November 2025 Newsletter
President's Hive
Greetings Hobby Beekeepers! It was a pleasure hosting my first MHBA meeting in October, but for those that don’t know me, my name is Jess Marshall-Kurysh, and I am your newly elected MHBA President. It’s an honor to serve in this role and I look forward to great things in the years ahead. I’ve been beekeeping since 2021, picking up the hobby after the passing of my grandfather. He too was a beekeeper, and I felt it would be a special way to honor his memory. It’s been that and so much more, each year bringing new adventures and challenges. I’m excited to continue to learn from all of you in our MHBA community and hope I can return the favor as your new president.
This will be the last MHBA newsletter of 2025. The next newsletter you receive will be in January. And, as a reminder, there are NO member meetings in December and January. Member meetings will resume on Tuesday, February 10, 2026. Please look for the meeting announcement in each newsletter to learn when and where meetings and hive demonstrations are held. You may also refer to our website (also our Facebook group) for other valuable information: https://mnbeekeepers.com/
Congratulations to Our Newly Elected 2025/2026 Officers
- President - Jess Marshall-Kurysh
- Vice President - Bill Thompson
- Secretary - Michelle Maas
- Treasurer - Bob Hinschberger
Annual Meeting & Elections
MHBA Annual Meeting is on Tuesday, November 11th. We will be voting on new Board Members, approving the 2026 Budget, and hearing from our Youth Beekeeper Scholarship recipients. If you would like to participate in the elections, you will need to be at the Annual Meeting in person on Tuesday, November 11th. We will not be offering electronic ballots this year. Unfortunately, proxy votes are not allowed by our Bylaws.
Notes of Appreciation
Thank you to Gary Reuter and Jessica Helgen for hosting the hive demonstrations this season. Your wisdom is appreciated!
- Thank you outgoing president, Kate Winsor. Her leadership and contribution to the organization have been invaluable. We are a more engaged, organized, and impactful organization because of you and for that we are deeply grateful. It takes dedicated volunteers to keep MHBA running smoothly. Thank you for your service.
- Other members who deserve a thank you for their work this past year: Bill Thompson - Vice President and Nominating Committee; Michelle Maas - Secretary; Bob Hinschberger - Treasurer; Bob Sitko - Swarm Catchers Coordinator; Gayle Dramen - Librarian; Kathy and Mark Lee - Hospitality volunteers extraordinaire; Steve Buck - Membership Coordinator; Christine Shoemaker - Youth Scholarship Coordinator; Gary Reuter - Technology and everything in between; Quintin Holmberg - Newsletter Editor and website manager, tech geek guru; Susan Bornstein - Education and Outreach Coordinator; JoAnne Sabin - Ask Buzz; Peg DeSanto and Karen Voy - Picnic Coordinators; Jessica Minser - 2025 Banquet Coordinator; Katie Lee - University of Minnesota Liaison.
- And thank YOU for your membership support.
Banquet
Mark your calendars! MHBA Banquet and Fundraising Auction is scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Keller Golf Course in Maplewood. Detailed information about the banquet and registration can be found here.
Have a wonderful couple of months - don’t forget to take time to read and learn about bee biology, bee behavior, and beekeeping techniques. And spend some time reviewing what worked well, and what didn’t work, with your hives this season.
Jess Marshall-Kurysh
MHBA President
Better Beekeeping Through Education
Next Meeting
Annual Member Meeting & Youth Scholarship Presentations
Tuesday, November 11th
7:00 PM
Hybrid meeting:
In-Person: Borlaug Hall, Room 335
Via Zoom: Meeting Link
No Hive Demo
Click here for directions.
Upcoming Events
November 2025 Management
Brrrrr!! Our long summer is officially over and our much-needed season of dormancy is settling in. There is very little management-wise that we are doing now, but those few things are crucial. Our final tasks this year are treating with oxalic acid, wrapping the hives for winter and wishing them well.
