Member Spotlight – Camy N.

OBA Secretary

OBA Member – 4 years

A fun fact or quote: Our beekeeping motto is “Make more bees!”

Q: How long have you been a Beekeeper?

A:  We took a beekeeping apprenticeship course through OBA and became a member after that. We’ve been members for about four years. 

Q: Describe why you became a Beekeeper and your overall beekeeping strategy.

A: My husband first expressed interest in learning to keep bees and I had always been fascinated by them.

We didn’t see many bees on our flowers and in our garden and wanted to increase our pollinators

We’d heard about colony collapse and were worried about losing honey bees, so were motivated to make more bees.

Our beekeeping strategy is to give the bees as much opportunity to behave as naturally as possible. 

Q: What do you love most about bees & beekeeping?

A: I love watching my bees on my flowers, they bring the whole yard to life. When you don’t have bees, it seems like the garden is less active.

Q: What kind of hives do you use and how many do you keep?

A: We learned with a Langstroth in our OBA apprenticeship class and usually kept two out in the middle of the backyard. Our goal is to have three hives on our property. We have considered increasing the number of hives we would keep and working with friends and neighbors to host some of our beehives on their properties.  

Our hives didn’t make it this past winter for the first time, so we took the year off to learn about keeping bees in a horizontal hive (Layens), build swarm traps, build our new hives, and be ready to catch swarms next Spring.

Q: What is your biggest beekeeping challenge you have overcome and how did you overcome it?

A: I never really understood the Langstroth hive and the methods associated with it, like stacking the boxes and splitting the hive. Even hive checks felt invasive and unnecessary.

The horizontal hive makes perfect sense to me and feels way less invasive. I’m also happy I never have to pick it up.

Q: What are your biggest beekeeping accomplishments or successes?

A: We got both our hives through the winter for our first 3 years. We didn’t take any honey from the hives so bees went into winter with full frames. We made a foam core box to put over top of the hive to help control temperature and moisture which worked well for most of the hives.

Q: Describe your role with OBA and how members can connect with you to learn more (if the person is a board member or has a formal role with OBA).

A: I am the Secretary at OBA. I take notes at the OBA board and association meetings. I keep OBA organized and working towards shared goals. I can be reached for OBA related business at secretary@olympiabeekeepers.org..

Q: How have you benefited from being a member of OBA?

A: I love hearing about others’ experiences with beekeeping and learning from others. The OBA apprenticeship course was also very helpful.

Q: What do you like most about being a member of OBA?

A: I like feeling that I can use my time and skills to help support beekeepers in Olympia. The more beekeepers, the more bees! 

Q: What tips or advice do you have for new beekeepers?

A: Consider your goals for beekeeping when you get started and know that there are options for how you keep bees and opportunities to innovate your own way. I recommend learning & trying a couple different ways and choosing the one that makes the most sense to you. A couple questions I found key to finding my way as a beekeeper:

  • Is your priority to maximize honey production, make more bees, or prevent bee loss? 
  • To get new colonies, do you want to buy bees, catch swarms, or make queens? 

Member Spotlight – Nathan Allan

Nathan Allan

Nathan Alan

OBA President

OBA Member – 10 years 

Q: How long have you been a Beekeeper?

A:  I’ve been a member for about 10 years. I became a member right after I took a Beekeeping Apprenticeship Course. I remember I got bees the very first year I was a member.

Q: Describe why you became a Beekeeper and your overall beekeeping strategy.

A: I wanted a hobby that I could do with my kids at the Inn. I thought beekeeping was interesting, fun, and maybe I could make a little money. I liked the idea of having another feather in a cap. At the time I became a beekeeper my oldest child was six and youngest was two. My oldest child Lauren took the apprenticeship class with me. The course was a little advanced for her and that made me think that maybe there could be a Beekeepers course developed for kids. She liked the snacks and learned a lot.

Q: What do you love most about bees & beekeeping?

A: I love the club and the social aspect of beekeeping. I’m not the best beekeeper but I love the club and I’m putting all my efforts there for now.

Q: What kind of hives do you use and how many do you keep?

A: I keep Langstroth eight frame hives and run two brood boxes and supers or mediums. However,  after taking class from Gail I will probably transition and just do all mediums. I have three active hives. I like to always have at least two. I’ve had as many as six. I have some good success with overwintering.

Q: What is your biggest beekeeping challenge you have overcome and how did you overcome it?

A: Time is my biggest challenge and I haven’t yet overcome it. I have so many ideas and not enough time to implement them all.

Q: What are your biggest beekeeping accomplishments or successes?

