Better Beekeeping in the Bay Area
Saturday, November 4, 2017, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline St., Berkeley, CA 94703
$60 for ACBA members | $70 for non-members
Register online at www.acba-2017.eventbrite.com or
join and pay at the door
Box lunch included with online registration
Beekeepers of all skill levels are invited to attend!
Join us for presentations, mead tasting, and
enter to win a door-prize donated by Mann Lake
Symposium Agenda:
9:00 am – 9:30 am – Coffee, registration, and check-in
9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Whole Bee Concept and Selective Breeding
Michael Bush, author of The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally
Michael Bush has been keeping bees since the mid 70’s, usually from two to seven hives up until the year 2000. Varroa forced more experimentation which required more hives and the number has grown steadily over the years from then. By 2008 it was about 200 hives. He is active on many of the beekeeping forums with last count at over 50,000 posts. http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.html
11:30 am – 12:45 pm – Lunch (ad-hoc beekeeper club officer forum at 11:45 am)
12:45 pm – 2:45 pm – HoneyDNA Study and Habitat Diversity
Noah Wilson-Rich, TED Talk speaker and author, with Kelly Allis, of The Bee: A Natural History
Noah founded The Best Bees Company in 2010 to raise funding for bee research. Now based out of the Urban Beekeeping Laboratory & Bee Sanctuary in Boston’s South End, his research focuses on ways to improve bee health. The lab provides free disease testing for Nosema, Varroa, and Deformed Wing Virus. The Best Bees Company services hundreds of beehives throughout southern New England, southwestern New York, and the Washington, D.C. area. Research on bee habitat conditions in the East Bay is ongoing. http://bestbees.com
2:45 pm – 3:00 pm – Break
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Concurrent sessions
SESSION A:
Making Fabulous Mead
David Teckam, brewer, mead-maker, beer and mead judge
The history of mead and beekeeping date back thousands of years, touching parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. A combination of honey, water, yeast and sometimes fruit or spices, good mead is the product of just the right balance of ingredients, along with the time allowed for fermentation. David Teckam is the West Representative for the Beer Judge Certification Program, and one of only 35 level IV grandmaster beer judges in the world. David is also a respected beer educator. He is also experienced in judging mead and other fermented beverages. His website www.beerjudgeschool.com is an online guide for passing the BJCP exam and becoming a better beer judge.
SESSION B (two 30-minute presentations):
B1: Pesticide Identification in Urban Nectar and Pollen Samples
Joseph Sullivan, beekeeper and Certified Wildlife Biologist
Joseph Sullivan has a master’s degree in Ecology and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Science with expertise in avian toxicology. He is the owner and principal scientist/consultant at Ardea Consulting. He has been designated a Certified Wildlife Biologist by The Wildlife Society in recognition of his continuing professional activity in the field of wildlife biology. Joe worked as an avian toxicologist, focusing on the effects of pesticides on birds and other wildlife, and has recently turned his attention to bees. http://www.ardeacon.com
B2: Efficient, Fair, Community-Friendly Swarm Hotline Implementation
Jonathan Zamick, ACBA Swarm Hotline
Jonathan grew up in the tech industry, getting online in 1979, and a few years later managing a DoD mainframe at 14. He has since built and/or worked with companies to bring products to market in the cryptography, games, entertainment, telecom, military, financial tech and many other industries. He focuses on finding the intersection of customer processes and technology to define a product, and has applied that to the venerable swarm list, to find an affordable way for beekeeper associations to better manage swarms in their region.