# Greetings from Snowy Wisconsin



## AmericasBeekeeper

Welcome David! You are so fortunate. I have brought my children and grandchildren out to the hives but they are just curious. 
My Dad picked up the bug from me. I started at 11 and he had to drive me out to the groves for several years. In a couple years he wanted to get in on the fun. I already paid for the extractor, capping melter, knives, tanks, etc. I had 20 hives from splits, never bought bees. My Dad bought bees, 25 hives. 
I went all over the world for 20+ years with the Marines. I too came back to small hive beetles, varroa, and beekeepers putting chemicals in the hive?!?!


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## Specialkayme

Welcome to the site!


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## WI-beek

Welcome! Glad to hear the joy the bees bring to your family. 

Wisconsin, land of cheese, beer, bees and super bowl champs. What a state!


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## JohnK and Sheri

Hi David
And Welcome to the best beekeeping site on the web. 
Sheri


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## Beeslave

Welcome to Beesource


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## Bee Bliss

Welcome David! This time I didn't have to look at the Wisconsin map! When the family visits you from Scotland hopefully they bring you some of the local honey in addition to the new honey, Eilish!


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## Tappert

OMG...just noticed that I misspelled our granddaughter's name. It's Eilish, sort of rhymes with A-list, and is Gaelic for Elizabeth. She's almost five months old.

Thanks to all who have posted and made me feel welcome.

I forgot to mention that I do have a few other interests and loves: old barns and timber framing, trains, vintage Farmall tractors, fishing. I own a Super M Farmall.

On the tractor front, I visit a couple of forums and have done so for a few years. On almost a daily basis I spar with guys from Iowa, Illinois, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, North Carolina, South Dakota, Florida, Oregon and elsewhere.

I need to get out the old atlas and see where some of you live in Wisconsin and other places. I'm not familiar with some of those WI towns.

Someone mentioned getting beekeeping supplies from Lapp's. That's a good place. It's also just north of Dadant & Sons in Watertown. We tend to get most of our stuff there. We also get a little of Brushy Mountain and Mann Lake.

Someone else mentioned the Appleton area. This past weekend, Dadant held its annual seminar/workshop down in Kenosha. One of the teachers, a very knowledgeable hobby beekeeper and good fella, was from the Fox Valley. His name is Dean Zaretzke, and he has taught many beginning classes at Fox Valley Tech College. Might be good to know for a newbee.

David


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## Bee Bliss

I have been trying to find out about any beginning classes at FV Tech. Will have to check it out. Thanks! Going to a Beekeeping seminar in Green Bay this Saturday.

We get supplies from Dadant, Mann Lake and Betterbee. Bees thru Dadant in Watertown.


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## Tappert

Bee Bliss said:


> I have been trying to find out about any beginning classes at FV Tech. Will have to check it out. Thanks! Going to a Beekeeping seminar in Green Bay this Saturday.
> 
> We get supplies from Dadant, Mann Lake and Betterbee. Bees thru Dadant in Watertown.


Bee Bliss...if you've picked up bees in Watertown before, you know how hectic and frenzied the loading ramp up to that old barn can be. It's wild and exciting. Bees everywhere. I'm very happy with the bees Lee sells. As you may know, he gets them from several suppliers in California and is very proud of them. Lee Heine is a wonderful ambassador and a powerful voice for beekeepers in this state. His wife Nadine is a honey, no pun intended.

Have a great time at your seminar in Green Bay.

David


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## dcross

Welcome! The first tractor I ever drove was a Super M-TA, my grandpa bought it new, it still sees regular use


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## emptyenergy

Hi David, 

I'm basically down the road from you. Good to have you here.

John


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## Bee Bliss

David,
Last year was our first with bees. We took the 2 hour drive to Watertown and skies were sunny and blue with clouds when we left there. During our drive back home the sky got more cloudy and then overcast. We arrived home with rain starting and 20 minutes later tornado sirens. The bees spent the night in the garage! We had cold and very windy for a couple of days.

It was exciting to pick up the bees that day and hardly anyone was there at the time. Bees flying everywhere! We walked to the loft and a bee promptly landed on my bare arm and was walking around. I knew it wouldn't sting me unless I gave it a reason. I think we got more bees than what is usually in a 3# package. Nice value.


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## Roland

Greetings. I am close to you, to the north. We have bees in Eastern Dodge and NE Jefferson county. I get down to Raymond quite often. 

Try Dean's or Sheri's bees, I think you will like them better.

