By JEANNE CHAMPION FISCH / Community Columnist

On Thursday April 13^th, the Westover Business Alliance (WBA) met at Rockhurst Farm for their Spring meeting with a luncheon. The WBA meets quarterly at different locations with interesting speakers, food provided by different vendors, and great door prizes. An excellent lunch was provided by Rockhurst Farm under their large pavilion. A small Spring breeze helped to keep us cool as we ate and enjoyed the speakers for the day.

Dr. John Hurst, the owner of Rockhurst Farm, is a certified Master Beekeeper and his wife Nona is a Certified Beekeeper. Dr. Hurst explained his bee hives: displaying a bee hive, taking it apart and explaining each component of the hive. The bee is not native to North America but came over with the Pilgrims. He named the three different types of bees: Italian, Asia and African. Dr. Hurst showed us how a queen bee can be created by tricking the worker bees that the Queen has left by putting a piece of wood in the bottom of the hive. This method allows the bee keeper to create additional hives with the new queen bees. Honey not only tastes good but it is also valued for its antibacterial qualities. One of the door prizes for the day was some Rockhurst Farm honey! Rockhurst Farm in Wilsonville was developed as a Treasured Forest. It was the site of a Creek Indian village and a Civil War encampment and is currently available as a wedding and event venue.

GeoStone owner Fred Agee and his son David Agee talked about GeoStone and its products. Rucher Methvin, Fred’s grandson, helped with questions. GeoStone has the only Alabama patent for retaining wall systems that utilize open core technology for connectivity. You can see GeoStone structures at the following locations on US 280: the wall in front of Wendy’s and Whataburger in Chelsea and the huge walls at The Summit. GeoStone’s home base is on US 280 near Hwy 55. It serves as a fully functional hardscape outlet. In addition to the GeoStone retaining wall systems, they also carry travertine, stone veneer, pavers, outdoor fireplace kits, kitchen kits, polymeric sand, sealers, cleaners and many other industry related products. David explained how they can create a virtual reality setting of a customer’s outdoor living space. They perform wall design systems using the industry’s most trusted software to create a 3D design. Using Google Earth geolocation, they create an outdoor living space that uses realistic HD renderings and 3D walk throughs.

A wonderful time was had by all with a great lunch, the beautiful setting, interesting speakers, and the chance to network with fellow WBA members.