Beekeeper, Author, Speaker
(Last updated September 5, 2007)
Biographical Sketch:
Basics – Carl Joseph Wenning, born November 3, 1952, Coldwater, Ohio, USA. Son of Edward J. and Agnes L. Wenning. Married Carolyn Ann Nodus, May 29, 1982. Three daughters: Rebecca, Sara (deceased) and Teresa. Residing at 21 Grandview Drive, Normal, IL 61761-4071. Grew up in Celina, Ohio, and graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in 1971. Earned a B.S. degree in astronomy at The Ohio State University, Columbus, 1976. Earned an M.A.T. degree in planetarium education at Michigan State University, East Lansing, 1978. Began work at Illinois State University in 1978 as a member of the Physics Department, and director of the ISU Planetarium for which he served officially as director from August 21, 1978 through June 30, 2001. He has worked as coordinator of ISU’s Physics Teacher Education program since July 1, 1994, and continues in that position today. Began doctoral work in Curriculum & Instruction in 1994; currently ABD with expected degree in 2007 (finally!). Named ISU’s first Outstanding University Instructor in 2000.
Beekeeping Background – I first became interested in beekeeping between 1955 and 1957 when I spent lots of time with my grandfather, Edward Frances Feltz, near Sharpsburg, Ohio. I can recall how on one warm and sunny day my grandpa spent time working the bees as I watched from a distance. I knew even then that bees could sting, and was amazed that my granddad could work the bees with a smoker and very little personal protection. (I can also remember how one evening he took me out to the fence behind his house following a day of bailing hay, and showed me the bright dot of light he called Venus.) My grandfather died shortly thereafter, when I was only five years old, but by that time he had influenced me in two ways. He created within me deep-seated interests in beekeeping and astronomy. One would become a vocation; the other would become an avocation. My Aunt Hilda took over the beehives after grandpa died, and moved them to Saint Henry, Ohio, where during the summers I was constantly impressed by how close I could come to the hives and yet not get stung. Everyone seemed to be afraid of bees, but not me. My interest in astronomy became predominant after I obtained my "Christmas telescope" when I was 11 years old. Many years later, in 1997, my oldest daughter Rebecca had become a member of 4-H, and she was looking for a project to do. Knowing of my interest in honeybees and beekeeping, she suggested that we get a beehive. Having waited for 40 years to have my own bees, I jumped at the idea and the rest is history.
We set out two hives in the spring of 1997, starting only with foundation and really no help from anyone other than beekeeper Tom Elston who allowed me to set out bees in an apiary he was using. There I kept my bees for seven year. I knew very little about beekeeping then, and began an intense reading campaign to learn more about the practical aspects of beekeeping. By the end of that first summer we hadn’t produced a honey crop, but we did have two brood chambers full of honey, and the bees wintered successfully. By the end of the second year I had learned my lessons well, and the two colonies averaged 220 pounds of honey production. I put my wife and kids in charge of honey sales, and I continued to work the bees as a hobby.
During the spring of 1999 I met EAS Master Beekeeper Dr. George Imerie of Rockville, Maryland, at the American Beekeeping Federation meeting in Nashville, TN. I was enthralled by how much he seemed to know about beekeeping, and couldn’t help but want to add what little more that I had learned in the form of an article, “Maximizing Honey Production,” that I sent off to the American Bee Journal in May in the hope that I might get published. My first feature article was accepted for publication, and I immediately began work on a second, “What price honey?” Imagine my surprise when my first paycheck showed up – I didn’t even know that authors of articles were paid for their submissions! This started me on a series of articles that was published almost without break from July 1999 through April 2004. Imagine how thrilled I was when the National Honey Board asked to post this second article on their Web site! I was on a roll. The first break in my publication record occurred in September 2002 when I had a hard-drive failure on my laptop computer while on a trip to Washington, DC. I wouldn’t be able to return home until it was too late to make the submission deadline for September.