Roland


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## Tappert

dcross said:


> Welcome! The first tractor I ever drove was a Super M-TA, my grandpa bought it new, it still sees regular use


When I was in high school, I worked on farms around here putting up hay. One of the farmers pulled his baler with the Super M-TA. He'd get into some tough patches and pull on that lever. When he released the lever, the tractor would lurch ahead and just about pitch you off the wagon. He'd just look back and grin.

The first tractor I ever drove was my grandfather's 1944 H. (Not the beekeeper Grandpa; the farmer Grandpa.) That ol' gal sits today at my cousin's house and still runs. Unfortunately he's left it outside all these years, so the paint is about gone. I've offered to buy it, but he insists he plans to restore it. Sure.


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## Tappert

emptyenergy said:


> Hi David,
> 
> I'm basically down the road from you. Good to have you here.
> 
> John


John...you're not a member of the Racine/Kenosha Beekeepers are you? I am. But it's a pretty large group and I don't know everybody. I do know we have a couple members from Union Grove. And I'm too lazy right now to go downstairs and try to match up "John" with "Union Grove" on the member list.

Me bad.

David


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## Tappert

Roland said:


> Greetings. I am close to you, to the north. We have bees in Eastern Dodge and NE Jefferson county. I get down to Raymond quite often.
> 
> Try Dean's bees, I think you will like them better.
> 
> Roland


Roland...thanks. Raymond? I think I know a red-tractor guy from Raymond named Bill Osman. Haven't seen him in a few years. Nice fella.

By "Dean's," I assume you mean Lapp. I'd be interested in knowing why you think his bees are better. I have friends who get theirs from him. I have no axe to grind on this, but would like to know your reasons. I'm always open to learning something new.

Thanks.

David


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## emptyenergy

I am a newer member...started going this past summer. So I will be at the March meeting seeing as the blizzard canceled the last one.

John


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## Roland

His and Sheri's are more gentle, expand faster, and sometimes cheaper.

Roland


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## dcross

My dad just got the M and manure spreader stuck in the snow bank along a ditch and couldn't back out. He sat there a second, then down through the ditch, up the far side, U turn in the field and back down, through to the road. Reminded me of the joke about being buried with it just in case you went to hell...


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## greif

Tappert said:


> Someone else mentioned the Appleton area. This past weekend, Dadant held its annual seminar/workshop down in Kenosha. One of the teachers, a very knowledgeable hobby beekeeper and good fella, was from the Fox Valley. His name is Dean Zaretzke, and he has taught many beginning classes at Fox Valley Tech College. Might be good to know for a newbee.
> 
> David


if you run across classes at fvtc please let us know

thanks
gary


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## Tappert

dcross said:


> My dad just got the M and manure spreader stuck in the snow bank along a ditch and couldn't back out. He sat there a second, then down through the ditch, up the far side, U turn in the field and back down, through to the road. Reminded me of the joke about being buried with it just in case you went to hell...


dcross...you've got some real pretty farmland up there around Kiel. Lots of open, rolling ground for the snow to blow in on and drift. I have a tractor buddy who lives up there near Valders. Lot of red up there. We seem to have a lot of green down here. We also have a German Shorthair that we rescued, Emma, and the gal who runs that rescue organization lives up there too. You go up Hwy 57.

David


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## Mtn. Bee

Welcome fellow Cheesehead! 
Yes, I used to be in your ranks back in the Bart Starr days!
Don't forget about the Lombardi days, they were awesome!
Have fun with the family and bees, that is what it is all about! :thumbsup:


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## Jesse

My family still farms with their old farmall tractors. I think they are mostly from the 50's. They have an M with a front-end loader, 2 MD's and a H. My uncle sold the "A" I think it was, it had a mower deck on it. He still has a couple others that are mostly for parts. Great fun!

I have also bought bees from Lee in Watertown and experienced first-hand the chaos of picking up bees at the old barn. 

Good to have another Wisconsin beekeeper on beesource, can't have too much of a good thing! Welcome to the forum.


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## emptyenergy

Jesse, 
Where are you at on the island...my wife's family has had property up there for probably 60 years...spend quite a bit of time up there in the summer.

John


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## Jesse

Sort of all over when I'm there. I am in Madison now finishing up my degree at UW. My family owns KK Fiske and we grow the wheat for Capitol Brewery's Island Wheat Ale. My mom has a home on Rangeline and Michigan rd. The rest of the family is mostly on the west side.

If you have been coming up there that long, I'm sure my grandma knows you - she knows everyone associated to the island I think .


