Events

2025 NHBA Muster Field Picnic July 26

Association
July 26, 2025
10:00 am
3:30 pm
Guest Speakers Sam Comfort, Dave Wade, and Troy Hall
Muster Field Farm Museum, Harvey Road North Sutton, NH 03260

UPDATE!

Due to a very generous donation from the Pemi-Baker Beekeepers Association we will be able to once again offer the Muster Field Picnic free to all regardless of club membership. RSVP required. Click here to register: https://www.nhbeekeepers.org/membership

Don't forget a veil, a chair, and a side dish or dessert.

Sam Comfort will be returning to discuss his method of treatment free beekeeping.

David Wade will be presenting: Adding Beeswax to Make Honeycomb- A New Discovery

Add rolled up pieces of wax foundation to your hives to get the bees to make comb on a frame which only contains a sheet of foundation or to get the bees to complete construction on partially built out frames.  I will demonstrate how I got the bees to build comb from this method through late season August and September.  I will also discuss my current spring experiment using six package hives with added wax rolls looking to see if they build out stronger and faster than control hives.  Wouldn't it be nice if the bees built out significantly more comb.

Check out his presentation here: https://youtu.be/bj60t74xc9s?si=UQzWegKDxWcclFXK

Dave has been a hobby beekeeper in Sturbridge, MA for 19 years.  His wax adding method has been seen in the June 2025 edition of American Bee Journal, along with two recent articles in the MA Beekeepers Association newsletter.  He has given a number of bee club presentations, along with an on-line one hosted by Dr. David Tarpy, of North Carolina State University.

There will be a presentation by our very own Beekeeper of the Year, Troy Hall, on performing the Harbo Assay to determine VSH.

There will be arts and crafts for kids, a raffle and don't forget our annual smoker contest!

Smoker Contest Rules

Please join us at 10 am at Muster Field for the Smoker Contest. Think you’re a “cracker jack” smoker guru? Come show us how it’s done! Here are the rules and regulations:

Each contestant may only use a regular size, billows smoker. No electric or battery operated

All smoker “fuel” will be provided so that everyone has the same materials to work with, and will be “all natural” items (straw, pines cones, pine needles, twigs, and shavings)

NOT allowed: burlap, wood pellets, commercial smoker fuel/pellets, accelerants

All contestants will be given three wooden matches and a strip of sandpaper, no torches, lighters, etc. will be allowed

Each participant will be given 5 minutes to light his/her Smoker with the fuel provided

After the Smoker is lit, as determined by the contestant, all smokers will be set down at the same location, facing the same direction

The winner is determined by how long the Smoker continues to smoke, after the Judge ONLY, squeezes the billows every ten minutes. The Last Smoker smoking is the Winner of the “Golden Smoker” trophy!

If multiple Smokers are smoking at the end of the contest the Smoker with the most unburned fuel will be determined the winner

Participants cannot receive help from other members

Disqualification is at the discretion of the Judges

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