[board] Looking forward to the Zoom Board Meeting.

[Justin Strom]

I will send out the zoom link shortly.  Let’s start the meeting at 6:30.

On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 9:15 PM Dana Pepp <danapepp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Robert, thanks for sharing.
>
> I feel that talking about our roles, our visions for the bee club and the
> culture we all want to create is best done together.
>
> I understood this to be the main focus of tomorrow’s meeting.
>
> Sharing our thoughts via email does not create a space to share and hear
> other ideas and feedback in real time.
> And, if people respond just to you, Robert, the information resides within
> you. It feels very Robert-centric, which is neither the purpose nor
> function of an engaged board.
>
> I’m happy to share tomorrow during our zoom.
>
> Justin, please let me know if you’d like me to send a zoom link.
>
> Thanks,
> Dana
>
> Because this is sent from my iPhone, please excuse any typos.
>
> > On Jun 17, 2026, at 2:37 AM, Robert MacKimmie <president at marinbees.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > Thanks to all of you for stepping up, and allowing our modest
> organization to continue on its journey. I have been attending the Marin
> Bee group for twenty years, and have witnessed its many iterations. Twenty
> years ago, beekeeping everywhere was experiencing new and surprising
> growth, mostly due to bees being in the news with Colony Collapse Disorder,
> CCD. The great unwashed public somehow decided that they should help bees
> by keeping a hive in their backyard. The deceptive myth was that beekeeping
> was easy, and as we all found out, it's SO EASY.
> >
> > For twenty years, we have been trying to figure out how to keep bees
> alive, and while we have learned much, we have also had many more bee
> ailments that globalization has foisted upon us. Hive beetle, Africanized
> bee, EFB, Deformed Wing Virus-B existed twenty years ago, but now they
> impact us daily.
> >
> > Twenty years ago, I was told that there was no bee disease in Marin,
> that there was no need of treatments. It took a decade before we could
> actually talk about diseases openly in the group. There was little
> education about how to keep bees alive, beyond the research offered by our
> many remarkable speakers.
> >
> > From the first time I sat in an all day workshop with Randy Oliver in
> 1998, scientific method and accurate delivery of highly tested, proven
> methods has been primary how I share information about beekeeping. What is
> taught regarding what I know about bees is much more important than what I
> think about bees or beekeeping. My method is to learn beekeeping methods
> through lecture, discussion, YouTube, or reading, then test the methods on
> a number of my hives, while comparing results against control hives. Only
> then will I speak about and share those proven methods.
> >
> > For all these reasons, I am looking forward to the opportunity we
> currently share, where we have a strong population of recent beekeepers. It
> is much easier to share accurate information about effective beekeeping
> methods, even to a total greenhorn, rather than to 'unteach' incorrect
> information. Through monthly meetings, Hive Dives, Zoom Classes, and in
> person trainings, I expect that we will be able to bring a comprehensive
> understanding of solid beekeeping basics to all those who attend, and apply
> themselves. I have many times expressed that within a year's time, we can
> train complete newbees to be comprehensive early beekeepers who know how to
> keep their hives alive, healthy and productive. Beyond that core
> comprehensive level of knowledge, we will also provide methods and special
> interest projects that intermediate and advanced beekeepers need for growth.
> >
> > The Marin Bee group is a big tent, and it can provide a myriad of
> initiatives. If Board members have ambitions for the group, I expect that
> those interested people will talk about those projects, plan them, and then
> deliver the efforts to make those agenda come to fruition. We have all
> stood up to help the organization to survive, function, and prosper, for
> the membership, and for the people who attend the meetings. At the same
> time, like all information academies, we also need to project what people
> need to know next, to provide the next steps for people as they evolve into
> the more advanced understandings that comprehensive beekeeping requires. As
> a group, we also have the opportunity provided by our unique moment in
> beekeeping's evolving time, where we can undertake simple initiatives which
> will move the current reality of beekeeping forward, making marked progress
> in the state of beekeeping, where making genetic improvements to the stocks
> we run a huge advantage to the average beekeeper. As a finite bee
> community, we can make a vast difference. Truthfully, it takes a community
> to make change.
> >
> > All that is my understanding, and my ambition in standing to assume the
> President's role. There is a vast amount of work to be accomplished, and we
> are gifted to have the opportunity. I look forward to working with each of
> you to accomplish great things, and I appreciate that each of you have been
> willing to participate.
> >
> >
> > If I can ask a favor. If each of you would take five minutes to write
> down a very brief recap, listing 3-5 bullet points about what you
> understand to be the most primary tasks required of your position right
> now, and also 3-5 bullet points defining your understanding of the primary
> goals and objectives that your position faces for the year. Be brief. No
> responses are incorrect. We just need a common vision of where we are, and
> where we are going, and I am curious about what you see.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > robert
> > --
> > board mailing list
> > board at marinbeekeepers.org
> > http://marinbeekeepers.org/mailman/listinfo/board_marinbeekeepers.org
>
> --
> board mailing list
> board at marinbeekeepers.org
> http://marinbeekeepers.org/mailman/listinfo/board_marinbeekeepers.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://marinbeekeepers.org/pipermail/board_marinbeekeepers.org/attachments/20260617/94050616/attachment-0001.htm>