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## emptyenergy

Jesse, 
I've only been going up since I met my wife. Their cabin is the one just north of the Jacobsen museum. We get up there a few times a summer. My wife's great grandfather owned a gift shop that is now Northstar reality...across from the Albatros ...Chet Hubbard was his name.

John


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## Tappert

Jesse said:


> My family still farms with their old farmall tractors. I think they are mostly from the 50's. They have an M with a front-end loader, 2 MD's and a H. My uncle sold the "A" I think it was, it had a mower deck on it. He still has a couple others that are mostly for parts. Great fun!
> 
> I have also bought bees from Lee in Watertown and experienced first-hand the chaos of picking up bees at the old barn.
> 
> Good to have another Wisconsin beekeeper on beesource, can't have too much of a good thing! Welcome to the forum.


Jesse...took the ferry to Washington Island about a million years ago. Neat place. We used to have a doctor down here in Lake Geneva, named Britt Kolar, who I think grew up on the island. He retired a few years ago. Does your grandma remember that family?

David


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## Barry

Welcome David! Another cheeshead we can handle, don't know about another Packer fan though! 

Are you near the lake? I'll be putting a few hives on a property just off the lake shore on the south side this spring. Lots of good forage around there. Perhaps we can meet when I'm up there.


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## Jesse

emptyenergy said:


> Jesse,
> I've only been going up since I met my wife. Their cabin is the one just north of the Jacobsen museum. We get up there a few times a summer. My wife's great grandfather owned a gift shop that is now Northstar reality...across from the Albatros ...Chet Hubbard was his name.
> 
> John


Masker? something like that? The cabin by the Gau's? she knew chet hubbard "he was a very nice man" - jeweler?

I don't know anything about them personally, but Grandma still is sharp as a tack


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## Jesse

Tappert said:


> Jesse...took the ferry to Washington Island about a million years ago. Neat place. We used to have a doctor down here in Lake Geneva, named Britt Kolar, who I think grew up on the island. He retired a few years ago. Does your grandma remember that family?
> 
> David


We are farming some land - I thought the name was kohler - but i could be wrong on the spelling - the farm is on the SE side of the island. They sold 20 acres off of it a couple of years ago. Rae(?) is the matriarch of the family, they aren't on the island very much at all anymore.


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## hoodswoods

It's neat to realize that bees can pretty much live anywhere (I believe that in Wisconsin, they just survive) - greetings from 70 degree Georgia (later this week), just don't inquire of me late July.


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## emptyenergy

Yep, a jeweler...and yep, the cabin next to the Gau's.


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## Tappert

Barry said:


> Welcome David! Another cheeshead we can handle, don't know about another Packer fan though!
> 
> Are you near the lake? I'll be putting a few hives on a property just off the lake shore on the south side this spring. Lots of good forage around there. Perhaps we can meet when I'm up there.


Barry...small world. I live on the south shore, about 1/4 mile away from the lake. I'm just off of Linn Road, which ends at the part of the lake called "The Narrows." It's about the center, east to west.

It would be great to get together with you. What's the best way to get in touch?

David


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## emptyenergy

David...we've been pretty close to that on our yearly hikes around the lake.

John


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## Tappert

Barry said:


> David -
> 
> That is close! I'll be just off Wooddale Dr. to the West.
> PM me your phone number and I'll call you when I know I'll be heading up that way. Spent most of last year working there.


I'll do that. Good old Wooddale. A lot of that area was developed back in the 50s and 60s by an old-time builder/developer named John Syver, a Norwegian, whose own home is on Linn Road. It's a Scandinavian log home, and his son lives there now.

If you see homes there with a flagstone-like siding and every so often there's a design element with small pieces of flagstone set edge-out, that's a Syver home. He also did some of the log cabins over there.

The horse farm that stretches up to Southshore Drive? As a highschool student working on farms in the summer, I used to rake hay for that farmer, Vernon Niles.

Small world.

David


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## Tappert

emptyenergy said:


> David...we've been pretty close to that on our yearly hikes around the lake.
> 
> John


John...ahh yes, _that's_ a hike, isn't it? As you know, it's a 26-mile trek along the lake shore. If you walk the road, it's 23 miles.

I did both--when I was a bit younger. Once with my dog.

It's a great Geneva Lake tradition. I love the signs you see along the way, and the many styes of houses. I remember one on the north shore that said something like, "Welcome to our property. If a big black dog runs toward you from our home, do not be alarmed. He is friendly. His name is Charley. Just pat him on the head and he will be fine."

David


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