Blog & News
We're in the Local Honey Band
Sacramento Contra Dance featured Local Honey Band Tom and Mary Kay Aufrance and Bob Kastelic with Caller Lynn Ackerson
Local Honey Band: Bob Kastelic fiddle, Tom Aufrance mandolin and guitar, and Mary Kay Aufrance electronic accordion! We sang vocal duet for the waltz, and Caller Lynn Ackerson had us all on our toes and playing fast for the Sacramento Contra Dance at Coloma Community Center.
Next, it's off to Reno Contra Dance! Join the fun! Contra dancing is energetic and a Super Way Cool way to meet people!
Sacramento Dancers: A free newcomer's orientation is at 7:30, great for people new to contra dancing, or with some experience, or rusty with their dance moves. Experienced dancers are welcome to come help the newcomers learn. The dance is 8:00PM to 11:00PM, and costs $10 adults, $8 college students with ID, $5 high school students with ID, $25 maximum for families. There is a potluck snack at break, so please bring something to share. The dances get progressively more complicated as the evening goes on, so coming early will get you the experience and skills before the later dances.
We're really making honey, too!
For those wondering about our other local honey adventures...
The bees have been busy all summer, making honey. The hive is bountiful and Minnie has been experimenting with a queen breeding! Early in the spring, when it looked as if the hive might be in need of a new queen, Minnie tried an experiment in queen rearing!
First she put some of the frames with brood (that's beekeeper talk for larva and soon to be baby bees) in a separate little box of their own, with attending bees in the box to nurture the baby bees. After a few weeks, "queen cups" started popping up in the wax, where the bees were preparing little bee beds for new queens! The bees built about 10 queen cups and of course, little pre-queen bees emerged.
Beekeeper lore says that what happened at this point would be that the pre-queens engage in diplomacy and deceit until just one queen emerges victoriously. So, after the bees seemed content with their new order, Minnie put them all back into the big hive where all the bees have been happily-ever-after making honey - and more honey bees, too!>
Minnie's reflections on her queen rearing adventure? "Luckily the bees know what to do!"
She saved a collection of queen cups and it's sitting on her computer monitor. The variation in color and construction is interesting...
Find out more about beekeeping...