Thank you all so much for the help - the talk went great - I took frames of drawn comb and showed them how the bees make passages through the comb, which they can't do with plastic foundation. And - as if I had a plant in the room - a gentleman came up afterward and said, "You know, bees can mess up and draw crooked comb on foundation as well as without it!" I just wish he had said it in front of everyone instead of at the end of the meeting at the front of the room.
I suggested at the end that some of them join me in being a renegade beekeeper, even if they just experimented with one box to see how they liked it - and how the bees liked it.
I told them, Deknow, about turning frames upside down and they were amused. I also shared quotes that you gave me Michael from writings about using guides to help bees build comb rather than using foundation.
I brought a hive box with examples of new frames with wax strips, popsicle sticks, and drawn comb. I brought my quilt board, rotary cutter and some foundation and cut wax strips. I even brought the cursed wax tube fastener.
Anyway, no rotten tomatoes were thrown - I talked about the good, the bad and the ugly and a step by step "how to" - and at the end a number of people (like about 30 of the participants) came up to take a card with my blog address and to tell me they were going to try it in one box this year.
You are a great resource group and I appreciate so much all the input to help me make a success of this. I'm so glad I took the risk of talking about something other than the usual meeting topics!
Linda T in Atlanta