October 2025 Meeting Recap

Local 4^th generation farmers, Allen and Jayme Beneker, gave a very informative presentation on their plans and process for building a new Regional Agricultural Education & Event Center, which will be located on their Beneker Family Farms, in southern Franklin County.  They currently operate a self-serve retail store on their farm, where besides selling their own farm raised beef, they sell locally produced honey products and other regionally produced food items. 

When complete, their event and learning center will house multiple inspected commercial kitchens, not only for their processing needs, but for other food producers and educators to use for their own processing and educational opportunities.  The facilities will be available for various meetings, seminars and conferences, as well as receptions and other group gatherings.  They envision holding festivals on the campus as well.  These facilities and operation will be a great addition to our regional community, and a valuable resource for local beekeepers and other food and goods producers in the area.  The Benekers hope to break ground yet this year, with completion in the fourth quarter of 2026.  

DEMONSTRATION/ROUNDTABLE:
Additionally, SIBA member, Jeff Montag, demonstrated mixing the granulated sugar and filling a candy-board for use on overwintering colonies.  In the process, he facilitated round-table discussion and Q&A on the benefits of candy-boards, how to make them, and what to expect during the winter when using them.  It was a good group discussion with great input added from the club members on hand.  The completed candy-board was given away as one of several door prizes.

SIBA business:

1. SIBA board member terms ended for Whitney Cooley and Jeff Montag.  With no other members entering their candidacy to election to the board, and Whitney’s and Jeff’s willingness to continue for another three year term, there was a motion made and hand vote taken to approve the re-seating of Whitney and Jeff to the board.  The motion passed with no opposition.
2. The materials request for our SIBA Education and Outreach program, was taken up as a matter of general discussion.  Along with explaining the list of items and what we expect in use and availability of these materials, we reaffirmed that education and outreach are stated prominently in our Mission Statement, and that we hope to use these to grow that part of our mission.  After short discussion, there was a floor motion put forward to approve the funds requested, ($750) in total.  This motion passed with no opposition.

Upcoming SIBA events:

1. November 20^th: Regular SIBA Monthly Meeting: Topic: “Late Winter and Early Spring Beekeeping”; by guest presenters HappBee Acres Bee Farm (from Batavia, OH)
2. No December Regular Meeting, in lieu of,
3. Sat.,Dec. 20th: SIBA Christmas Gathering at St. John’s in Dover.

Other upcoming events:

1. TBoI Fall Conference; October 17^th & 18^th in Indianapolis, IN  (obviously now over)
2. American Bee Federation (ABF) Conference & Tradeshow; January 6^th-10^th in Mobile, Alabama
3. North American Honey Bee Expo 2026; January 8^th-10 in Louiville, KY
4. TBoI Indiana Bee School XXIV: Saturday Feb. 28^th, 2026 (at a new location in Carmel, IN).