Transylvania County Beekeepers Association

There were ten people in attendance. Randy made the motion to accept the 11/18/25 minutes as emailed out on 12/4/25. Sheila seconded the motion. All were in favor. 

We have $515.77 in the bee association’s bank account. The bee association also has a grant that is being managed by the Cooperative Extension Office. We have been utilizing the grant to pay for the website. Holly Votaw has been helping with the website and making sure it gets renewed every January. We appreciate her help with the website very much! Randy and Devin will find out how much we have available in the grant. 

New membership is due in January and not prorated. It is best to join the association in January. Please try to make the January 20, 2026 meeting to join. The dues are $10 per member, $15 per family and $5 for junior members (ages 14-17). 

Devin agreed to continue serving as president. All were in favor. Priscilla was willing to serve as secretary for another year.. All were in favor. Sheila is stepping down as treasurer. Sheila has been the treasurer since the beginning of the association. Sheila and Eddie started the association based on the state’s regulations and bi-laws. We appreciate all their years of support! Randy agreed to step in as treasurer. All were in favor. Dean (vice president) was not present at the meeting. No one was willing to take on the office as VP. The only role of the VP is to make sure the door is open for the meetings and oversee the meetings in the absence of the president. Usually the VP steps up to the president when the president resigns, but it is not necessary. Devin will check with Dean and some others to see if they are interested in the VP office. We will need to elect the VP at the January meeting. 

Enrollment is now open for Henderson County’s Bee School. The classes begin on January 26, 2026, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, for seven consecutive Monday meetings. You can check out their website (https://hcbeekeepers.org/education/2021-beginner-beekeeper-education-enrollment-2-2-2-2/) for more information. 

Rosemary will check into getting a speaker from the state chapter to talk about the association’s role in beekeeping. She also asked for others to let her know who we would like to hear from at our monthly meetings. This month’s meeting was a great “show and tell” idea that Rosemary had. We hope to do it again. 

Randy was the first to show and tell about his Russian Scion. Randy made it from scrap wood that is covered in screen and painted with beeswax, with a little swarm attractor added to the wax. It hangs from a tree with an eye bolt onto the end of the scion to make it easier to raise and lower to place the bee swarm into an empty bucket or hive body, as soon as he sees the swarm on the scion. He has it about 150 feet from his hives, 8-9 feet off the ground. Randy has caught two swarms with it so far. 

David was next to share his Mite E vape for oxalic acid (https://www.mite-e-vape.com/) bee treatment. It is good to use for a winter mite treatment option since it won’t affect any mites that are under capped brood and you don’t necessarily need to go into the hive to use it. However, you don’t want to use it on really cold days. David drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the back of each hive that he puts the vape over to treat the hive. You can also put it at the entrance of the hive. It is very important to follow all directions and wear safety gear (eye protection, respirator made for organic acids and heavy leather gloves). It is very deadly to the mites, but not the bees. David has 8 hives he treats. It is a good mite treatment method to use on new swarms and splits once they are established. Keep baking soda water handy to use as a neutralizer in case you get some on you. 

Dave Ellis brought in comb honey that he made using a product called Simplkomb (https://simplkomb.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorkIO4ZFHiz7NO5TFlvEcEJO7d-oreQwXa8DAX1feN6D1kVYScE). He brought in a few to sell and donate the money to the association. They go in a regular frame. It is important to freeze them for a couple of days to kill any hive beetle larva and eggs that may be in the comb. If you don’t spin off your honey right away, you also need to freeze it for a few days to kill the beetle larva and eggs. When you spin and strain your honey, it gets rid of the beetle stuff. Honey will taste bad if you don’t get out the beetle extracts.

Rosemary is making some fun stuff. She is making body lotion as Christmas presents (body butter). She also sold some and donated the money to the association. The body butter was in little jars with beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter that was melted in with lavender and eucalyptus. When making it if it is too sticky, just add more beeswax. 

Rosemary also made some fire starters from little pine cones that she coated with slum gum (the old, dark looking beeswax). 

Rosemary also had some bee earrings that her brother in law made with a laser thing he has. 

