Hollowlog
Thank you very much for the kind and encouraging words. As I have said before I do what I love and love what I do, and when I do well at it, it makes me fell good too.
I have never really introduced myself, so here is a little bit about me.
Thanks once again for your support. If I can help any State Beekeepers Associations out as a speaker, please just send me an email.
Resume Robin John Mountain
Personal:
Name Robin John Mountain
Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Science (Apiculture)
Address 1210 Yuma Trail, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Ph. & Fax 502 848 0626
Office 502 597 6580
Email:
rmountain@gwmail.kysu.mail
Family Stella Mountain, wife computer programmer/analyst
James Mountain, (17), Philip Mountain, (14)
Cathrine Mountain, (11)
Hobbies Fishing, hiking, bird watching, photography.
Born 23/02/1961, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
Languages: English, Afrikaans, German, Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa.
Countries visited for Beekeeping: Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Brazil, Mexico, U.S.A, England, Scotland and Germany.
Education and Qualifications:
Certificate of Management Fundamentals Program (CMF)
Office of Government Training Kentucky State University
Started Summer 2004
First Aid and Safety. Kentucky State University, Spring 2004.
The Seven Principles of Highly Effective People Steven Franklin Covey,
Cambridge Career College. Yuba City, CA. February 2003.
Leadership. Presented by Richard Teagarden. Superintendent Education
Yuba County, Yuba College, CA. Spring. February March 2003. Average score 92%, Course Grade A
Pest Management, Pesticide Laws and Regulations. Completed course
through Yuba College, CA. 2002 Presented by Yuba County Agricultural
Commissioner Mr. Dennis Pooler.
Interpersonal Communications Looking Out Looking In, by Ronald B. Adler and Neil Towne. Completed course through Yuba College, CA.
Average score 90%, Course Grade A 2002.
Taking The Lead The Management Revolution, by Plunkett, Attner, and Allan.
http://management.swcollege.com. Completed course through Yuba College, CA. Average score 91%, Course Grade A 2001.
The Ohio State University Advanced Instrumental Insemination
Instruction Workshop with Susan Cobey, June 2000.
Diploma in Animal Husbandry With Distinction - The Home Study College of Southern Africa, 1992. This, together with work experience of sixteen years between 1983 and 1991, was evaluated by Globe Language Services, Inc., New York, NY, to represent the equivalent of a: Bachelors Degree in Agricultural Science (Apiculture) - 1999.
High School Diploma Pretoria Boys High School, South Africa, 1979.
Employment and Work Experience:
Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY, - Apiculture Extension
Associate. May 2003
Strachan Apiaries, Inc., Yuba City, CA Executive Manager
August 1999 to July 2002.
Mountain Bee Products, Piet Retief, South Africa Self-employed
May 1991 to July 1999.
Mountain Honey Farms, Irene, South Africa Manager Co Owner
November 1982 to April 1991.
Jim Powers of Powers Apiaries, Kona, Hawaii Trainee
August 1982 to October 1982.
John Haefeli, Monte Vista, Colorado Trainee
May 1982 to August 1982.
Weaver Apiaries, Navasota, Texas Trainee
January 1982 to May 1982.
Mountain Honey Farms, Irene, South Africa Trainee
January 1980 to November
1981.
Beekeeping Experience in Southern Africa:
- Second-generation South African Beekeeper with first-hand experience working
in Southern Africa (South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe), since 1982 in a
professional capacity, with the African Honey Bee, apis mellifera scutellata and
apis mellifera capensis.
- Initial training in instrumental insemination of African Honey Bee by Prof.
Woyke from Warsaw University, Poland, at the University of South Africa in
Pretoria.
- First-hand experience of building, managing and motivating a strong work force,
by co-directing Mountain Honey Farms with father, Mr. Peter Mountain,
(4,000 bee colonies) and in 1991 starting own business, namely Mountain Bee
Products, (2,000 bee colonies).
