SOUTHSIDE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT, LUCKY STREICH ** VICE PRES, BRYANT STARKE & JERRY TAYLOR ** TREASURER, WAYNE FETKO PROGRAM COORDINATORS DONNA ROGERS & NIKKI NORTON ** SECRETARY, AMY STREICH

April 2016

NEXT MEETING

WHEN: Thursday, April 28th, 6pm

WHERE: Emporia/Greensville Extension Office

105 Oak Street Emporia, VA

Donna Rogers will be speaking on “New Inventions in Beekeeping”

If you have a unique idea you have come up with pertaining to beekeeping bring

it with you to share with everyone. ****************************************

*** MAY 21st ***

OPEN HIVE DEMONSTRATION Lucky & Amy’s House

Drewryville, VA

*** JUNE 17th & 18th ***

VSBA SPRING CONFERENCE Smithfield Center, Smithfield, VA

*** JULY/AUGUST *** EXTRACTAGANZA

Emporia/Greensville Extension Office Date TBA

MAY AND THE BEES: Bees are in full operation now that it is May. You can stop feeding weak hives now because they are bringing in lots of nectar and pollen. The hive is expanding rapidly. The brood chambers are filling up fast and the bees will be working hard filling supers. If insufficient space has been provided, the brood chambers are becoming crowded and congested, and probably preparing to swarm.

RED ALERT!! BEES SWARM IN MAY MAY AND THE BEEKEEPER: You will have to implement a swarm management strategy. Keep in mind that bees swarm as a way of multiplying. It is not a sign of being a poor beekeeper. However, there are some important steps to implement to try to prevent swarming. Keep in mind that you must provide room for your hive to expand. And, you should put on honey supers no later than early April. Put on as many supers of drawn comb as you'd like. Some experts think it is good practice to have a minimum of two drawn honey supers on all hives during the nectar season. Three or four supers are even better. Don't wait to add your supers or you may miss particular nectar flows. Get all supers on by April 1st! Consider having extra, empty hives on hand so you'll be able to capture a swarm. You will want to capture your own swarms or you will probably receive phone calls once your neighbors learn you are a beekeeper. It is not uncommon to receive calls each week all spring and summer.

While we are awaiting more responses to the “Getting to Know You” segment we decided to try something a little different.

“Adventures in Beekeeping”

Send in photos of your beekeeping adventures including a brief description to Luckamy13@aol.com or text them to (804)337-4881.

• Take pictures of you in your bee suit next to your hives or if you see something interesting while you are working your bees.

• Take a camera along (or cell phone) when catching swarms or while doing bee removal

from a structure, tree, etc.

• Take pictures of something you made with bee products such as candles, lip balm, lotions or a honey recipe you tried. Share the recipe!

• Take a photo of any bee related inventions or tools you may have come across or thought

up and share how you use it and how make it (if you are willing to share)

SBA Member Bill Hammond catches an early swarm with the help of fellow SBA Member Charley Barley. Team work - members helping members. That’s what we like to see!

RECIPE CORNER

Roasted Honey Garlic Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets

For the sauce:

• 6 tbsp honey • 4 garlic cloves, minced • 1 tsp onion powder • 6 tbsp water + 2 tsp cornstarch • 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce • 1/2 - 1 tbsp sriracha sauce (depending on

your spice level preference)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place cauliflower florets on baking sheet. Roast for about 15-20 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and tender but still a little crisp.

2. While the cauliflower is cooking, make sauce on the stove. Add all sauce ingredients except the cornstarch + water. Bring to a low boil and stir until blended. In a small bowl, completely dissolve cornstarch in water, then add to the mixture. Stir until sauce boils again and cook until sauce thickens (about 2 minutes). Toss cauliflower in sauce and coat. Serve warm. Garnish with fresh scallions if desired.

Honey Oatmeal Cake Ingredients

o 1 1/4 cups boiling water o 1 cup rolled oats o 1/2 cup butter o 1 1/2 cups honey o 2 eggs o 1 teaspoon vanilla o 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour o 1 teaspoon baking soda o 3/4 teaspoon salt o 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon o 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg o 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch non-stick cake pan

with cooking spray. 3. Pour boiling water over oats and 1/2 cup

butter and allow to rest for 20 minutes. 4. Mix together the honey, eggs and vanilla. 5. Add to oatmeal mixture. 6. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and

spices. 7. Add to other ingredients. 8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. 9. Allow to cool completely in pan.

