The Vermont Bee Lab needs Vermont honey samples! Due date to submit samples is extended.
If you have registered already to submit a honey sample for DNA testing, the date to get your sample to the Bee Lab has been extended to October 15, 2024.
Registration closed on October 1 but you can still submit your samples if you already registered to do so.
Instructions for collecting and submitting samples were included in a separate email when you registered. The email also listed the dropoff locations.
The Bee Lab will genetically analyze the pollen in the honey to determine plant sources of the nectar that the bees used to make the honey. We'll use these data to develop a baseline DNA profile for honey produced in Vermont. This baseline honey profile will be used as a reference for the proposed future Vermont Beekeepers Association's 'Certified Vermont Honey' program.
You will receive a honey report containing information about your sample once the results have come in. Honey samples may be strained, but NOT filtered. Unheated honey is preferred, but heating is permitted up to 112ºF.
Please email
Thank you!
Vermont Bee Lab
Jeffords Building, Room 220
63 Carrigan Drive,
Burlington, VT 05405
New Additions to the VBA Lending Library
VBA Librarian Chris Oehl reports 34 new additions to the VBA’s extensive lending library bringing the total of available books to 268.
For a complete list of available items in the library along with instructions on how to check out materials please login to the VBA website and visit the library at: https://www.vermontbeekeepers.org/library (or find the link under Resources | for the Beekeeper)
Honey Sensory Analysis Workshop: Learn to Smell and Taste Honey
Location: Moore Free Library
23 West St, Newfane VT 05345
Date: Saturday, October, 19th 2024
Time: 1:00-4:00pm
Join this hands-on workshop hosted by the Windham County Beekeepers and UVM Extension.
Roy Desrochers of UVM Extension will guide participants to use their tongue and nose and senses of taste, smell, and touch, to objectively describe honey. Mr. Desrochers has been a professional in the sensory analysis field for over 40 years.
Who is this for: This workshop is geared towards beekeepers who produce and sell honey and wish to learn how to effectively describe aroma and flavor as a tool to market their honey’s unique sensory characteristics and qualities.
RSVP: The number of individuals able to participate in this workshop is limited. Kindly register. (You may do so by email,
If you Missed our Latest Workshop...
This week was another online workshop presented by VBA experts. Thursday evening's program was presented by Andrew Munkres and Fred Putnam and covered winter prep. Details about the program are available at the link below.
VBA members can watch the recorded workshop by logging into the VBA website and looking under the Calendar menu for Past Workshop & Events Recordings.
If you Missed our AMA#4...
This week was another online workshop presented by VBA experts. Thursday evening's "Ask Me Anything" program was presented by Jeff Battaglini, Tony Antonucci and Fred Putnam and covered tasks designed to help you perform late summer management of your colonies.
VBA members can watch the recorded workshops by logging into the VBA website and looking under the Calendar menu for Past Workshop & Events Recordings.
VBA 2024 Recognition Awards
Hard Working Vermont Beekeepers Recognized
at the Vermont Beekeepers Association 2024 Summer Meeting
It’s always a joy to highlight the efforts of those beekeepers who reach out to help beekeepers and beekeeping in so many ways. This year, several individuals were recognized.
VBA 2024-25 Board of Directors
Congratulations to the people elected to the VBA Board of Directors at the July 13, 2024, VBA summer meeting. We look forward to another very productive year.
- President, Jeff Battaglini (incumbent)
- Vice President – Bianca Braman (incumbent)
- Treasurer – Richard Roy (incumbent)
- Membership Secretary – Mary Stoddard (new to the Board but no stranger to the VBA!)
- Recording Secretary – Fred Putnam, Jr. (incumbent)
- Director at Large – James Key (incumbent)
- Andrew Munkres remains as the Immediate Past President
Our thanks to the Franklin County Beekeepers Club for their help with this meeting!
Bee Practical Award
The American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) is offering an award for up to $2,000 to a beekeeper with a practical beekeeping idea that is relevant to other beekeepers. The $2,000 will be split in the case more than one awardee is chosen. We are looking to fund one or more individuals that have developed a practical beekeeping practice OR have a practical beekeeping idea that needs funding to be developed.
Please download the attached document for all the details and feel free to pass on to others. For questions, you may also reach out to Garett Slater.
Assistant Professor and Honey Bee Extension Entomologist
Department of Entomology
Texas A&M
Gov. Veto is Overridden
H.706 to Become Law
Late this afternoon the Vermont House and Senate overrode Governor Phil Scott's veto of H.706 - a law the Vermont Beekeepers Association supported to protect Vermont pollinators. The senate overrode the veto on roll call: Yeas = 21, Nays = 8 while the house roll call results showed Yeas = 102, Nays = 43 (97 of 145 to Pass). Details
The Vermont Beekeepers Association thanks the legislators who voted for this important legislation and the VBA members and others in the community who helped make this happen.
H.706 Veto Override Alert
Contact Your Legislators Today
After passing overwhelmingly in the VT house and senate, the pollinator protection bill, H706 was vetoed by the governor on World Bee Day.
He shared the same misleading information about bee populations that we have heard from the Agency of Agriculture, and declared the bill "anti-farmer".
The VT legislature is holding an override session on June 17th and 18th to consider overriding the governor's veto.
We need VBA members to reach out to their senators and representatives one last time this week to support this override effort.
Legislators have been hearing more and more from those against the bill, so it is incredibly important to express the importance of this legislation and our strong support for it. (Previously available background information is available here and here.)
Contact Your Legislators
If You Missed Them...
This week there were two online workshops presented by VBA experts. Wednesday evening's "Ask Me Anything" program presented by Jeff Battaglini, Tony Antonucci and Fred Putnam covered tasks designed to help you perform early summer management on your colonies. Then on Thursday night, Andrew Munkres and Bianca Braman hosted a program on Queen Rearing highlighting different ways to propagate queens and focusing on queen rearing for small-scale beekeepers.
VBA members can watch the recorded workshops by logging into the VBA website and looking under the Calendar menu for Past Workshop & Events Recordings.
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