If you are planning to do a fall mite clean-up with the oxalic acid dribble method, it is best to wait until the colony is broodless (or nearly) since the treatment works by contact and does not permeate any brood cappings. With this warm fall, many of our colonies were rearing brood later than normal, so a brief inspection on a day above 55 is helpful to truly know where your bees are at. For the dribble method, the ideal temperature is between 45-55 degrees so that the bees are clustered, but it is not freezing. If you are new to this treatment, you can practice using plain syrup and the syringe until you are comfortable getting a consistent trickle. You should aim to use 5mL per seam of bees and no more than 50mL per colony.
To recap where your bees should be at: All colonies should have about 75-100 lbs. of honey or one deep box full with a few outer frames in the lower boxes.
Remember that the bees need some open space in the middle of the top deep box to move into as a cluster. It is too late to feed now as the bees are clustered and unable to dry and store any feed. If you are worried they are too light, you can check them on days above 50 degrees later in the winter and possibly give them a winter patty or try the mountain camp method.
You should have your entrance reducer in with the medium entrance facing up and corks in all but the top box. Aim to have your moisture board and winter cover on by Thanksgiving. The winter cover is most needed in the early spring when the bees are starting to raise brood.
When putting your winter cover on, remember to leave the telescoping cover on a little crooked in order to expose some edge of the moisture board so that moisture can escape.
Our bees evolved in a climate with winter, so a dormant and broodless period is part of their DNA. They are excellent thermoregulators of their cluster, but do not heat the whole hive. The cluster will lose bees throughout the winter so you should see dead bees (and poop!)in the snow outside your colonies and the cluster will continue to shrink until the spring brood begins to emerge.
Our bees are mostly on their own now until March, so as Gary Reuter would say, give your hives 3 pats and say, “Good luck girls!”.
Jenny Warner
Classifieds
Bees for splits, overwintered and under-wintered colonies, queen cells by arrangement, and pails of honey for sale.
Prices vary by season.
Contact Adrian - [email protected]
Did you know your membership allows you to place classified ads in the MHBA Newsletter?
Beekeeping Workshop
University of Missouri Extension is holding a beekeeping workshop on 11/19/25 at 6pm (central) covering these topics:
- USDA Risk Management Agency’s Apiculture Pilot Insurance Program (API)
- USDA Farm Service Agency’s Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP)
- Missouri’s sales tax exemptions for beekeepers (the Missouri Sales tax presentation will be last, so out of state beekeepers can leave early)
Participants will learn how API provides a safety net against precipitation-related losses, how ELAP offers financial assistance for colony losses due to adverse conditions, and how understanding state tax exemptions can reduce costs.
This is the link for registration to the Online workshop on 11/19 from 6-7:30pm Central time.
The workshop costs $10 to attend and I would really appreciate it if you could share this with your members and consider attending.
2026 Proposed Budget
Please find the 2026 proposed budget that we will be voting on at our Annual Member Meeting below.
Randy Oliver
In October we were fortunate enough to listen to a wide variety of topics from our guest speaker, Randy Oliver. He spoke mostly about varroa mite mitigation strategies and treatments but also discussed a fair amount about robbing and robbing screens. If you missed it or want to learn more, check out Randy’s website https://scientificbeekeeping.com/ for more resources and information.
Board Director Candidates
The following individuals have been nominated to join the MHBA Board as a Director.
Ryan Alaniz
Hi everyone,
I am Ryan Alaniz, PhD, and I have been beekeeping since 2017. Below I introduce why I would be excited to continue to serve on the MHBA board (I was appointed in Oct 2025) as well as a few of my qualifications.
I’m not sure if it is the gentle hum of a strong colony, the sweet warm smell of a healthy hive, or the joy of watching bees gather pollen and nectar from flowers, but I hope to always be a beekeeper. And, like the generosity of our (mostly) girls, I want to share my enthusiasm with others. I have enjoyed co-teaching beekeeping courses, writing a bi-monthly club newsletter, and introducing kids and adults to the importance of bees through presentations and apiary visits. Now, I would be honored to continue this serving on the MHBA board of directors.
