Long Island Beekeepers Club Monthly Meeting Minutes, July 19, 2009
Suffolk County Farm, Yaphank

• 29 attendees signed in. Please remember to sign in, we know there were more members present than this!
  ◦ President Joanne Thomas reminded us that August 16 will be the progressive hive tour, visiting the apiaries of 3 club members.
  ◦ Joanne also announced plans for the Holiday Party/60th Anniversary of the Bee Club on December 13 at The Flaming Hearth in Farmingville.
  ◦ Hobbs Farm in Centereach (now managed by Heffer International) is available if you want to put a hive there. You must abide by their rules. Ray Lackey has info.
  ◦ Miguel Valentin gave us info about his upcoming Pig Roast to be held Saturday, September 19. Live music! BYOB and bring your favorite side dish or dessert. There will be a Bee Education table for anything bee-wise you might want to share. Miguel has been keeping bees since 1952 in his native Puerto Rico!
  ◦ This rainy spring and summer seems to have resulted in unusually low honey flows, a lot of swarms, and some reports of difficulty with queen introduction.
  ◦ Although honey flow on Long Island typically ends in early July, if your hives are near ponds, streams or rivers you may get a later, darker flow, as well.
  ◦ Guest speaker Bill Mondjack is a professional photographer and beekeeper who spoke about Macro-Photography, aka “close-ups.” His bee photos have graced the cover of Bee Culture magazine.
  ◦ Although Bill has serious professional camera equipment and obviously knows how to use it, he suggests for us regular folk a decent digital camera with a macro setting will do a good job for capturing your beekeeping hobby on film.
  ◦ He discussed techniques for best capturing animate vs. inanimate subjects (bees vs. flowers) and he strongly recommends planning your shot. Plan the composition and focus your concentration, to differentiate between subject matter vs. background.
  ◦ See this link to Bill’s photo galleries: http://www.pbase.com/billzbeez
  

Respectfully submitted,
Marianne Sangesland