July's Monthly Meeting: Preparing to Overwinter Your Hives in Michigan

Date:  Tue, July 12, 2022  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Auditorium at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Online on Zoom

Topic: Preparing to Overwinter Your Hives in Michigan

The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to arrive in the auditorium or sign in online starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.

Speaker: Clay Ottoni. 

From Mr. Ottoni: By profession, I have been an attorney since 1984.

I have been farming for over five (5) decades growing cover crops, row crops, vegetables as well as fruits including fruit trees including apples, cherries, grapefruits, lemons, limes, mulberries, nectarines, oranges, paw paws, peaches, pears, persimmons and plums; small fruits including blackberries, blueberries, currents, elderberries, figs, gooseberries, grapes, haskap berries, jostaberries, juneberries, kiwi, raspberries, and strawberries; nut trees including acorns, allegheny chinkapin, beechnuts, hazelnuts (filberts), hickories, pecans, and walnuts (black and carpathian) and sustainably maintaining honey bee hives for pollination as well as for production of bees, honey, wax, etc. without having to buy any new bees or queens for decades.

I became a Master Gardener (and later as an Advanced Master Gardener and Master Gardener of the Year), by volunteering at Michigan State University Tollgate Education Center  (where I was the recipient of the Golden Shovel Award and, later, the Ginger Meyer Award) helping, for over 20 years, with, among other things, the High Density Orchard (being the Area Leader for over 20 years), Maple Syrup and Beekeeping Programs and the 4H club.

I have also been volunteering for several years with:

• Beekeeping Clubs including the Michigan Beekeeping Association (for whom I was a board member), the Southeastern Michigan Beekeeping Association (for whom I was a board member and then President and instructor for several years), Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeeping Club (for whom I am privileged to assist Jen Haeger with the field work of the Flow Hive Team and the Team Sunflower) and the Oakland Beekeeping Club (for whom I am the Vice President and instructor), all for whom I made presentations to youth and adults;
• Michigan Nut and Fruit Growers Association (becoming a Board member and their First Vice President during which I have made educational talks to youth and adults at the State Fair and other gatherings);
• National Wild Turkey Federation (becoming a member of the Oakland-Macomb County Chapter board volunteering with youth shots and hunts as well as habitat/pollination projects with elementary school classes including presentations to them);
• Pheasants Forever [becoming a Board member of the Oakland County Chapter, the Jackson County Chapter, Wayne County Chapter and the Thumb Chapter (volunteering with, among other things, youth shots and hunts as well as habitat/pollination projects with elementary school classes including presentations to them) as well as being a State Council member and receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award for both 2012 and 2018];
• Thumb Branch of NDA f/k/a QDMA (becoming a member of the board and in charge of the habitat restoration program including presentations to youth groups); and
• Tuscola’s Technical Advisory Committee.

​I am also a member of several other organizations including, but not limited to:
American Soybean Association, Arbor Day Foundation, Michigan Bar Association, Michigan Soybean Association, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

​​Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​