Whitmel Madison Joyner, 67, died Monday, November 2, at his home. He was born December 10, 1941, the son of the late George Freeman and Evelyn Josephine (Anthony) Joyner in Weldon. He served in the US Army in Germany and was a member of the 7th Army Soldiers Chorus. Prior to his retirement, he worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. A talented writer, he enjoyed numerous hobbies including genealogy, beekeeping, railroad memorabilia, and Civil War history. Survivors include his wife Vivian L. Joyner; brother George Freeman Joyner and wife Jeane of Raleigh, NC; sister Rebecca Sadler and husband John of Wake Forest, NC, nephew Will Sadler; nieces Darby Sadler, Katherine Mawhinney, and Julianne Malone; and many loving great-nieces and great-nephews. Obituary from the News & Observer

Next Meeting: Tuesday December 8th 2009 **** 6:30pm**** ANNUAL HOLIDAY DINNER

Bring your family and a favorite dish. Location: Wake County Commons Building, Carya Drive. There will also be a “WCBA Beekeeper of the Year” awarded. It is also time to renew your membership (form included in newsletter). November Meeting Summary Thank you to Don McNeill, Ben Crawley, Tim Huffman, and Carson Webb for bringing refreshments to our November Meeting. Old Business: The Wake County Booth got second place at the NC State Fair. The NCSBA (thanks to all volunteers) sold 3400+ Lbs of honey by Close; 29,000 honey sticks were sold- they are the big moneymaker. Sales totaled 26K with approximately 11K Profit for the association. We were supposed to have a business meeting in November, but have pushed it back to January due to the passing of Whit Joyner. 2010 Officer Elections will be held in the upcoming months: We have a couple of nominations already, but need more to cover all positions: President, Vice President, Program Chair, Secretary, and Board of Trustees. James Knox is in charge of this committee- see him if you want to nominate anyone (including yourself). We need to make a decision and plan for the 2010 Bee Course. Last year the pre-meeting “introduction to beekeeping” for Jan, Feb & March worked well- we may do that again. The January meeting will be a business meeting. Then we will have the hands on 8 hours class as usual with the Dadant book as our manual. Last year we had to turn people away. This year we may try for a bigger room to fit more future beekeepers. The following week will be at the bee lab. New Business: Next year the Spring Meeting will be in March at Robeson Community College in Lillington. The Summer Meeting is TBD, possibly Rowan Co. The Eastern Apicultural Society will have its annual conference in Rowan Co. The Eastern Apicultural Society will have its annual conference in Boone August 2-6

Wake County

Beekeepers AssociAtionDECEMber 2009

Dear Beekeeper Friends Thank you for your many phone calls, cards, kind thoughts and prayers. With your help, I will make it through this tough time. Whit loved the bees and the wonderful people we know through this organization. I cannot express how deeply I appreciate your kindnesses to me. Thank you doesn't seem enough, yet there are no other words. May God Bless You All. With deep affection, Vivian Joyner

Presentation: Jackie & Louie Hough founders of Raft Swamp Farms www.raftswampfarms.org presented “Beekeeping: An Integral Part of a Whole-Farm System." The Houghs have started a teaching and working 193 acre farm- where they grow produce using organic methods and help teach others how to as well. They lease acres to budding organic farmers and students. They are members of Moore County Beekeepers Association, with 10 hives. They tell us honeybees are an integral part of their sustainable farm system. Jackie uses the concept of permaculture to describe the method of their farming.

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agricultural systems that mimics the relationships found in natural ecologies. It was first developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications. The word permaculture is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture, as well as permanent culture. The intent was that, by rapidly training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals could design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth's ecosystems. (definition taken from Wikipedia)

The main philosophy the Houghs use is “do nothing unless you have to”. Then if you have to do something- you must consider the consequences of all actions. Be mindful the spiral of intervention. They use biological or mechanical interventions first, chemical interventions as a last resort. Their chemical interventions adhere to the organic standard. The Houghs adopt farming systems in which the design reveals to produce no harm over time. They increase output to compensate for small acceptable losses. They use go with the natural curving flow. Jackie gives us the quote “ to light a candle is to cast a shadow”. When the Houghs got started building their home on the property, they planted buckwheat in the front yard for the bees and to harvest until they were able to landscape it. Their home uses composting toilets and 36% solar metal roofs. They plant Austrian Field Peas and Oats as cover crops in the fall to replenish nutrients in the soil for spring. They graciously provided seeds for us! They strive to use methods and crops that are useful in more than one way. Jackie told us the 7 reasons why to use cover crops. They produce biomass (organic matter and soil structure), nitrogen production/ nutrient enrichment, soil microbial activity, weed suppression, and soil and water conservation, migratory bird forage, bee forage, and they can harvest

Board of Directors President: Danny Jaynes 567-9568 djaynes101@nc.rr.com

Vice President: Ricky Barbour 269-0108 RickyBarbour86@yahoo.com

Secretary: Jill Currin 906-4135 jmcurrin@embarqmail.com Treasurer: Vivian Joyner 387-0164 vivnwhit@earthlink.net Program Chairman: Andrew Currin 868-4014 acurrin@embarqmail.com Directors: Jim Cook 321-0217 jimcook@operamail.com Mitchell Wren 269-9781 wreen@wans.net Tim Huffman 269-6790 timjoehuffman@aol.com Phone Mentor: Jerry Brantley 919-269-9333 Website: www.wakecountybeekeepers.org Yahoo group: wakecountybeekeepers To subscribe send mail to wakecountybeekeeperssubscribe@yahoogroups.com Back copies of newsletters and the bylaws are available on this yahoo group. Location of Club Extractors: The club owns extractors that are available for members to borrow. Ricky Barbour: Zebulon 269-0108; Whit Joyner: New Hill 387-0164 Raleigh Myers: Central Raleigh 787-0058 James Knox: Raleigh 847-5098.

