Central Iowa Beekeeping Association- 2024 Winter Seminar

2024 Central Iowa Beekeepers Association

Winter Seminar
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Iowa Arboretum and Gardens
1875 Peach Ave., Madrid, IA 50156

Registration Form

2024 CIBA Winter Seminar Regestration Fill & Print (1)

Speakers

Morning Session

Andy Joseph, IA State Apiarist

Entomology & Plant Science Bureau, IA Department of Ag. and Land Stewardship (IDALS), Ankeny, IA
Andy has been with IDALS as the State Apiarist for 16 years. As such, he oversees the Apiary
program which is a combination of regulatory certification, beekeeper education efforts, and
promotion of the beekeeping industry. He travels the state working with beekeepers.
Additionally, with his family, he runs about 270 bee hives in the Des Moines area as Meadow
BlazingStar Honey. Andy enjoys leading a beginner beekeeper class annually in Central Iowa,
is the Apiary Superintendent at the IA State Fair, and serves on the Board of the IA Honey
Producers Association.

Bob Fassbinder
Fastbinder Apiaries, Elgin, IA

Bob started keeping bees in 1976, after graduating from Iowa State University with an
engineering degree and serving in the U.S. Navy. Fassbinder Apiaries is a family
business based in Elgin in the northeast Iowa county of Fayette. Bob is an innovative
and passionate beekeeper, proactive in promoting land stewardship and a diverse
landscape for bees. He has worked to improve the genetic health of his bees by
selecting successful local colonies and producing his own queens.

Steve & Becky Tipton
Country Creek Honey, Meriden, KS

Becky and Steve have been producing and selling honey for 30
years. Becky is President of the Kansas Honey Producers, past
president of the NE Kansas Beekeepers Association and a master
beekeeper. She teaches beekeeping and using products of the
hive for skin care by making soaps, lotions, and balms. Steve
received his master beekeeper award from the University of
Nebraska, Midwest Master Beekeeper program. He loves sharing
his passion for beekeeping. Steve is retired from the Goodyear
Tire Co engineering department; beekeeping is his retirement job as well as other
farming chores on their small Kansas farm.

Afternoon session

Matt Lance

Lance Honey Farms, Kearney, NE

Matt is owner and operator of Lance Honey Farms in central Nebraska, operating over 350
colonies and supplies Nebraska beekeepers with local raised nucs and queens. Matt also
teaches intro beekeeping courses in-person, over streaming services and on 2 central
Nebraska community college campuses, all while operating a beekeeping supply company
and a full-time job. Matt is married and father of two.

John Hill, President
HillCo., LLC, Minonk, IL

John has been fascinated with honeybees ever since he was 4 or 5 years old, wondering
what it looked like inside a beehive, and how bees made that delicious, golden honey. He
caught his first swarm of bees at age 16 and has been a beekeeper most of the time since
then. Bees are definitely a passion of his and now his wife and 4 kids are involved as well.
His business, HillCo is a nationally known, full-line beekeeping supplier shipping product all
over the US and Canada.

Phil Ebert

Ebert Honey Co., LLC, Lynnville, IA

Phil began Ebert Honey in 1980 with less than ten colonies in the backyard of his home
near Fairfield, Iowa. What started out as a hobby later grew into a family business. Over
the years, all four of Phil’s sons worked in the honey business as they grew up. Currently
Phil and two sons, Adam and Alex, continue to build the business. Today, Ebert Honey is
centered around locations in Lynnville and Mount Vernon, Iowa. Most of the honey is sold
directly to grocery stores, bakeries, breweries, and restaurants throughout central and
eastern Iowa. Phil is a frequent speaker at Iowa beekeeping clubs and contributes a
monthly column to the BUZZ, the Iowa Honey Producers Association monthly newsletter,
concentrating on useful beekeeping observations and practices.