October 16th Tuesday evening 8.00p.m.
First extra meeting for Beginners: A good crowd turned out for the occasion despite the poor weather, (I am sure the fireside chair would have been more attractive!) It was very interesting to hear about how hives faired out over the summer despite the poor weather, we talked about how we can help the bees prepare for the winter with stores and varroa treatment and most of all dry hives (no water ingression)!
Westport Beekeepers Honey Show 2012, To earn First prize you must bee GOOD!
Honey Show Hum! For many beekeepers the focal point of the season is exhibiting at the various honey shows that take place around the country. The honey shows consist of a range of different categories, or classes, with something to challenge all levels of beekeeping skill. There are classes for beekeepers to show their skills at honey presentation in all its forms, in wax presentation, crafts, gadgets and photography. In fact there are classes for almost any activity related to bees and hive products.
In Westport we had a large number of entries and a great attendance on the night. We encourage every beekeeper to enter the show. There were entries from members as good or maybe better in the minor placing; that some counties had winning first prizes in their Associations Honey Show’s and would go onto the National Honey Show in London for exhibiting.
Thanks to Dermot he had one of the best judges in the country cajoled to come along on the night! John Donohue dressed up in his judge’s attire white hat, white coat, he looked the part! Flashlight, a glass jar of delicate looking what looked like glass spoons and dip-sticks set to work on the spread of honey jars, coffee and jam pots filled with honey, sections and frames laid out numerically on the bench to the side of the hall.
The best way to learn how to enter honey in a honey show is as I thought all about the honey not the container it’s presented in! Nope I am wrong, the jar, the lid, the label, and the seal are as every bit important as the honey! After getting over the embarrassment of the jam pot and all that – I got some satisfaction from John using my exhibit to tell everybody present why and why not an already used jar is not suitable for honey, especially for sale or a honey show. The discipline involved in preparing the exhibit teaches a lot about the proper way to present our honey and other hive products. John the expert whittled down the entries to six or seven jars lined up in front of him at the top table for all to see the next steps involved in selecting a winner. After a lot of shade testing, viscosity comparisons, tasting and switching, first prize went to Dermot by a whisker.(excuse the pun) He deserved it though for all the work he put into getting the best pot of honey in Westport, perhaps the best pot of Honey west of the river Shannon! Congrats.
Ask him sometime what is involved if you wish to get to that level!
Going to the National (London) Honey Show 25th – 27th October 2012? –http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/
Westport Beekeepers Association had a display stand at “The Clock” for the Westport Food Festival August 2012.
September meeting 2012, Questions? Answers! and advice was the trend of the night.
