The Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association
PO Box 374
Cooperstown, NY 13326

We will be looking for volunteers to assist with our booth at the Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 26 at the Milford Central School, and at the Harvest Festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 13th and 14th, at the Fenimore Farm & Country Village.

Elections for President of our association will take place at this upcoming meeting and will be followed by nominations for the board, including Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. We are an organization run by and for our members so please come and make your voices heard.

We’ll bee seeing you there.

The 2025 Introduction to Beekeeping Short Course is in the books and we’re ready to start planning for the warmer months ahead. The coming year promises new opportunities to learn about our favorite insect, make connections with fellow beekeepers, and much more.

The next meeting of the Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association will be held on Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m. at the Fenimore Farm & Country Village.

This months meeting will include a presentation with our own honey chef, Richard Lercari, and club secretary Jennifer Bowen on marketing honey. Richard can be found in the summer (starting April 26) at the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market with his booth selling varietals, creamed honeys, and flavored honeys. Jennifer has experience operating a roadside stand to sell her honey. It’s a presentation to cover all the bases of selling the honey we get when we treat our 6-legged friends right.

In club business, we will be discussing future presentations, including a presentation from Flow Hives as well as any participation in the upcoming Earth Day Festival held at the Milford Central School on April 26.

The Association will also be gearing up for elections. Nominations will be cast for club president with voting to take place at the next meeting on March 27. The full agenda can be found on the Club Governance page of the website.

And finally, Thank you to all the presenters, Clark Sports Center staff, Association members, and Association board members for all of your efforts to host the 2025 Introduction to Beekeeping short course. As a volunteer run organization, you are all the MVPs of the day.

Welcome all to the Leatherstocking Beekeepers’ Association. We will bee seeing you on Thursday.