Bee Yard Project – Surry County Beekeepers Association

Last fall (2019), a committee was formed to investigate starting a club bee yard that would serve to raise North Carolina queens for members of the club plus be able to sell outside of the club as a way to help support the needs of the bee yard. The project would grow out of the NCSBA Born and Bred Queen Rearing program helping to facilitate queen rearing education and also starting to raise more Carolina queen bees.

The committee has been meeting on a regular basis and has presented plans to the membership on two different occasions since first forming. In addition to planning the set up and financing of the new bee yard, the committee has found space for the bee yard — property managed by NC State off of Zephyr Mountain Park Road in Dobson.

The first year of operation (2020) will be growing strong colonies that will be available for queen rearing operations in 2021.

The committee consists of:

Chair	Davie Simpson (336) 320-8363
Member	Eugene Brown
Member	Dawn Albin
Member	Ed Reynolds
Member	Bill McArthur
Member	Kerry Symanowicz
Member	Matt Kazee
Member	Barbara Smith
Member	Alan Gordon
Member	Ed Snow

The committee is received a grant from the NC Pesticide Environmental Trust Fund on March 10, 2020. The proposal for the grant may be viewed here: Grant Proposal.

There are also sponsorship opportunities for businesses or individuals wishing to help support the project. Sponsors pay $200 and will be able to “adopt” a hive. The hive will have a plaque with their name on it. Sponsor names or logos will be added to the SCBA banner used at public events and will be highlighted on our website as well. Anyone interested in sponsoring a hive should contact SCBA Treasurer Ed Reynolds at 336-352-3345.

To learn more about how this project is shaping up, read the following posts (most include pictures):

Also, many of our “How To” videos are in the bee yard and you can learn more about how the bees are by watching these: