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Living Life After 50
March 2024
Sue Cox Is Walking By Faith See Page 10
Allen County edition ReAChing FoRt WAyne And SuRRounding CountieS Vol. 36, No. 11
Northeastern Indiana Beekeepers know how to… ‘
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
QUEEN BEE — Amy LaSalle, a member of the Northeastern Indiana Beekeepers, is holding a frame of bees. Photo provided.
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By CATHY SHOUSE Feature Writer Tending to beehives may appear complex and time consuming to most people. But members of the Northeastern Indiana Beekeepers take their tasks to sustain happy, healthy bee hives all in stride. They love doing all that beekeeping entails. Patrice Reidenbach and her husband, John, joined the NIB club about four years ago. Her enthusiasm for her hobby is evident as she answers questions about the process. She is currently editor of the newsletter, which goes out to the group members. She explained why her email address includes the words “mean queen honey farm.” “We use the name because in our first year of beekeeping we had a couple of very mean hives,” she said. “The queens were mean. The bees would follow us clear up to the house, and it was
hard to get in without them getting into the house.” Patrice said the queens lead the hive and create the environment for how all the bees in a swarm behave. Fortunately, the couple has not had mean bees since that first year. “We presently have seven hives,” she said. “We really only want four, but nature has its way of changing things. Our first hive came about four years ago. We mainly give a lot of our honey to relatives and friends. We do sell a little at a coffee shop. This year, we had 159 pints plus three gallons that we gave to our nephew so he could make some mead. It turned out amazing.” Reidenbach explained that mead is “a honey wine. The Vikings would drink mead. It’s talked about in history,” she said. Once, when the couple was working with the bees, a swarm of them ended up getting dumped on her. But she didn’t get stung. “When they’re swarming, they’re not aggressive,” she said. They don’t always have to buy a hive of bees to keep up their supply. Other swarms become attracted to the hives. Chris LaSalle, M.D., is president of NIB.
MINDING THE BEES — Patrice Reidenbach, who edits the newsletter for the Northeastern Indiana Beekeepers, is shown with her beehives. Some beekeepers have white hives, but Reidenbach likes to paint hers vibrant colors. Photo provided.
The number of members is a few hundred. Meetings are held monthly. There are also sessions to learn various aspects of beekeeping. “Our membership is about the same, and there has been more interest but some get frustrated and give it up,” LaSalle said. “I have 19 hives at this time. Our biggest challenge is the varroa mite that needs to be treated.” They do a process called fumigating, even during the winter months, to try to keep mites from attacking and possibly causing the bees to die. “There is a time commitment but it’s not severe,” LaSalle said. “If someone has two hives, then maybe it’s an hour a week. Usually it’s sporadic work, such as in the harvest of the honey.” The changing temperatures can be a problem for the bees, because they will think summer is here and begin moving. In winter, they don’t move around as much.