The high water marks of my involvement in beekeeping came in several different forms. The first came with the creation and presentation of the first annual Heart of Illinois Beekeeping Course that I co-taught with my daughter Rebecca. The workshop was on March 14, 1998, and was held at Miller Park Zoo where she was a docent. She was only 12 years old at that time. She presented fully half of the talks at workshop - talking about the hive and beekeeping equipment and honey - and did so in a very professional manner following weeks of planning, preparation, and practice. She continued to co-teach these workshops throughout their five-year duration of the series. I do think that this event had a major impact on her decision to become a high school physics teacher. I wonder where she got the interest in science!
Other high watermarks came during the spring of 2002 and summer of 2003. During April 2002 I was one of three featured speakers at a workshop in Koekuk, IA, hosted by Dadant & Sons and American Bee Journal. Some 700 beekeepers were present for this one-day event, and they listed intently for an hour as I spoke about the topic of sustainable beekeeping. Because of my extensive writing record, I was subsequently invited to travel to Russia in May 2003 by the Russian Beekeeping Federation to explain my views on Reduced Chemical Beekeeping (RCB). I made a presentations to about 200 veterinarians and graduate students at the Moscow Veterinary Academy, and a day later to about 20 research scientists at a national apicultural research center located about 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow in Ribnoye. Returning home (and after also returning from a follow-up of 16 days in England and Wales with my family), I then gave an invited talk about RCB at the prestigious Eastern Apicultural Society meeting in Brunswick, ME, during August 2003.
Even though writing had become a passion for me, I stopped producing articles for American Bee Journal in April 2004 because after 50 original articles and 150,000 words one starts running out of suitable ideas about which to write. I didn’t want to become an old hack - even if the money was good (and it was). If there is one thing that might be said about my writing, I hope it is that my thoughts provided alternative perspectives and were always new – even if beekeepers didn’t always agree with what I had written. (My article about depopulating beehives was not a big hit with the readership, and several let me know it.)
For seven years I maintained 2-6 hives as a hobbyist beekeeper on the southwest side of Bloomington, IL. My wife and girls continued to work with the honey sales; I preferred to spend my time working the bees and, when I had to, extracting honey. For the first few years everyone had fun keeping bees, packing and selling honey, but as time went on it became less of a thrill in all quarters. The damage caused by Varroa mites and the threat of the small hive beetle didn't help. After that, I chose to drop out of beekeeping for a while - some day to return - when it could be more of a leisurely hobby than a job.
With increasing responsibilities at work, and the efforts of beekeeping becoming more demanding, I removed my beehives from the Bloomington apiary in the spring of 2004 after the colonies had failed to overwinter. In the spring 2005 I moved my hives to the backyard of my house to gain more space in the garage where I was starting a small company whiteboardsUSA.com. Within a few weeks, one hive had become the home of a feral colony. This happened again in 2006, so I continue now an "unintentional beekeeper." I use the bees from this hive from time to time to restock observation and outdoor hives I help maintain at Weldon Springs State Recreation Area near Clinton, IL, and the Sugar Grove Nature Center near Shirley, IL. I often sit in front of my "unintended" colony at home on nice evenings just to watch and listen to the bees as they fly into and out of the hive, and periodically crash into my head as I set in the beeline to the entrance. I continue to enjoy periodic Google searches to see the impact that my writing has had on the beekeeping community. From time to time I serve as a reviewer for beekeeping journals around the world.
I suspect that with my retirement in a few years, God willing, I will return to really keeping colonies of my beloved bees. If I don't make it back, someone, please, be certain to tell the bees.
Carl J. Wenning
Published Articles:
Freelance writer, writing mostly for American Bee Journal. Some of my recent feature articles include:
Also:
Invited Presentations at Apicultural Conferences and Meetings:
Editorial Services:
Association Webmaster:
Beekeeping Workshops Presented:
Beekeeping Workshop Web site with Downloadable Resources:
Former Memberships: