Above: My birthday cake on Feb 21.
Somewhere in my research, I found out that there is an Indiana Beekeepers Association. One of their activities is a Bee School held up in Indy. I joined the IBA and signed up for Bee School. They have a list of contacts on their webpage and I used them to try to find some local bees to buy. I also found through their web site that there is a Southwestern Indiana Beekeepers Association that is (but is not?) connected with the IBA. I got the info and attended their meeting on Feb 9 in Boonville. A nice group of folks showed up for the meeting. I got some strange looks when I showed them by TBH plans. One of the guys there told them there is another beekeeping school in Henderson and there is a bee farm there that sells bees. So I did some searching and signed up for the Audubon Beekeepers Association Bee School as well. And ordered two nucs of bees from Stone Hill Honey Farm!
The IBA school was on Feb 23 and they had a great keynote speaker and a huge turn out. The drive up was a little hairy as we had ice down here and they had snow up there. I did learn somethings but the school was focused on traditional beekeeping methods that don’t apply to the “barefoot” way with TBHs.
The Audubon school was the very next week on March 1. They have a very strong club and I’m going to try and attend their monthly meetings. The school was fun, but much of the info was the same as Indy. No info on organic beekeeping but it was a great networking opportunity.