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  • From: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • To: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Mentoring
  • Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 10:28:05 -0400 (EDT)

I just wanted to follow up on David's post about mentoring. I was able to use the OCBA map this time last year to identify and reach out to new beekeepers in my community. We formed a mentoring group. On package day, we all met at one person's house and I demonstrated and talked about installing a package. We discussed it as a group and then folks went home and hived their packages. A week or so later we went around as a group and checked on our new hives and looked at what was going well and what was going wrong. We discussed options for overcoming problems. We loaned queens, colonies or equipment as needed to help everyone's colonies get on their feet. We met roughly once a month on Saturday or Sunday and would make the rounds to look at everyone's colonies and discuss the issues. We made some splits, we discussed mite treatments, we invited other accomplished beekeepers to join us and add their expertise. Bee buddy relationships were forged in the process.

This past Tuesday after work we went around and looked at a few overwintered colonies. The majority of the folks in our group successfully overwintered at least 1 colony and I believe we are all looking forward to making splits to replace the losses and hedge our bets against winter losses in 2016. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me and I want to encourage folks to help our new beekeepers as much as possible. I can not repay the many folks that mentored me as I started down this path (and continue to mentor me) so I will pay it forward and contribute in my community as I am able.

As David reminded us at the meeting last week, please take a moment to update your information on the OCBA map. Sometimes markers can be moved by mistake, bee yards move, beekeepers no longer have bees, etc. The more accurate the map is, the more useful it is. I would also encourage you to include contact information in your entry. If a mentor or mentee wants to reach out to you they will need some contact info.

Cheers,

Lewis

On March 7, 2015 at 12:49 PM David Eckert <daveckert AT gmail.com> wrote:


Hi again everyone,

As many of you know, the 2015 Bee School will be wrapping up soon and we'll
have quite a few new beekeepers starting their new hives in the next month
or so. I'm sure most of us can remember how fantastic, exciting and
strange that process was. And I remember very vividly how for the rest of
the summer I seemed to create new ways to make mistakes every time I opened
them up. I also remember a certain very patient experienced beekeeper that
reminded me over and over again of what I had just learned in the class but
promptly forgot as soon as I got a hive tool in my hand. He also showed me
what I should be looking for at that point in the year and generally just
helped me get my new hives through that first winter.

Well, our fellow new beekeepers could use that kind of help too and if
you've had bees for a 2 years or more then you can help.

You can start by updating your entry on the OCBA map
<https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zTrgWwxrKDFs.kIrymRFVfxyc&msa=0> as
my last email requested and putting in your entry that you'd be willing to
help new beekeepers.

You can also say "Yes" when I or one of our newest beekeepers contacts you
about being a mentor.

So, you say you don't have enough experience to be a mentor? Well, can you
start a hive from a package of bees? Can you help someone determine if
there's a laying queen in their hive? Do you know when and why you should
feed your bees? Do you know how to check varroa levels? And what your
options are when the levels are too high? Do you know what orientation
flights look like? Can you spot pollen coming in and determine when the
bees are gathering nectar? And finally, do you know who to ask when you
have questions that you're not sure about? If you said Yes to all of these
(and most of you did) then you can help a newbeekeeper and be a mentor.

So, what's the time commitment? It's usually a couple of hours on 3 to 5
days between March and October. It's answering a few emails and/or phone
calls. Then the rest is up to you. It's really not all that much and in
my experience you benefit from this as much as the new beekeepers do.

When I have been a mentor over the past 5 years I've met some great people
and made some new friends. I've learned a few new tricks. And I've become
a better beekeeper (because there's nothing like helping someone learn how
to do something to make you learn it more thoroughly). Plus, being a
mentor counts towards your service credits in the Master Beekeeping
Program.

So, if and when either I or a new beekeeper approaches you about being a
mentor to some new beekeepers please consider saying Yes.

Thanks and if you have any questions about being a mentor please let me
know,
David
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  • [ocba] Mentoring, David Eckert, 03/07/2015
    • Re: [ocba] Mentoring, Lewis Cauble, 03/20/2015

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