Frequently Asked… Is Honey Allowed in Diabetic Diet? By www.benefits-of-honey.com

The diabetic diet is strictly controlled in terms of sugar and mineral compounds intake. Hence it's not surprising that "whether honey is allowed for diabetic patients" is a frequently asked question for Benefits of Honey.

Diabetes is a deficiency of the pancreas, whereby insulin is not produced sufficiently or utilized properly. It's basically a disorder of metabolism, primarily that of carbohydrates. The ingested sugars and starches cannot be deployed, and hence are eliminated in the urine. Symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, extreme thirst or hunger, weight loss, fatigue, numbness, and infections. There are 2 types of diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't produce any insulin, whereas, people with type 2 diabetes either don't produce enough insulin or their cells resist the insulin, and they tend to be overweight, because the high insulin levels, unable to channel glucose into muscle cells, convert glucose into fat and cholesterol instead. This results not only in obesity, but also very often heart disease, poor blood circulation in the legs and eye diseases. While type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin injections, which help glucose get into the body cells and maintain blood glucose control, type 2 diabetics commonly use glucose-lowering drugs. Most diabetics are type 2 and are usually in their 40s.

With appropriate control, many diabetics and pre-diabetes (people with blood glucose levels higher than normal person but not high enough to be considered diabetic) are still able to safely enjoy natural honey. Before incorporating honey into their meal planning, find out how much of the sweet liquid can be consumed on a daily basis. Each diabetic is different and should learn how his or her body reacts to different foods containing carbohydrates. Bear in mind that the total amount of starches or carbohydrates in a food is the key consideration, not the amount of sugar. Honey is a carb food as well, just like rice, potatoes, thus just keep in mind that 1 tablespoon of honey has approximately 17 grams of carbohydrate, and taking that into account when counting your total daily intake

of carbohydrates, diabetics can work it out just like any other sweetener or carbohydrates. To monitor response to honey, blood sugar levels could be noted before consumption and again two hours later. Also, when purchasing commercial honey for diabetic patients, be sure that it is pure and not adulterated by glucose, starch, cane sugar, and even malt, which is to better to be avoided in a diabetic diet.

You get (99 per cent of the time) a "no-no" answer when you ask doctors if honey is allowed for diabetics. This is not surprising as the idea of eating honey to regulate blood glucose seems rather counter intuitive. But did they ever tell you that clinical studies have shown that pure honey is a healthier choice in diabetic diet than table sugar and any other non-nutritive sweeteners such as Splenda, saccharin, aspartame? Honey requires lower levels of insulin compared to regular white sugar and does not raise blood sugar levels as rapidly as table sugar, that is, it has a lower Glycemic Index than sugar. Though honey contains a significant amount of sugar, it consists largely of two simple individual units of sugar - glucose and fructose, which are absorbed at different rates into the body. In fact, Dr Ron Fessenden reveals in his book, The Honey Revolution that "the more glucose intolerant one is, the lower the blood sugar response after honey ingestion versus the higher the blood sugar response after consuming sucrose or glucose". The book further explains why honey is able to perform this remarkable regulatory role. The perfect one-to-one ratio of fructose and glucose found in honey facilitates glucose intake to the liver, hence preventing an overload of glucose entering the blood circulation. And nature's honey is the only sugar that possesses this special ability.

Next, the use of monosaccharide fructose is often recommended to sweeten the diet of diabetics due to its significantly lower GI. The trouble is, fructose is absorbed differently than other sugars. It is not utilized for energy like glucose, but stored in the liver as triglycerides. This presents a great metabolism burden on the liver and can eventually lead to major health issues related to obesity and further health damages for diabetics. Sadly, in their quest to avoid sugar in foods, many diabetics miss the point when they start to plan their diet around "fructose fruit sugar", "diabetic birthday cake", "NutraSweet ice-cream", "sugar-free candies", etc., which all contain corn syrup or artificial sweeteners that can be potentially even more harmful than regular sugar when consumed in the long term.