What to do in your hives this time of year: (from the Piedmont Beekeeping Assn.) The Bees: The bees are in a tight cluster now. The Beekeeper: There is nothing you can do with the bees this month. No peeking. Opening the hive this month could injure your girls. Read a good book on beekeeping, study the latest reports on their health. Be thinking about what worked well for you this season and what, if anything, you might want to change next year. Enjoy the holidays, and spend some quality time with your friends and family.

them. The Houghs mix oats and winter rye as cover crops to get the most nitrogen possible back into the soil. The earth stores energy in living matter.

Another method they use on the farm is wide (8 foot) hedge rows, this provides space for animals such as deer and turtles to travel through. They use approximately 3.5 acre plots for the different crops. Perennial herbs and grasses provide ground cover here. A windmill provides electricity for irrigation.

Someone asked how to keep deer out to avoid losses from them. Louie uses plants that deer do not like the smell of to keep them at bay. Lavender and rosemary planted around the perimeter keeps deer out, and gives the bees more forage. Lavender is in the mint family. It is also an ingredient in Honey B Healthy- so it must have some good nutritional qualities for the bees. Crimson clover is another multi-tasking plant. It provides forage for the bees, attracts beneficial insects and reseeds itself to come back every, year- maintenance free. Another favorite self seeder is Buckwheat. If you plant it in the early spring you will get new flowers every 30 days. As many know Buckwheat honey is very dark with dense nutritional quality. Jackie also suggests planting climbing asters for the bees, they will provide forage from February to October. The Houghs gave us some good resources:

Seed Sources: Garrett Wildflower Seed Farm- Smithfield garrettwildflower@embarqmail.com Ernst Conservation Seed: www.ernstseed.com Prairie Moon Nursery: www.prariemoon.com

Native Plant Sources: Native plants are propagated: the UNC Botanical Garden & Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Books: Cooperative Extension Publications (downloadable online) Managing Back Yard Landscaping for Wildlife Going Native, urban landscaping for wildlife with native plants: http://www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/

Managing cover crops for profitability: http://www.sare.org/publications/covercrops/covercrops.pdf Natural Beekeeping- by Ross Conrad

Another good tip is to have the cooperative extension test your soil. They can give you helpful tips to improve soil structure. Field guides are also good sources to learn native plants- which grow best in our conditions, and honeybees enjoy. If you are looking to expand your ecosystem, there are 2 upcoming conferences to try and attend. American Livestock Conservatory- if you wish to have heritage breeds. Carolina Stewardship- in Black Mountain, NC The Houghs have workshops on sustainable agriculture and locally grown food. (910)263-4111

*************************************************************************************** NC State University will have Queen Rearing Classes and Workshops in 2010: see Apiculture at NC State If you are interested see the form on last page

2010 Annual Wake County Beekeepers and/or North Carolina State Beekeepers Associations Membership Please complete and return this form at the next Wake County Beekeepers meeting in order to register for Membership in either or both the County or State Beekeepers Associations. We encourage all county members to register for State membership in order to support that organization. You may also register by mail to Vivian Joyner, Treasurer

2829 Old U.S. 1 New Hill, NC 27562

Please print all information legibly. One wrong letter will make the e-mail not work. Please use the name you would like printed on your name tag. Date___________________ Name______________________________________________

Family Member/Spouse _______________________________________

Phone______________________ Address____________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Number of beehives_________ E-Mail______________________________________________ Memberships: Wake County Beekeepers ($10.00 each person listed above) $_____________________ ____ New Member ____ Renewing member ____ Free life-time WCBA member (over 70 years old and paying member for the last two years) NC State Beekeepers Assoc. ($15.00 each) $_____________________ You will receive the Yellow Book with this membership. We submit accurate information, but cannot guarantee it will be free of typographical errors. Publication Subscriptions – Coupons from the NCSBA Yellow Book can be used for savings American Bee Journal It’s only $21.00-1YR or $38.00- 2YR New Subscription? (Y/N) $_____________________ Bee Culture It’s only $19.50- 1YR or $37.00-2YR New Subscription? (Y/N) $_____________________

TOTAL: $_______________________________________

Make Checks payable to Wake County Beekeepers Association

NC Queens: Born & Bred application form

Name: ______________________________________________________________________

Mr./Mrs./Ms. First MI Last

Street Address: ___________________________________________________________________

City State Zip Code ________________________________________________________________

County of Residence:____________________

County Beekeeping Chapter (if applicable): _________________________

Phone No: (_____)___________________ Email address: ______________________________

DOB: __________ Gender: ____________ Occupation: _____________________________ (optional) (optional) (optional)

Total number of years with beekeeping experience: ___________ Total number of honey bee colonies you currently manage: _____________ Please check all that apply � I am interested in attending one of the queen-rearing workshops � I am interested in possibly attending one of the bee-breeding clinics after attending one of the workshops on queen rearing � I am currently a hobby beekeeper that wishes to raise my own queens � I am an active beekeeper with moderate experience and training, and I would like to explore the possibility of starting queen rearing as a business � I have an active beekeeping enterprise and wish to enhance my knowledge and skills as a trained queen breeder Please send completed form to: NC State Apiculture Program Dept. of Entomology NC State University Campus Box 7613 Raleigh, NC 27695-7613 Attn: Born & Bred in NC