- Presented developmental beekeeping workshops to rural South Africans
- Developed the Mountain Top Bar Bee Hive in Swaziland
Beekeeping Experience in California, USA
- Executive Manager of Strachan Apiaries, Inc., running over 10,000 colonies
- Production and sale of 60,000 80,000 Queen Bees per year
- Instrumental Insemination of 200 Virgin queens for breeding stock and sale per year
- Interaction between Bee Inspectors and Beekeepers
- Interaction between seed growers, i.e. almonds Jan. to Feb., prunes, Feb. to March, vine seeds, June to July
- Honey Production, hive management, colony re-queening, over-wintering, disease prevention, control and eradication
- Rearing breeder and commercial queens, breeding into stock disease-resistant strains and hygienic behavior
- Managing the queen rearing crew, grafting of the larva, candling and cutting cells, packaging and banking queens
- Worked in conjunction with Sue Cobey of Ohio State University, improving the quality of the New World Carniolan Queens
- Moving bee hives on pallets to and from bee locations and for pollination, using commercial trucks and fork-lifts (Swinger and Bob Cat)
- Clearing up of bee spills
- Class A, Commercial Truck Drivers License. Air Brakes, Double and Triple
Trailers, Tanker Vehicles and Hazardous Materials/Waste Transportation
Guest Speaker:
Heartland Apicultural Society, Lebanon, Tennessee, July 2004
Presented workshops: Moving bees safely. Raising your own Queen Bees
Jacksonville FL, American Beekeeping Federation, Convention, January.
2004, Heartland Apicultural Society A New Start.
Medina OH. Ohio and Springfield IL. Beekeepers Association Fall
Conferences, Nov 2004. Breeding Queen Bees for our own region.
Heartland Apicultural Society, Midway KY, July 2003
Presented workshops: Moving Bees safely, Instrumental Insemination of
Honey Queen Bees.
Savannah, GA, American Beekeeping Federation, Convention, January 2002.
Presented Educational Workshop: Better Employees: How to Hire Them, and How to Keep Them.
Cape Cod, MA, Eastern Apicultural Society, Conference, August 2001.
Presented Short Course on Queen Rearing together with Dr. Medhat Nasr &
Dr. Robert Danka. Workshop: Protective Clothing. Trainee Honey Judge.
Kentucky Beekeeping Association Summer Conference, June 2001.
Workshop: Instrumental Insemination.
San Diego, CA, American Beekeeping Federation, Convention, January 2001.
Topic: Slide Presentation on Beekeeping in Southern Africa.
Salisbury, MD, Eastern Apicultural Society, Conference, August 2000.
Topic: The Cape Bee A Problem To Be Or Not To Be.
Kentucky Beekeeping Association Summer Conference, June 2000.
Guest Speaker Topic: The Capensis Bee.
Fort Worth, TX, American Beekeeping Federation, Convention, January
2000. Topic: The Cape Bee: A New Problem from South Africa?
Nashville, TN, American Beekeeping Federation, Convention, January 1999.
Topic: Beekeeping in South Africa. Educational Workshop: Protecting the
Beekeeper from African Bees.
Authorship of Articles:
American Bee Journal, March 1999, Pg. 187 188.
Report on Beekeeping in South Africa.
Membership in Professional Associations
Heartland Apicultural Society, Vive President 2004/5
Kentucky Academy of Science, Agricultural Science, Chairperson
Kentucky Association of State Extension Professionals
Kentucky Beekeepers Association
American Beekeeping Federation
Africanized Honey Bee Task Force, CA, USA
American Association of Professional Apiculturists
California State Beekeepers Association,
Committee Chairperson for African Honey Bee.
California Bee Breeders Association
Eastern Apicultural Society
Northern Transvaal Beekeepers Association, South Africa
South African Federation of Bee-Farmers Association
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If a job is worth doing - Then do it well