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CVBA September 2025 Newsletter


 

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Veteran beekeeper, Ron Stilwell has handled literally millions of stinging insects over the years. When not beekeeping, he relieves local homeowners and businesses of the hassle and fear of ground-dwelling yellow jackets, while also providing support for people seeking venom immunotherapy. 2 


Photo courtesy of Ron Stilwell 

Yellow jacket wasps are collected live, flash frozen, and shipped to a laboratory in Washington State where their venom extracted for clinical use. 

Ron Stilwell manages about 100 colonies in a variety of settings around suburban Henrico and Richmond City. 

Ron is a VSBA Master Beekeeper and Richmond Beekeepers Association board member who is dedicated to furthering the cause and practice of localized sustainable, organic beekeeping through his own practices and in educating and mentoring Richmond-area beekeepers in producing local queens and starter colonies. 

Following the presentation we will have an informal hive management Q&A time with experienced local beekeepers. 

Upcoming Events 

Mark your calendar: 

September 19: CVBA Officer Nominations due (see “CVBA Elections” below for more details.) 

September 21, 4-6 pm: CVBA Meeting at Greenwood Community Center in Crozet. VSBA Master Beekeeper and Richmond Beekeepers Association board member Ron Stilwell discusses the complex lifecycle of the often maligned yellow jacket and how they are both similar and different to honey bees. Includes Q&A after presentation. 3 


Club News 

October / November: Beginning Beekeeping Course. Register through Albemarle Parks & Recreation Meeting Dates: Sundays, Oct 5, 12, 19, 26 & Nov 2, 2025, 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Greenwood Community Center shelter (see more details below) 

October 19: Club Elections at Greenwood Community Center in Crozet (see “CVBA Elections” below for more details.) 

Oct 25 & 26: VSBA Annual Meeting in Wytheville VA (see carpool sign up information below) 

Honey Extractors Available 

Looking to extract honey? CVBA has several extractors to borrow that are free to use! 

To request an extractor, contact either 

434-973-0807 

or 

Malcolm Augat, malcolm.augat@gmail.com, 

386-295-2912 4 


Photo courtesy of Ryan Williamson 

Mentorship Program 

Mentors help new beekeepers figure out equipment, learn proper beekeeping and mite management techniques, and troubleshoot problems. Having a mentor is a great way to learn as a beginner, and can really help you and your bees in the first few years when you don't have much experience. 

Being a mentor is extremely helpful for the community, and teaching others is a great way to continue learning as an experienced beekeeper. Please consider volunteering to be a mentor, it's a lot of fun! 

If you are a first- or second-year beekeeper and would like an experienced beekeeper as a mentor, please email centralvbamentor@gmail.com. 

If you have several years of experience with bees and are willing to be a mentor, please also email centralvbamentor@gmail.com. 

BeeFOps 

Beekeeping Field Opportunities 

Keep an eye open for emails announcing upcoming BeeFOps, often on short notice. Also, please consider sponsoring a BeeFOp to share your experience with other club members. If you'd like to sponsor a BeeFOp but don't feel like you have enough expertise, we can connect you with more experienced club members to help. 

BeeFOps are a GREAT way to gain knowledge and experience, and to connect with other club members. Routine colony checks, mite counts, and mite treatments are just a few ideas for sponsoring or attending a BeeFOp. For more information contact Art Freeman at nameerftra@yahoo.com . 

Ryan Williamson hosted a mite washing workshop for club members in August. 

BeeFOps are BeeFun and BeeEducational 5 


Artists wanted!! 

CVBA is now taking submissions for a new logo 

If you are feeling artistic, you can email your logo submission to malcolm.augat@gmail.com. Please include "CVBA logo" in the subject line of the email so that it doesn't get lost in the pile. Similarly, if you have questions about logo submissions, please email malcolm.augat@gmail.com. 

We'll be accepting submissions until September 20th, and then the club will vote to choose among the submissions (and we'll include the old logo among the options for voting in case folks don't want to change things). 