Devin brought in his iridescent light bulb invention he uses to decrystallize honey. If you get honey too hot it looses beneficial enzymes and nutrients. He had an extension chord light with a dimmer switch, so he can control the heat of the honey. Certain kinds of honey will crystalize if it is stored at 55 degrees or below (cold garages, concrete floors). If honey has a lot of pollen grains in it, or high sucrose count, it will crystalize easier than other honey. Devin uses a bee super with the light bulb inside, then a metal honey excluder on top that he sits the jars of crystalized honey on, covered with a blanket or something to keep the heat in. He uses a cheap thermometer to try and keep the temperature between 90-95 degrees until it de-crystalizes.

Devin also brought in some silicone molds that he uses to make wax candles from his bee’s capping wax and some candles. You only get about 1% of wax per pound of honey. It takes a lot of honey making to get just a little wax. The pure wax candles burn for a really long time. 

Randy also brought in a home made swarm box he made from a cardboard box he had that was just the right size. He painted it with rubberized/polymer paint and bought the door for it. 

David has a scale on one of his hives. He keeps track of the weight over the year and the temperature (in green). He can tell when the first honey flow is occurring by the weight of the hive. When the weight starts increasing, he puts on his honey supers. When the weight drops off, he knows the honey flow is done. 

He can also tell by the weight of the hive during the day when the bees are coming and going. If the weight doesn’t change, he has a dead out. It is kind of an expensive set up that he purchased from a company based out of Raleigh (https://solutionbee.com/). 

Hope to see you at our next meeting, January 20, 2026. 

There were 13 people in attendance. Rosemary made the motion to accept the October 21, 2025 minutes as emailed out on November 1, 2025. Buddy seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Our guest speaker was Alan Madewell, Director of Environmental Field Support for the Carolinas at Duke Energy Corporation in Charlotte.  Alan asked how Duke Energy could know where our bee hives were located. Some have registered their bee hives at https://nc.beecheck.org/ to help business, etc. know where our bees are located to prevent spraying, etc. near their hives. Duke Energy operates in the midwest, Florida and the Carolinas, providing natural gas and electric power. Duke Energy is governed by the state utilities commission. The Commission sets the rates and is appointed by the governor. Duke Energy has more customers than any other regulated utility industry in the country. About 35% of their energy comes from nuclear. The biggest portion of their energy comes from coal and natural gas, but they are trying to scale down. Duke Energy has 23 hydro facilities across NC. They have some unregulated solar, wind and battery storage sites. The state of NC has asked Duke Energy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Duke Energy has a natural resource commission to oversee their different programs: Catawba-Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program, Keowee-Toxaway Habitat Enhancement Program, Aquatic Plant Management, Wildlife and Industry Together (WAIT), and Pollinators Program. The WAIT programs includes twenty sites that NC Duke Energy uses property to make habitats for deer, wild turkey, and other wildlife. They have grants available for building fish habitats. 

The WAIT Program includes about twenty sites in North Carolina where Duke Energy manages habitat for deer, wild turkey, and other wildlife. The Commission administers approximately $2.3 million in grant funding. Current projects include rebuilding native aquatic species in NC waterways, restoring nesting habitats for aquatic and bird wildlife, installing fishing line receptacles to keep unusable line out of the waterways.

Alan encouraged our beekeeping association to consider applying for some of these funds. He noted that strong, successful proposals often include projects that also offer a public-relations benefit to Duke Energy.

Duke Energy has right aways and needs to keep woody vegetation down to prevent power outages. Duke Energy uses LiDar (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping application to spot problem vegetation areas. They prefer native plants and pollinator-friendly species on right away sites. Duke Energy is working on a review process to identify problem areas and areas of concern, such as spray sites. There is a community and government relations committee at Duke Energy that oversees areas of concern for spraying. Alan will try and find out who the contact is for our area. 

Alan plans to share the information we provided during the meeting with others at Duke Energy to help improve their understanding of local needs and concerns.

Please join us for our next meeting on December 16, 2025, 6:30 pm to socialize, 7 pm for the official meeting at the Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC). We will have the elections for the 2026 board and a “Show and Tell” meeting. Please bring an item to share such as: homemade bee products, favorite tool/item, beekeeping suit modification, honey/equipment storage solutions, etc. If you don’t have anything to share, that’s ok. Please come to see what all the buzz is about. 

Please join us Tuesday, November 18th at 6:30 pm to socialize. 7:00 pm our formal meeting will begin with our guest speaker, Alan Madewell, Director of Environmental Field Support for the Carolinas at Duke Energy Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina. We will be meeting at the same location, the Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC). 

Alan will share information about Duke Energy’s pollinator programs and how the company works to manage environmental impacts when planning projects. He’ll also discuss how they use geo-spatial data to review various environmental “layers,” such as wetlands, federal lands, and areas with threatened or endangered species.

At this time, Duke Energy doesn’t have specific data on domestic beekeepers or apiary locations. Alan is eager to hear from our group — to learn about your concerns, experiences, and resources, and to consider how this information might help guide future projects.

We’re looking forward to a great discussion! Hope to see you next Tuesday evening!

Time: Meeting opened at 7:00 p.m.
Opened by: Devin Gentry, about 15 in attendance

Minutes from the previous meeting were approved by Randy and Parker. All others were in agreement.

Upcoming Meetings
Devin reminded everyone of the upcoming meeting dates:

November 18
December 16

The December 16 meeting will be a “Show and Tell” event. Members are encouraged to bring an item to share, such as:
A handcrafted item or favorite baked good made with honey
Homemade products such as lip balms, lotions
Beekeeping or handiwork items like swarm traps, wax frame installations, woodworking tools, or honey/equipment storage solutions
Favorite tool, item, beekeeping suit modifications
Each participant will have the opportunity to talk briefly about their item and how it relates to their skills or interests.
The goal is to help members get to know one another and discover skills they can share within the group.

Following the December “Show and Tell” meeting, elections for the 2025 board will be held.
Current nominations:
President: Devin Gentry
Vice President: Dean Klingensmith
Treasurer: Randy Austin
Secretary: Priscilla Tinsley

Guest Speaker Presentation:

The evening’s speaker was Bart Renner, Transylvania County Agricultural Extension Agent and beekeeper. 

His presentation, “Pollinators in Your Backyard,” covered a wide range of important topics, including:
How to attract pollinators by incorporating native plants into landscaping.
The fact that 80% of all flowering plants rely on wildlife (such as birds, deer, and bears) to continue flourishing.
Recognition that insects — including honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies, beetles, flies, and wasps — are the most abundant pollinators.
The serious impact pollinator loss has on both the quality and quantity of food production.
The effects of managed honey bees on native bee communities due to competition for floral resources.

Current 2024–2025 overwintering losses:
Average loss: approximately 40%
Commercial operators reporting up to 62%
Possible contributing factors to pollinator decline:
Reduced availability of native, nutrient-rich flowers
Environmental pesticides
Viruses, in-hive pesticides, and Nosema
Varroa mites, noted as the chief menace
The toxic effects (immediate, residual and extended residual) of glyphosate (Round-Up) on honey bees and other pollinators

Introduction to NC State Extension’s Plant Toolbox website: plants.ces.ncsu.edu allows users to explore plants by category and learn which best support pollinators

Members discussed several topics, including:
The dilemma of using pesticides and herbicides to eliminate non-native plants and their residual effects on nearby vegetation and visiting pollinators.
The importance of avoiding placement of hives near cornfields (except sweet corn), or turf sod areas due to potential chemical treatments.
Awareness of spraying under or around powerlines by contractors employed through Duke Energy.

Beekeeping Reminders:
As temperatures cool, hobby beekeepers should monitor how quickly bees are consuming sugar water.
When temperatures drop, it’s best to switch from syrup to a layer of granulated sugar placed on newspaper at the top of the hive.

See you all at the November 18th meeting. 

Please join us a week from today, October 21, 2025 for our next meeting. Please come at 6:30 pm to socialize. 7:00 pm our formal meeting will begin with our guest speaker, Bart Renner, our local Cooperative Extension Agriculture Agent. 

Bart has been working with Cooperative Extension now for over 13 years. He will be sharing about landscaping and challenges facing beekeepers like local  forage, water sources and threats from pesticides and climate. 

We will be meeting at the same location, the Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC). See you at the meeting!