Qualifications:
*Eight years beekeeping experience; Currently caring for 26 hives
*Master beekeeper (University of Montana); Master gardener (University of California Extensions)
*Board member and newsletter editor (2021-2024)–Central Coast Beekeeping Alliance
*Leadership experience (chaired a university department; previous board member of multiple non-profits/advisory committees; among others)
Mike Paskeuric
I would like to continue serving on the MHBA Board. I am going on the 3rd year of beekeeping and enjoy helping out on the Board and meeting people in the MHBA.
Right now I am going into winter with 5 bee hives and my goal next year is increase to 8 to 12 hives and maintain that level. I want to experiment with Hogg Halfcomb, temperature sesonor monitoring inside hives, continue reading different bee books, being more efficient on honey production here. This next Spring will increase size of flower gardens in my yard. I want to get to be more efficient keeping healthy hives and good honey producing before moving on to other experiments. Knowing these items better will make myself a better beekeeper and will also help out in the club functions. I enjoy helping out the MHBA functions.
Thank you. Mike
Anne Pierce
Karen Voy
Karen enjoys beekeeping in Oakdale, Minnesota where she takes care of the Oakdale Nature Center Bee Yard and the Sally Manzara Bee Yard in Lake Elmo as well as her own hives at the Little Acre Apiary in her own yard! She also likes to enter honey products in the Washington County Fair and the Minnesota State Fair every year that her bees agree to provide honey for the events. She has enjoyed helping on the Board of Directors for the past three years and looks forward to helping again if she is elected to the position.
Seeking Outreach Education Coordinator
Hello Beeks!
We are in search of a volunteer to serve as our MHBA Outreach Education Coordinator.
I know that many of you love talking about bees and enjoy sharing your honey bee knowledge with others. MHBA’s Outreach Education provides an opportunity for individuals in our organization to do just that. As volunteers, we serve as the “public face” of the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association, presenting and speaking at events such as schools, preschools, assisted living communities, libraries, festivals and community fairs.
The volunteer Outreach Education Coordinator receives requests from the public for presentations via a form submitted on our website. Next, the coordinator sends out an email with a brief description of the date/event/request, to our list of over 35 volunteers. Volunteers pick and choose from requests and reply with their interest (via email) to the coordinator.
The Outreach Coordinator also maintains & replenishes our wealth of educational supplies. We currently have two sets of supplies to serve different parts of the metro area. There are typically 15-20 requests for our services each year. As the outgoing chair, I am happy to assist and be a resource during your first year.
Please reach out to me with your interest!
Susan Bornstein [email protected]
If you would like to be added to our Outreach Education volunteer list, login to mnbeekeepers.com and visit https://mnbeekeepers.com/get-involved/ complete and submit the “Become a Community Outreach Educator” form.
Apple Bread by Mike Paskeuric
So, now that I’ve had bees a couple years now, my Honeycrisp apple tree does great and I have too many apples. I tried different apple bread recipes, and I did not like them as much. I baked a couple modified recipes and came up with this one. I liked more apples. I am not a baker but had fun trying.
I core four medium honey crisp apples. You can peel before if you want. I did not peel the apples. I then grated two of the apples with the larger holes and the other two apples I chopped into small squares. That would give me the chunks in the bread.
In a bowl I would add 180 grams of flour, 100 grams of granulated sugar, and 110 grams of brown sugar. I then hand mix in the bowl. I then added 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. I would then mix up again by hand and break up the clumps. (Try a little vanilla if you want).
Add two eggs that were beaten/stirred, 1/2 cup unsalted butter and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Mix up in the bowl and preheat the oven to 350*F. I sprayed Canola oil lightly on the pan ends. In the center and bottom I used one piece of parchment cooking paper. Add the mix even in the pan, I would add a little sprinkle of sugar on top to give it a little crust on top, not too much.
Let it cook in the middle of the oven for 60 minutes, then take out and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes in the pan. After that I would pull out using the parchment paper and let it sit for 30 minutes on a grate/screen. It tastes great warm and even a little better with ice cream. Because there are more apples than other recipes, it might be a little softer/loose. Let me know how you liked it.
