Melchis and Terrence Hasham

Melchis and Terrence Hasham are two brothers who live, together with Melchis’s lovely wife, Dorothy, in the Catharpin area. They both work at US Inspect as engineers, electrical (Melchis) and Test Engineer and Network Administrator (Terrence). They started beekeeping in 2005 inspired by their love of honey and desire to help pollinate the many fruit trees on their property. They were fortunate to take the Introduction to Beekeeping class with Tom Berry. Melchis and Terrence made special mention that they have benefited greatly from the support of many club members, especially their beekeeping mentor Ted Pratt who has made many a trip to the Catharpin apiary! In return, they were instrumental in helping me through my first year beekeeping efforts, and even helped me install my very first package bees.

In response to the first typical “member profile” question, What do you like the most about beekeeping? Honey, honey, and more honey seemed to be the winning answer. However being engaged in a hobby that makes you calm down and work slowly also has its merits.

What do you like the least? Getting stung is the least favorite part of the hobby, especially for Melchis who has had more of a reaction to stings than Terrence.

As for advice for new beekeepers, they encourage new bees not to be afraid of getting stung and to wear the proper protective clothing when working bees, especially covering your face.

Samples of honey from Melchis and Terrence’s backyard hives from three different years

While you may know that Melchis and Terrance are Indian, you may not have known that they, along with Dorothy, were born and raised in Burma. Melchis has been in the US for 17 years, and Terence for 11. Beekeeping is very different in Burma and only the government can be involved in what we know here as commercial beekeeping. I did not have time for Melchis and Terrance to read this for accuracy before putting it in the newsletter, so I hope I got it mostly correct!

Our visit ended with a delightful Indian meal and then a honey tasting. The photo  shows samples of honey from Melchis and Terrence’s backyard hives from three different years. The small jar in the front is a sample of honey from my bees, made less than 5 miles away. As you can see, the honeys are distinctly different in color, and they were distinctly different in taste and texture as well!

Who wants to volunteer to be the next member profiled? If you would like to submit a few lines about yourself for the next newsletter, or volunteer to be interviewed, please contact Karla at PWSBeekeepers@gmail.com or (703) 753-9023.

New Beehives

Welcome to fall! With the leaves turning colors and the temperature cooling off this is a great time of year. No air conditioning, no heating! Hopefully by now your bees are all tucked into their hives with lots of honey, good brood patterns and no mites. Got those mouse guards in place yet? Nobody wants to open the hive in the spring and get that kind of surprise. Time to make plans for the spring, start thinking about what supplies will need to be ordered, and arranging to get the second mortgage to pay for them. This is my third season beekeeping and I am still waiting for the point at which this becomes a “cheap hobby”. Perhaps next year…
This next January we will be having elections and I would like to emphasize that our club is a volunteer club, meaning we need people to “volunteer”.
Please don’t panic, all of the jobs require minimum input, usually not more than one or two hours every other month. Spots open include treasurer, club secretary, mentors for the class, folks to provide nucs for the new students, anyone with web site experience, food and beverage for meetings, someone who could line up speakers for the meetings, contributions to the newsletter, and don’t be afraid to run for either the president or vice president positions, the perks are GREAT!
I don’t think we as a club can count on those few people doing all the work without getting burned out. Many hands make for light work seems to apply here, so please look at what needs to be done and volunteer, even if you can only help the person who volunteered for the position, I am sure they would be grateful.