29 people in attendance; 26 in-person and 3 online

Updates from the President – Nathan

  • Lots has happened in the last month
  • Have started to use the Swarmed app
    • Nationwide service
    • Better way of reporting swarms
    • Beekeepers can sign up get notifications and an option to claim the swarm
    • All the stuff that Gail usually manages manually
    • There is now a widget on the website where the general public can report a swarm
    • Made up some signs to put around town to let people know to come to our website to report swarms
  • Apiary
    • Club bees are now at our Club Apiary at the Freedom Farm – 10 or 11 total hives there now
    • Cameras and signs are up at the Apiary to let the public know that bees are present
    • Need to schedule work parties to keep the blackberries under control – need volunteers for a weekend, 1 to 2 hours
    • Shed and shipping container are storing donated equipment
  • We donated two nucs to the Evergreen State College beekeepers to get their apiary up and going
  • Want our association to have a “just get it done” vibe, lots of work going into InspireOlympia grant relationships

Treasurer update

  • Account balances:
    • Business: $6,447
    • Grant: $5,592
  • Rolling over the CD again this week ($2,066)
  • Anyone want to be the new Treasurer starting 2026??

Fair is coming up at end of July! If you have honey, you can sell it at the bee booth.

Librarian – Please remember to fill out the cards when you borrow a book so we can track it! Must be a member to borrow books from the club library.

Membership update – 130 members as of today!

  • Need a better system to send out alerts to members – IDEA: Sign up Genius (used by school districts for volunteer event sign up management and notifications).
    • Add the link to Sign up Genius to the Beeline so folks can see what our events are

Education update – Planning for a condensed version of the Apprenticeship course in the Fall, so that it can be done in the evenings instead of on Saturdays.

Outreach update

  • Events the club is attending
    • Club attended Plantapalooza this past Saturday. Also recently at Lincoln Elementary, where someone wrote a bee song! So fun.
    • Ft Stevens coming up in Yelm in June.
    • Multiple school presentations coming up that Nathan and Mohan will lead
  • OBA Discussions Google group – encouraging everyone to use it! Not only for questions, also to share what you are doing as a beekeeper.

Speaker: Zach Be from Cascadia Venom