The Northeast NJ Beekeepers Oct. 16 meeting will host Jorik Phillips and Megan Denver of Hudson Valley Bee Supply. They will be talking to us on sustainable beekeeping and bee hunting. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at Ramapo College.
Jorik Phillips

Jorik began his fascination with bees when he installed his first seven colonies in hives of his own making. Since then, his fascination has grown into a passion and full time business.
His first years were spent learning to divide his large colonies into smaller nucleus colonies. Eager to expand his rapidly growing hobby, he began queen rearing and seeking out different races of bees and becoming familiar with their traits. He began focusing on the ones with favorable attributes and best suited to the northern region all the while broadening the genetic diversity of the stock in his apiary.
Part of his growing business included removing bees from old barns and farm houses near his home in Huntersland, NY. He started noticing a recurring story of how these wild bees had lived on their own for decades in these buildings. It seemed only logical to incorporate these feral, survivor bees into his genetic pool which he continues to do.
Megan Denver

Megan’s interest in beekeeping started on her father’s dairy farm near Delhi, NY. As a young child she didn’t work with the bees but remembers how fascinating they were to watch. After building a home in Woodstock, NY she knew the first project for the yard was a beehive and she’s been hooked on beekeeping ever since.
After many years of buying beekeeping supplies online and being on the board of The Catskill Mountain Beekeepers’ Club she got the hare brain idea of opening a bee supply shop.
Her passion for bees, honey, wax and propolis is contagious and she is always interested in what’s going on in the hives. She also spends as much time she can in the summer in the woods bee lining. Her goal is to set up mating yards near wild bee trees to tap the genetic potential of the wild survivor bees.