September 16, 2025, fourteen people were in attendance. Buddy made a motion to accept the August 19, 2025 minutes as emailed out August 28, 2025. Randy seconded the motion. All were in favor.

Devin reminded everyone that December is election month for the new association officers for 2026. He is willing to serve as President again. Priscilla is willing to serve as secretary for one more year. Randy has offered to take over the treasurer’s position. 

Rosemary has volunteered to line up speakers for our meetings. She would like to know what topics others would like to learn about. Randy suggested other pest besides mites, for example: skunks, wax moths, hive beetles, hornets, etc. Priscilla would like to learn more about when to re-queen and raising queens. 

Randy and Devin would like to see our association more involved in the community. They suggested having a table/booth for local county events to hand out information about beekeeping and our club. Maybe have a used beekeeping equipment sale and a co-op available. 

Lewis Cauble, the apiary Inspector for WNC was the speaker for our meeting. Lewis Cauble covers 21 counties. Please see his contact information below. 

There are three main recommendations Mr. Cauble made to keep your bee hives thriving. First, monitor and control the mite infestation. Second, feed and only when needed (when you have a new hive, Spring time when honey stores may be low, anytime you find your hive is starving, and to build up stores for the winter). You should have the box below full of bees with some honey. The box above should be full of food for the winter. If you feed too much, you may encounter an unwanted swarm. Third is to manage queen events. Know when the hive is replacing their queen, or building queen cells preparing to swarm. 

Next Mr. Cauble spoke about the different mite treatments available for our bees. Apiguard is a thymol based treatment and can be temperature sensitive. It can’t be too hot. He hasn’t encountered resistance to Apiguard yet. Apilife Var involves three treatments. Both Apiguard and Apilife Var do not permeate the capped brood. Formic Pro is an organic acid and does permeate the capped brood. Formic Pro can be too hard on bees if you use two pads at one time. Varroxsan is a new treatment out. You can use it with the honey supers on. It is good to try and hold the mite count down during the honey flow. Oxalic Acid and Api-Bioxal are both flash treatments. They only kill the mites present, not in capped brood. They are good to use mid December, early January. The treatments don’t last long. Ez-ox  is an oxalic acid tablet. 

Apivar was a good treatment to use in the past. However, its active ingredient is amitraz. Mr. Cauble has found the mites are creating a resistance to amitraz. He had four hives he treated with Apivar June 4, 2025. June 24, 2025 the mite count was down. July 27, 2025 some mite counts started to increase again. Mr. Caudle did a mite resistant test using the Apivar and found the mites were resistant. For more about the test and results, you can check out the NC State Extension’s website: https://pollinators.ces.ncsu.edu/2025/09/how-to-monitor-for-varroa-mites-the-right-way/?src=rss. 

Mr. Cauble has used Apivar in June/July and Oxalic Acid in the summer for about 10 years. It is best to try and alternate/use different medications instead of sticking with the same ones for long periods of time. It is very important to read the labels of all treatments and look at the manufacturer’s website! Make sure to read and follow all directions. Keep the hive entrances open, close the bottom if you have a screened bottom hive, use eye and glove protection. Don’t inhale the products. Kelly solutions is a good website to reference for information about pests control.  https://www.kellysolutions.com/NC/

Mr. Cauble’s take aways: Monitor “all” colonies to find the outliers. Immediate post treatment monitoring may not tell the whole story. You need to keep monitoring for mites. Every 4-6 weeks you should monitor for mites. You need to treat the whole bee yard, not just the hives that have a high mite count. Early spring, summer time after you have taken off the honey supers and treated, and then again in mid October are prime mite monitoring times. Get experience with as money products/tools as possible. https://pollinators.msu.edu/programs/keep-bees-alive.aspx is a good site for mite treatment information. The following is the method Mr. Cauble uses to check for mites. It is a good technique if you have a lot of hives to check:  https://youtu.be/ZrApRXqYofY?si=HXgS7tXhGakyCnG3 If you just have a few hives, Mr. Cauble states the varroa easy check mite tester works great too. 

If you have any questions about bees, please contact Lewis Cauble. You can call, text or email him. 

Hope to see you at our next meeting on October 21, 2025, 6:30 pm to socialize. The official meeting begins at 7 pm: 106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC. 