A: I had a nuc in my second year of beekeeping that kept growing, and growing. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I just kept adding boxes. I had four, five, six honey supers on top. There was about 150 pounds of honey or some ridiculous amount from that hive. I had to use a ladder to get them off – and they were so bloody heavy. It made me feel accomplished.

I also felt accomplished when I successfully overwintered my hives. There are so many factors to consider in overwintering here in the Pacific Northwest. For example, wasps and yellow jackets are big threats that we should talk about more.

Q: Describe your role with OBA and how members can connect with you to learn more.

A: Currently, I’m the President of OBA and it is a little like herding cats. I feel like OBA is in a good place. It is a volunteer organization and requires volunteering to make it all work. Members can always call me or email me. 

Q: How have you benefited from being a member of OBA?

A: The biggest benefit for me has been the learning from the knowledge that the other members have. There are incredibly good speakers that OBA brings to the club meetings. I love to hear about what others are doing with bees and I definitely love the social networking that OBA offers.

Q: What do you like most about being a member of OBA?

A: I love the social aspect. There are all different sorts of people and so much diversity in Thurston County. I meet so many new people with all kinds of knowledge and experience to share.

Q: What tips or advice do you have for new beekeepers?

A: OBA has mentors – work with them. Remember that mentors are volunteers. If you are interested in mentoring or being mentored, connect with the OBA Mentorship Representative.

I recommend educating yourself before you get bees. Take a beekeeping class from OBA. You’ll have more success overwintering and keeping bees if you take a class and work with others. 

If you have time and want to help, consider mentoring others, attending a meeting to share knowledge, staffing an event where OBA is conducting outreach to the public or reaching out to members to see if anyone needs a hand.

2023 Thurston County Fair – Volunteers for Bee Booth

  • Sign up and volunteer!
  • You do not need to be an expert beekeeper. You are welcome to bring your kids to help too.
  • Volunteers get admission covered by the Association.
  • July 26-30
  • Shifts vary from day to day but are typically 3 to 4 hours long. Specific shifts are noted on the sign up form.
  • To see current sign ups please open this spreadsheet. You will be able to see the places we do not have volunteers.

Member Spotlight – Bryan Henn

Bryan Henn

OBA Mentorship Representative

OBA Member – 3 years

Fun fact – Washington is home to at least 600 species of native bees!

Q: How long have you been a Beekeeper?

A: 5 years  

Q: Describe why you became a Beekeeper and your overall beekeeping strategy.

A: I wanted a hobby and beekeeping was something to do. I like experimenting and having fun.

Q: What do you love most about bees & beekeeping?

A: I like watching them grow and being able to experiment and try to improve their growth. 

Q: What kind of hives do you use and how many do you keep?

A: Standard Langstroth. I’ve had six or seven and try to keep about five. Currently, I have four.

Q: What is your biggest beekeeping challenge you have overcome and how did you overcome it?

A: Mites, and I’m still not sure I have overcome it. The first year, mites really got me. The second year my mite treatment went poorly, and I learned some lessons. The third year was a success. I found that talking to other Beekeepers and watching a variety of YouTube videos helped me.

Q: What are your biggest beekeeping accomplishments or successes?

A: Making splits and having bees raise their own queen.

Q: Describe your role with OBA and how members can connect with you to learn more.

A: My role as the OBA Mentorship Representative is to connect members with beekeepers who want to share their knowledge and experience with others.

When I first joined as a member, I didn’t reach out enough and when I tried to, mentors weren’t available. I took on this role to help coordinate mentorship so new members can connect with others and feel more included.

Currently, OBA has five members who have offered to be mentors and we definitely need more people willing to mentor. I’m mentoring four members myself right now. Anyone can be a mentor and if you are interested in connecting with a new member to help them along in Beekeeping please reach out and let me know you are interested.

Current OBA members can request a mentor by visiting the OBA website at Mentoring – Olympia Beekeepers Association and completing the “Mentee Registration Form”.

Q: How have you benefited from being a member of OBA?

A: Connecting with others has been the biggest benefit. I learn more by hearing what and how others are doing things. Also, having access to the library has helped.

Q: What do you like most about being a member of OBA?

A: I like connecting and networking with others at the meetings.

Q: What tips or advice do you have for new beekeepers?

A: Seek out information and a mentor. Read, study, and reach out for help.

Bulk Jar Order

The OBA is going to make a bulk jar order. This is for jars for packaging the honey we will sell at the Thurston County Fair and other outreach events.

We are giving members the ability to add to this order, thus helping us get lower bulk pricing.

Shipping will be split between orders based on the number of jars you order. This is the one variable we cannot tell you before the order is placed.

If you are interested, and by this I mean you are committed to paying for the jars you request plus the portion of shipping, please fill out this Google Form.

We will close the order window a week after the May Member Meeting.