2
CapitalPress.com
Friday, September 3, 2021
People & Places
Beekeeper: Honey sweet bonus for keeping hives alive
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
GLENOMA, Wash. —
A honey bee bumps Dave
Elliott in the head, and he
takes that as a warning to
step away from the hives.
Bees sting and it hurts, not
that Elliott holds that against
them.
“Yes, I love our honey
bees,” he says.
Elliott, 63, says he’s
addicted to bees and the
addiction fuels a commer-
cial enterprise. He and his
fiancee, Kathy Blake, sell
honey and make honey- and
wax-infused goods such as
soap and candles.
They started selling their
products at a farmers market.
“It just blew up from there,”
Elliott said. A year ago on
Labor Day, they opened a
store, Four Cedars Apiary, in
an old post office in eastern
Lewis County.
The post office is on land
they already owned, 38 miles
east of Interstate 5 and 99
miles west of Yakima.
Wild bees that swarmed
the rural area piqued Elliott’s
interest, and over the past 7
years, he’s trained himself to
be keep bees, while building
up hives.
“It’s been a lot of work.
Good fun work,” he said.
Elliott said bees are good
partners.
“All they want to do is
work,” he said. “It becomes a
synchronized effort between
the beekeeper and the bees.”
Elliott capped his formal
apiary education by passing
the University of Montana’s
online master beekeeper
class. He wrote his thesis on
treating wounds with honey.
He has honey every day. “I
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DAVE ELLIOTT
Age: 63
Hometown: Glenoma,
Wash.
Occupation: Beekeeper;
with fiancee Kathy Blake,
owns Four Cedars Apiary
in Glenoma.
Education: Master’s
certificate in beekeeping
from the University of
Montana.
Website: https://fource-
darsapiary.com/
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Lewis County, Wash., beekeeper Dave Elliott battles varroa mites to help his honey
bees survive.
don’t get sick,” he said.
Elliott said the main thing
he had to learn about bee-
keeping was why so many
of his bees weren’t staying
healthy.
The main enemy is the
varroa mite, he said.
Varroa mites are wingless
and eyeless and can’t crawl
far, yet they’ve managed to
become the leading cause of
bee colony losses, according
to the USDA.
There are four known
varroa mite species. The
most destructive is the aptly
named Varrora destructor.
The mites are para-
sites that live outside the
host and feed on adult bees
and larvae. Bees afflicted
with mites weigh less, have
weaker immune systems and
die earlier.
There’s more. Mites
open wounds that become
infected. Mites carry dis-
eases, such as Deformed
Wing Virus and Acute Bee
Paralysis Virus.
Varroa mites evolved
with Asian honey bees,
which developed defenses
to keep the mites in check.
Asian bees remove mites
from their fellow bees. Sci-
entists call it “grooming
behavior.”
Varroa mites in Asia
probably jumped to defense-
less European honey bees
in the 1950s, according to
research published in 2020
in “Trends in Parasitology.”
Varroa mites were found
on European honey bees in
Japan in 1957 and in Hong
Kong in 1963.
Since European honey
bees are a global commodity,
Varroa mites spread through-
out the world. By 1987, the
mites were in the U.S.
“You’ll never be able
to eradicate them,” Elliott
said. “They’re nasty little
buggers.”
To kill exposed mites,
Elliott applies oxalic acid,
naturally found in many veg-
etables, such as spinach, rhu-
barb and chard. Varroa mites
absorb oxalic acid and die.
Another defense used by
Elliott is formic acid, an irri-
tating pungent liquid pro-
duced by ants as a defense.
Some birds put ants in their
feathers to rid themselves of
mites.
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency has registered
products with oxalic acid and
formic acid to control varroa
mites around honey bees.
“If you don’t get out there
and treat the mites, the bees
won’t get past Thanksgiv-
ing,” Elliott said.
“My sole goal is to keep
those bees alive,” he said.
“Now that we’ve learned
to keep the bees alive, the
honey is a bonus.”
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OSU Extension agronomist retires after a growing career
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
After a childhood on a
dryland farm in Montana
and earning his master’s
degree in dryland wheat pro-
duction, Mylen Bohle’s pro-
fessional career went in a
different direction — irriga-
tion research.
Bohle was the Central
and Eastern Oregon agron-
omist for the Oregon State
University Extension Ser-
vice. He retired, kind of, on
July 30.
