Contributors
David Louis
David Louis
I started my beekeeping career in 2019 with the purchase of a single Nuc. Expanded it to 3 colonies and built my first long Langstroth hive during my first season with bees. Only the LLH survived my first winter. Everyone told me bees can’t survive winter in a LLH. My only comment to them now is “stop wintering over in a single deep”.
I retired from the Air Force Research Lab in Rome NY as a civilian at the end of 2019. I currently have 10 LLHs and half a dozen vertical hives.
In 1960 I remember my grandfather having this contraption that spun really fast when you crank it. Little did I know then that I would have my own extractor by the time I was his age.
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Ed Simon
Ed Simon - Biography
Ed Simon is a retired programmer and instructor from the IBM Corporation. He has been involved with keeping bees for over twenty years and is 110% sure he will never master or even come close to mastering the craft. He has published over sixty articles on beekeeping in Bee Culture magazine. He lived on twenty acres in Oronoco, Minnesota before recently moving to a condominium in the city of Rochester, MN
Ettamarie Peterson
Ettamarie Peterson
Ettamarie Peterson, is a fifth generation Californian. She has been keeping bees on her small farm in Petaluma for the last 30 years. She is currently, and has been for many years, been the editor for the Sonoma County Beekeepers’ Association monthly newsletter. She is also the Beekeeping Project leader for Liberty 4-H. For the 2024-2025 school year she has 21 young beekeepers in the project.
Note: For an expanded Ettamarie Peterson’s story look here:
Ms. Person’s picture is courtesy of Kathy Keatly Garvey.
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Georgia Karras
Georgia Karras
I needed a new hobby away from family and decided to try a beekeeping class. It went so well that she purchased two packages the following year and took the class again, but this time paid more attention. Along the way she learned that you should be stung a little or a lot but nothing in between. When I am not teaching at a community college, I tends bees in Northwest Indiana.
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Louis Felty
Louis Felty
Louis began bee keeping by accident in the summer of 2017 when a swarm moved into a covered garden cart he used for fireplace kindling. He then joined the local Fort Worth Metro Beekeepers club to increase his knowledge and understanding.
Louis currently has 15 hives in three locations. His woodworking and welding skills have resulted in several bee keeping improvements to assist him in handling, and the stewardship of the bees. His improvements are:
Winter Feeder Box
Swarm Trolley,
Hive Vacuum removal box
Removable screen hive combination frame
Comb removal assist frame
Louis has an unending passion for keeping Honeybees. In 2024 he twice presented at the Club ‘s monthly meeting. Each time providing the highlights of several articles from the Bee Culture magazine. The articles presented allowed other beekeepers to advance their skills, and knowledge. If asked today, he would tell you he is sorry he has missed so many years of not being aware of bees and not being involved in beekeeping.
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Patrick Molle
Patrick Molle
After finishing a business school in Marseille, Patrick started beekeeping in the south of France in 1988. In 1995 he moved to MN to start is own business of importing specialty foods from Provence, (Nougat blanc, Chocolates covered almonds, jams…).
In 2000 he moved back to France with his wife and two kids. Started beekeeping again. He has been beekeeping since on his (and brother) 800 beehives, organically.
Patrick was the president of Cooperative Provence miel for many years, and now in charge of the honeys sales of the 60 professional beekeepers that belong to the cooperative.
Board member of PGI Provence syndicate, Sympas.
He has extensive responsibilities at the national level on honey analysis and overall quality topics relative to honey.
Links to his Articles