2013-14 Speakers

Club meetings are on the first Thursday of each month at 7:30pm.  Meetings are held at the Legion Log Cabin in San  Anselmo, CA (101 Veterans Blvd.)

The line-up for the next beekeeping club season is as follows:

September 5: Marin Beekeepers presenting their gadgets and gizmos: Marin County Beekeepers Association members share their clever gadgets and gizmos that help make beekeeping easier – and fun!

October 3:  Jay Evans, researcher at the USDA lab in Beltsville, Maryland whose work has spanned a wide range of topics including genome characterization of varroa mites and managing diseases and pests of honey bees.

November 7: :  John Kefuss, survivor stock queen breeder from Toulouse, France.  His visit to Marin has taken years of planning and through persistence finally materialized.  He will also be leading workshops on Saturday, November.  Stay tuned to the Buzz and newsletter for more details; or click here to sign-up now!

December 5: Sue Cobey, bee breeder and geneticist from Washington State University.   Working on genetic cross-breeding methods to produce more diverse, resilient honey bee subspecies.

January 2:   Rob Keller, Napa Valley Bee Company.  Rob became interested in bees through comb-building pieces for his master’s degree in fine art at UC Davis, where he became involved with the Laidlaw Bee Lab.

February 6:   Marla Spivak, Distinguished Knight University Professor at the University of Minnesota.  Currently researching the benefits of propolis to the immune system of honey bees.

March 6:  Eric Mussen, UC Extension Apiculturalist , beekeeper extraordinaire and longtime presenter in the annual speaker series.  This will be his last presentation before he retires.

April 3:    Maryann Frazier, Sr. Extension Associate, Penn State University.  Maryann was last here in April 2011.  Her visit initiated the 2012 Pollen Project.  Three years later, she will be here to wrap up the results of the findings. Bates Thesis poster

May 1: Rémy Vandame is a bee researcher at Mexico’s El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) Vandame is a visiting scientist at UC Berkeley this year. He has conducted numerous studies on native stingless bees and bumble bees with an overarching environmental concern. In a presentation asking “Why Is Bee Health Preserved in Latin America?” he proposes the possibility that the answer is in low-intensity agriculture and beekeeping. He can draw parallels to US beekeeping practices. Vandame supports ECOSUR’s future work as evaluating overall land use and establishing policies on agrochemical use that preserve, rather than disturb, natural vegetation.

June 5:    Deborah Delaney,  Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware.   Dr. Delaney’s research includes the genetic characterization of unmanaged bee colonies,  savethehives.com feral bee project, and evolutionary biology of honey bees.