Bohle and his wife,
Diane, are moving from
Prineville, Ore., to Corval-
lis, Ore., where he will be
closer to the university and
will work half-time to fin-
ish up several research and
extension forage projects.
“The relationships I’ve
had have been tremendous,”
Bohle said of his career.
“Working with all the dif-
ferent growers and produc-
ers, whether large acreages
or small. … I can’t imagine
a better job. It’s been a great
career.”
It was a profession and
career that reeled Bohle in
after he had earned bache-
lor’s degrees in agricultural
economics and agronomy
from Montana State Uni-
versity in 1975, spent three
years in the Peace Corps in
Tunisia and earned his mas-
ter’s degree in crop science
from OSU.
While finishing his mas-
ferent types of hay and the
resulting yield and quality.
Bohle helped a group
of forage growers form the
Central Oregon Hay Grow-
ers in 1995 and then the Ore-
gon Hay and Forage Asso-
ciation in 1997. He helped
grape growers form the
Central Oregon Wine and
Grape Growers Association
in 2009 and was a founding
member of the Oregon For-
age and Grassland Council.
For many years, he was
a member of a Northwest
Courtesy of Mylen Bohle extension team that orga-
Mylen Bohle has retired as the Central and Eastern Ore- nized and held pasture and
gon agronomist for the Oregon State University Exten- grazing workshops for pro-
sion Service after 32 years of providing information to ducers in the western states.
forage producers.
Bohle was a co-editor and
one of 37 authors who wrote
ter’s work, Bohle was asked projects, helped form forage “Pasture and Grazing Man-
by Tom Zinn, an extension groups and visited with and agement in the Northwest,”
associate director, about tak- provided educational mate- a book that was released in
ing a temporary extension rials to a multitude of pro- 2010.
ducers. He worked with the
position in Central Oregon.
“He’s been a pivot point
Bohle accepted and 4-H program, with the Cen- of information for new sys-
moved to Prineville in 1989. tral Oregon Experiment tems,” said Scott Pierson,
Deschutes, Crook and Jef- Station, at research sites at a hay grower in the Silver
ferson counties had no crops Powell Butte and Madras, Lake, Ore., area. “He was
agent after two retirements and at trial sites on private just a great directory to get
and a transfer left the posi- ground. He took over alfalfa the most applicable informa-
tion vacant.
and grass variety trials and tion into our hands, not just
“This was an irrigated started his own forage trials. here in Central Oregon, but
research position so there
“The focus was on how to growers all over the West
was a steep learning curve to select an alfalfa or grass Coast. We have all benefited
for me,” he said, noting his variety for a particular field from his research and his
dryland background. “There on a particular farm in order communication.
“He knew something
was nothing like gaining to have some or a high
experience and education resistance to diseases and about every plant out there,”
Pierson added. “He was
along the way.”
insects,” Bohle explained.
After six months, Bohle
He also studied the a wonderful botanist. He
accepted a permanent posi- impact of different nutrients improved our farm oper-
tion. Through the following such as nitrogen, phospho- ation. He’s been a very
years, he worked on research rus and potassium on dif- important guy to work with,
not to mention, a really fun
guy.”
For the last five years,
Bohle has focused on water
efficiency within differ-
ent irrigation methods. He
has encouraged growers to
convert from mid-elevation
sprinklers to low elevation
sprinklers and to low energy
precision application.
“Now there is a big push
to mobile drip irrigation,” he
said. “It’s been slower get-
ting to that one than the oth-
ers. I have seen some will-
ingness, but they all cost
money to do the conver-
sions. A lot of people wait
to see how it works out for
a neighbor before seriously
considering a change.
“Water is the multi-bil-
lion-dollar question,” he
added. “As one grower said,
‘It’s great that we talk about
and see new irrigation tech-
nologies, but we still have to
have some water to irrigate
with.”
Bohle said he will miss
talking to producers, making
farm and ranch visits, and
offering educational advice
based on research.
After finishing his half-
time contract with OSU
Extension, Bohle and his
wife plan to move to Plevna,
Mont., where they have 24
acres and will become small
acreage producers.
“We will raise some for-
age, maybe a little grain and
have some dryland acres to
play with,” he said.
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THROUGH SEPT. 6
Oregon State Fair: Oregon State
Fair & Exposition Center, 2330 17th St.
NE, Salem, Ore. The Oregon State Fair
continues through Sept. 6. Website:
https://oregonstatefair.org/
SEPT. 3-26
Washington State Fair: Wash-
ington State Fair Events Center, 110
9th Ave. SW, Puyallup, Wash. Open
Labor Day weekend. Closed Tuesdays
and Sept. 8. Website: https://www.
thefair.com/
TUESDAY SEPT. 7
Idaho Grower Shippers Associ-
ation Annual Convention: Sun Val-
ley Resort, 1 Sun Valley Road, Sun Val-
ley, Idaho. The event focuses on Idaho
potato industry. Includes meetings of
industry groups, updates on research,
marketing and policy, recreational
and networking events. Website:
https://bit.ly/3madKtP
NRCS Idaho State Technical
Advisory Committee Meeting (vir-
tual): 9 a.m.-noon. Group meets
three times per year to advise NRCS
and other USDA agencies on carry-
ing out Farm Bill conservation provi-
sions. Includes representatives of var-
ious natural resource and agricultural
interests such as agencies, ag produc-
ers and tribes. Website: https://bit.
ly/3fUNorS Contact: mindi.rambo@
usda.gov
SEPT. 3-11
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 15
Eastern Idaho State Fair: Eastern
Idaho Fairgrounds, 97 Park St., Black-
foot, Idaho. Website: https://funatthe-
fair.com/
Small Farm School (outdoors):
Clackamas Community College, Ore-
gon City. Cost: $60 ($75 after Sept. 8).
No registration at the door. Due to
THROUGH SEPT. 3
space limitations, Small Farm School
reserves the right to close registration
on Sept. 1 or when 150 registrations
have been received. Contact: 503-
678-1264 Website: https://blogs.ore-
gonstate.edu/smallfarmschool/
OSU Extension’s Seed and
Cereal Crop Production meeting
(online): 8:30 a.m. Agenda: agro-
nomic updates for grass seed from
OSU south valley field crops Exten-
sion agent Christy Tanner; updates
on slug control strategies from OSU
Extension slug expert Rory McDon-
nell; and new technologies for weed
control in grass seed from OSU assis-
tant professor Caio Brunharo. One
Oregon Department of Agriculture
credit offered for each session. The
session is free but you must regis-
ter to get the credit. Register: https://
beav.es/39d
Oregon Farm Bureau Trap
Shoot: 3 p.m. Albany Gun Club,
35305 Highway 20 SE, Albany, Ore.
Join Oregon Farm Bureau members
for an afternoon trap shoot and din-
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ner. Help raise funds for OFB’s Political
Action Committee, which supports
candidates and ballot initiatives that
are good for Oregon’s ag community.
Contact: tiffany@oregonfb.org
WEDNESDAY-
THURSDAY
SEPT. 15-16
Organic Produce Summit: Hyatt
Regency Hotel, Monterey, Calif. The
summit will feature ideas, information
and insights of the organic fresh pro-
duce industry, as well as educational
sessions. Website: www.organicpro-
ducesummit.com
THURSDAY SEPT. 16
OSU Extension’s Seed and
Cereal Crop Production meet-
ing (online): 8:30 a.m. Agenda: an
update on the new USDA Agricul-
tural Research Service entomol-
ogy program from Seth Dorman, an
entomologist recently appointed
to the ARS Forage Seed and Cereal
Research Unit in Corvallis; a pre-
sentation on the efficacy of com-
mon zinc phosphide baits for vole
control from USDA biologist Aaron
Shiels, who has been researching
bait efficacy for the Oregon seed
industry this year; and a report from
Steve Salisbury of the Oregon Seed
Council on the potential for using
rodenticide bait stations. The ses-
sion is free but you must register to
get the credit. Registration: https://
beav.es/39W
TUESDAY, SEPT. 21
18th Annual Oregon Farm
Bureau Classic Golf Tournament:
8 a.m. OGA Golf Course 2850 Hazel-
nut Drive, Woodburn, Ore. Join
Farm Bureau members and sup-
porters of Oregon agriculture for
a fun day of scramble-format golf.
Help raise funds for OFB’s Politi-
cal Action Committee, which sup-
ports candidates and ballot initia-
tives that are good for Oregon’s ag
community. Contact: tiffany@ore-
gonfb.org
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Index
Dairy .......................................................9
Markets .................................................12
Opinion ...................................................6
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