Enjoy, Mike
New Varroa treatment
I learned about this new promising new treatment at the Minnesota Honey Producers Association (now Minnesota Beekeepers Association) convention in July and it has recently been approved by the FDA. Mann Lake and Nature’s Nectar will be carrying it, but it is not available yet. (It would not be an effective treatment this time of year, as there is no brood to treat.) This is the information from Mann Lake:
Developed and tested over the course of 10+ years, Norroa™ has proven to be an effective new tool for controlling varroa mites. Norroa™, which is currently under regulatory review by the EPA, has shown long-lasting varroa control without harming bees. Multiple years of field trials demonstrate up to 18 weeks of mite control with one treatment. These pouches should be placed on top of frames or the bottom board, leaving a ½-inch space for bees to access the pouch. Norroa™ is powered by Vadescana, a new Mode of Action (MoA) for beekeeping. It is designed to specifically target varroa mites and works by stopping the production of mite offspring.
Norroa™ targets a specific protein in varroa mites that ultimately stops their reproduction. No negative impact on colony health or brood production was observed in field trials. Studies have shown no negative impact on larvae, adult bees, or queen, supporting a healthy and productive hive. Norroa™ works to maintain mite levels at the time of application. For best results, apply Norroa™ any time that mite levels are low and honey supers are not on the hive.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Email a photo to [email protected] before noon on the day of the member's meeting so he can project it on the screen during “Ask the Expert.” We will all learn from you what you see in your hive.
Online Resources
Please visit our website!
https://mnbeekeepers.com/
We continue to make updates and changes to our website. Recently, we reorganized the Education page.
https://mnbeekeepers.com/ed/
Stay tuned for no-cost Community-based beekeeping classes & events in the new calendar:
https://mnbeekeepers.com/events/
If you are offering a class/event, you may submit the details to have it listed on our website:
https://mnbeekeepers.com/add-a-community-event/
Join Us On Facebook
Join our members only Facebook group:
https://mnbeekeepers.com/facebook-group/
This is a place for members to ask questions, share answers, share photos and videos, and socialize online.
MHBA Board Minutes
Please check the website for the latest, approved Board meeting minutes.
More Announcements
Membership Renewal
There are three ways to renew your membership today!
- Renew your membership online with a credit card (preferred).
- Mail the membership renewal form to our treasurer at the address provided
- Renew in person by bringing your completed form and check to the next meeting.
Our Renewal Form can be found at our Become a Member page:
https://www.mnbeekeepers.com/become_member
Newsletter Submissions
The MHBA newsletter welcomes articles, photos, recipes, etc. from members. Please send them to the editor:
[email protected]
If an article is a reprint from another source, permission must be gained if required. The due date for newsletter submission is the 25th of the month for the next month's newsletter.
MHBA Board
| Position | Member |
|---|---|
| President | Jessica Marshall-Kurysh |
| Vice President | Bill Thompson |
| Secretary | Michelle Maas |
| Treasurer | Bob Hinschberger |
| Directors | |
| Ryan Alaniz | |
| Peg DeSanto | |
| Willie Gabberd | |
| Quintin Holmberg | |
| Charlie Kundinger | |
| Katie Lee, PhD. (appointed) | |
| Mike Paskeuric | |
| Liz Pepin | |
| Anne Pierce | |
| Gary Reuter | |
| Karen Voy | |
| Past President | Kate Winsor |
| Membership | Steve Buck |
| Newsletter | Willie Gabbard (Advertising) |
| Quintin Holmberg (Editor) | |
| Technology | Quintin Holmberg |
| Gary Reuter | |
| Librarian | Gail Dramen |
| Outreach | Susan Bornstein |
| Ask Buzz | JoAnne Sabin |
| Swarm Chasers | Bob Sitko |
| Hospitality | Mark & Cathy Lee |
| Banquet | Jessica Marshall-Kurysh |
| Youth Scholarship | Christine Shoemaker |
Get Involved
Make this the year to get more involved in your club! To become a Community Outreach volunteer or a Swarm Chaser please complete and submit the appropriate form by visiting:
https://mnbeekeepers.com/get-involved/
NOTE: The contents of this Newsletter are the sole property of the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association (MHBA). NO REPUBLICATION OR USE in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, by any other person or entity without the prior express written permission from MHBA’s Board of Directors is permitted. MHBA may be contacted at [email protected]