A few guidelines to keep in mind for logo designs: 

1. The submitted logo will be used by the club for promotional materials, websites, and other uses as needed, and this might include times when it is difficult or impossible to credit the author (e.g., flyers). Please only submit a logo if you are ok with the club using it as needed. 

2. If possible, please include an image of your submission in a lossless format (e.g., PNG or SVG). If this doesn't work or doesn't make sense to you, no worries --- don't let it deter you! We'll work with you to get things in the best format : ) 

3. Similarly, try to submit a high-resolution image if possible so that we can resize it if needed. 

4. We'll want to use the logo both on websites and flyers, and potentially to print out shirts or other physical merchandise. Complex logos with small designs or lots of colors often are more difficult or expensive for physical printing or embroidery. If your design is very complex, we might ask you to come up with a simpler version just for use in printing (e.g., an outline or reduced color version if your design has color gradients). 

5. If you source any images or elements from the web, please make sure you are not infringing on any copyright. Public domain elements should be safe to use, but most other licensed material won't work. 

6. Please no AI generated images. Most large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) are trained on data that violates artists’ intellectual property rights, and so using them places us in a dubious place both morally and legally 6 


CVBA Elections 

The Central Virginia Beekeepers Association is seeking nominations for the 2026 Board of Directors. The deadline to submit a nomination is Friday, September 19. The election will be held at the October 19 CVBA meeting. 

Here is a list of the open positions: 

President 

First Vice President 

Second Vice President 

Secretary 

Treasurer 

Qualifications: 

Must be a member of CBVA, have an interest in bees and beekeeping, and willing to hold the office for at least one year. Nominees do NOT have to be experts in bees or beekeeping. Quite the opposite. Joining the CVBA Board of Directors is a great way to learn about bees and beekeeping. 

How can I become a nominee? 

CVBA members may nominate themselves or someone else (with their consent.) Nominations must include the name of the nominee, the office being sought, and the email address and phone number of the nominee. 

If you are nominating someone other than yourself, please include your name, email address and phone number as well as theirs. 

Will nominees have the opportunity to introduce themselves to club members? 

While elections will be in October, candidates will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes each at the September club meeting. All members are encouraged to attend the meeting and meet the candidates. Candidates will 7 


also have an opportunity to submit 1-2 brief paragraphs to the October newsletter by emailing CVBA Newsletter Editor Carolyn O’Neal at carolynjoneal57@gmail.com 

But I’m new to beekeeping, how can I be a club officer? 

New beekeepers who are CVBA members are especially encouraged to nominate themselves for a position as club officer. You don’t have to be an expert beekeeper to run for office. All you need is the desire to work together with other CVBA members to make sure our club remains an asset to our members, to our community, and to our honeybees. 

How much of a time commitment is involved? 

The best people to answer that question are the current club officers. Here is a list of the officers and their contact information. Drop them an email or give them a call if you want to know more about the role of CVBA Board members. 

President Marty Silverman 

Phone: 434-996-6310 

First Vice President Margaret Eldridge 

Phone: 571-232-2939 

Second Vice President Malcolm Augat 

Phone: 386-295-2912 

Treasurer Ian Henry 

Phone: 434-823-8600 

Secretary Karen Hall 

Phone: 434-973-0807 

Please email nominations to Marty Silverman (m.silverman@comcast.net) AND 

to Len Soika (Len-CVBA@protonmail.com) 

Questions? Contact Marty Silverman at m.silverman@comcast.net 8 


Beginning 

Beginning Beekeeping Course 

Register through Albemarle Parks & Recreation: 

https://www.albemarle.org/government/parks-recreation/programs/classes Meeting Dates:


Sundays, Oct 5, 12, 19, 26 & Nov 2, 2025                   

Time: 2:00pm to 4:00pm


Location:at Greenwood Community Center shelter


Price:

~ $60


 
 
 
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