Please join us on September 16th at 6:30 pm to socialize. 7:00 pm our formal meeting will begin with our guest speaker, Lewis Cauble, the Western NC State Apiary Inspector, to talk about the current mite treatments and ApiVar resistance issues. We will be meeting at the same location, the Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC).

August 19, 2025, seventeen people were in attendance. Buddy made a motion to accept the July 15, 2025 minutes as emailed out on July 23, 2025. Mary seconded the motion. All were in favor.

A few members brought in samples of their honey for others to try. All had different flavors and were very good.

Devin Gentry (Transylvania County’s Association President) gave a presentation on preparing your hives for the winter. August is the time to think about winter. “When bees on clover, the flow is over”. Don’t take off too much honey. You need to make sure the bees have plenty of honey for winter. You may need to feed your bees with sugar water to make sure they have enough honey stored for the winter.  If your hives are low on stores now, he recommends feeding sugar syrup at a 1:1 ratio through early-mid september. After that you should switch to a thicker 2:1 ratio as you get later in fall. You shouldn’t feed your bees liquid in the winter. Fall syrup is thicker to keep moisture out.

Devin’s preferred winter configuration is usually one deep hive and a medium super on top. Both should be full with mostly honey and some brood. Don’t have a queen excluder on for winter. The queen needs to be able to move up for more honey. Brood is usually in the middle frames. The outside frames in both boxes should have honey. 

In August/September a lot of brood starts hatching out. Bob Binnie’s you-tube videos are a good resource. 

Now is also a good time to treat for mites. Alcohol or dawn dish soap in an EasyCheck container is a good way to check your mite count. You need about 300 bees (1/2 cup). Powder sugar doesn’t work well for a mite check. Our humidity is too high. 6 mites = 2% infestation. 9 mites = 3% infestation. If apiary has one hive over the mite count, you need to treat all the hives. Devin likes to use Apiguard this time of year for his bee mite treatment. 

September is a good time to add about 1/2 a pollen patty. After 7 days check to make sure it is being eaten. The patty can also attract hive beetles if it is not consumed by the bees. Devin is going to try the supplement Apis Biologix (https://www.apisbiologix.com/) as a supplement to prepare his bees for the winter. There are several other supplements that can be added to the sugar water to help the bees be healthy and survive the winter. You may want to also include beetle traps in your hives when feeding. Swiffer “unscented” mop pad refills are also a good way to catch beetles. You can add pieces of it to the corners of the hives. 

Need to add the entrance reducers on the hives as soon as your mite treatment is over to keep out mice and prevent robbing. When it starts cooling off, you can also add a shim board and Reflectix thermal bubble roll on top of the inner cover to provide extra insulation for the winter. Devin cuts a slit in the middle of the thermal wrap and adds some sugar, or a winter patty on top of the thermal wrap. Then he can just peek inside to see if they need more food for the winter. If they aren’t eating any of the supplemental food, then he knows they should have plenty of honey. 

Spring time you may want to add another deep box if your bees need more room to expand. 

Randy had a couple of announcements. There are still a few openings to volunteer at the state’s bee exhibit for the Mountain State Fair, September 5-14 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090944AFAC22A4F94-57401182-2025/185455551#/. Henderson County Beekeepers association will be having a full-day conference featuring Bob Binnie and other inspiring speakers October 11th. The location has not been confirmed yet. The cost will be around $60 to attend. https://hcbeekeepers.org/

Good luck with your winter preparation! 

Hope to see you all at our next meeting, Tuesday, September 16, 2025, 106 E Morgan St. Brevard, NC. 6:30 pm to mingle with  others. The official meeting begins at 7 and ends around 8 pm. 

On July 15, 2025 there were seven in attendance at the Transylvania County Beekeepers Association. Randy made the motion to approve the June 17, 2025 minutes as emailed out on June 30, 2025. Mary seconded the motion. All were in favor. We discussed the current sourwood flow and different ways to extract it. It is best if the honey is capped to keep out the humidity and to prevent the honey from souring. If some is not capped, you may use fans and dehumidifiers to get out the moisture. Sometimes even capped honey can have a high moisture content. You can use a refractometer to test the moisture content. It is good to have the moisture at 18.6 or lower to keep the honey from fermenting. 
Some members in attendance scrape out their plastic foundation frames to extract their honey. Some that have wax frames cut it into squares and squeeze out the honey. An electric honey extractor is a good investment and a lot easier to use, rather than a hand cranked extractor. 

Also discussed was what to do after the flow is over. It seems early, but right after you take off your last honey for the season, it is time to treat for mites. Please follow the instructions precisely. Some medicines require the temperatures to be below 85 degrees. Apiguard is what most preferred for the fall/winter treatment. There are natural ways to keep down the mite count. However, it takes a lot of work and time. If you have just a few hives, it may be something worthwhile to look into. 

After treating your mites, it will be time to get them ready for the winter to make sure they don’t starve. A 1:1 syrup recipe is a good mixture for feeding. Randy mentioned an email he received from Lewis Cauble. Lewis is looking for anyone interested in being a volunteer at the State Beekeepers booth at the Mountain State Fair in Arden this September. There are still plenty of open slots that need to be filled. Every volunteer gets free admission to the fair and free parking at the fairgrounds. The time slots are for four hours. You may do one time slot, or several. You need to sign up before August 1st. This is the link for more information:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090944AFAC22A4F94-57401182-2025?fbclid=IwY2xjawLj1W9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE2eFI1emtNYVc3dFYwQkxMAR4DPSVNamu-_C53ZPGYAgEncjs7_pE4gXZfHcvHTa9KKDqtsbU410BsSouK0Q_aem_9EpIOzCgIm5ND59Hwgt3Tw#

Hope to see everyone at the next August 19, 2025 bee meeting. It may be a sticky one if everyone gets lots of honey. 

On June 17, 2025 we had twenty people in attendance at the Transylvania County Beekeeper’s Association meeting. Randy made a motion to accept the 5/20/25 minutes as emailed out on 5/27/25 with the change to correct infected to affected. Sheila seconded the motion. All were in favor. We have $508 to date in the association’s fund. It is $10 per person, $15 per family to join our Association, per calendar year. 

The NC State Beekeepers Association is meeting close by this year at Blue Ridge Community College in Hendersonville, NC, July 10-12 https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/calendar/state-meetings/2025-summer-meeting. There will be a lot of information to take in and vendors to visit. 

Our speaker for the evening was Carla Robertson. Carla is a member of the Henderson County’s Beekeepers Association https://hcbeekeepers.org/. They meet on the third Monday of the month at 100 Extension Drive located at Jackson Park.

Carla has grown up in the family business of raising bees. The family business is Hoopers Creek Bee Company in Arden, NC. https://hooperscreekbeeco.wordpress.com/ They keep their bees both in FL and NC in order to have a wide selection of bees and honey to offer. 

Carla manages Save American Honey Association, which was established this year https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/programs/real-nc-honey. Carla is trying to raise consumer awareness and clear up misunderstandings about real honey and our agriculture bee industry. She wants to show all the hard work that is involved in real honey production. 

Some honey being sold is being blended with other syrups such as corn syrup, rice syrup, sugar, or high-fructose corn syrup. Both domestic honey (produced and harvested in the US by American beekeepers) and imported honey may be blended and not real honey. Honey labels can be deceiving. The label may say 100% US Grade A, local and not actually be local honey. Only 60% of the honey has to be from a local bee farm in order to call it local honey. Please check out the u-tube video regarding fake honey: https://youtu.be/G4Z9XqBw3Bw

There are several different tests to analyze honey to tell if it is real honey. Some tests are not real accurate and can easily be falsified. The best test for real honey testing is a DNA test, but it is still not 100%. For instance, if several things are blooming at the same time as the sourwood, the DNA test may not come back to verify sourwood honey even though it may be taken during the sourwood honey flow. 

There is currently no policing to keep the honey real. Only when someone contacts the real NC honey program concerned is there follow up into blended, ultra-filtered or adulterated honey. Beekeepers selling their honey can join the certified honey program https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/programs/certified-honey-producer/certified-honey-producer-application There is just a small $25 fee for two years to join. The National Honey Board just passed the USDA definition of what is pure honey. https://honey.com/

Carla ended the meeting with a variety of real honey for participants to sample. 

Hope to see you all at our next meeting on July 15th.