Beekeeping Today Podcast

Strong Microbials got their start producing probiotics to improve the health of cattle, dairy cows, poultry and swine. Their products improved animal food digestion resulting in overall animal health. In 2012 they became interested in doing the same thing for honey bees. In this episode, we talk with Vera and Slava about their probiotic use to aid honey bee health and well-being. Multiple bacteria are present in all nectars, pollens, propolis and the environment. Honey bees need these bacteria to aid not only in digestion, but also to improve immune response and combating stressors detrimental to their health. Strong Microbials' product, Super DFM-Honey Bee, is a probiotic of naturally occurring bacteria. The probiotic aids in restoring the natural gut biome of bees challenged by unbalanced food sources from monoculture crops, holding yards, drought, food shortages, antibiotics, pesticides and several pathogens, including chalkbrood. Listen today and learn more from the producers of Super DFM-Honey Bee and Strong Microbials. Websites and links mentioned in the podcast: Strong Microbials Website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com/ Strong Microbials Science Blog: https://beesciencenews.com/ Strong Microbials on Twitter: @strongmicrobial Strong Microbials on Instagram: strongmicrobials Bee Space to Bee Hive - Kim's Book Review: https://www.bee-craft.com/shop/books/bee-space-to-bee-hive ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this episode, Kirsten chats with commercial beekeeper Simeon Valkenburg, who runs a commercial operation with his brother in Australia. He talks about building up their commercial operation from scratch. They started with one hive and are now up to about 1,000 hives in south east Australia. The season kicks off with almond pollination. Yes, that's right—Australian almonds which bloom in August. They then move colonies into crops like canola or beans or move into areas flush with a low desert eucalypt, which under the right weather conditions can produce a huge honey harvest. In their summer they chase after pollen, not for trapping, but simply for building up the bees or running from bushfires. The conversation ranges widely, discussing everything from ornery beekeepers with deep political connections to conducting successful field days and the trade war with New Zealand over the name 'manuka'. Tune in to learn more about keeping bees downunder. UPDATED - Aug. 14 The report Simeon referenced in his talk with Kirsten is by Oregon beekeeper, Katharina Davitt: "Cavendish Bananas and their Nutritional Benefit to Honey Bees" The report's author has the same information in a PowerPoint .pdf here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FrVf6_sIujaID-txJiUI33hlVV_pklpg/view?usp=drivesdk ______________ Kirsten's interviews are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Jay Evans is the Research Leader at the USDA Honey Bee Research Lab in Beltsville Maryland. He and the resident scientists there are involved in many projects, including mite studies, nutrition supplements for bees, queen health and nutrition. Plus, even in middle of this pandemic, they have realized the need for continuing the AFB Diagnostic Center so beekeepers can handle this disease before it gets out of hand in their apiaries. There's more to Jay than his regular research. He has been writing a column for our sponsor Bee Culture magazine for several years and has gathered together a books-worth of these that he has called Bee Optimism, published by IBRA. It is a welcome addition to our honey bee literature because of his easy to understand style, vast experience and willingness to gather information from a great variety of sources. His chapters include the challenges that bees, and beekeepers face, a lot about honey, both good and bad, he examines the value of propolis to honey bees, looks at issues with queens, and spends a fair amount of time looking at the effects of climate change, and advances in overwintering science. And of course, the final chapter focuses on why he is optimistic about the future of bees, beekeepers and beekeeping. Websites and links mentioned in the podcast: USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville MD: https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-barc/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/bee-research-laboratory/ Bee Optimism: Translational Research Can Rescue Honey Bees and Other Pollinators (IBRA): https://ibra.org.uk/product/bee-optimism-softback Bee Optimism: Translational Research Can Rescue Honey Bees and Other Pollinators (Northern Bee Books): https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/bee-optimism-evans/ International Bee Research Assn: https://ibra.org.uk ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

This week, guest co-host Kirsten Traynor joins us with Madeleine Ostwald. Madeleine studies bees, having worked with both honey bees and carpenter bees. When days get hot, we seek out ways to cool off with water. Beekeepers (and sometimes their neighbors) know that honey bees do the same. As an undergraduate student in Tom Seeley's lab, Madeleine turned up the heat on a honey bee hive to find out just how they do this. Madeleine observed some bees adapt to heat stress by acting like water storage containers, always ready to chill things down when days get hot. Madeleine now investigates desert carpenter bees in Arizona. Wood is a precious resource in these barren lands, so carpenter bees end up sharing a home. To learn how these large bees shape, modify, and change their nest structures over time, she enlisted the help of a local hospital and their CT-scanner. Also in today's episode, Kim reviews the new book by Jay Evans, USDA Bee Research Leader at Beltsville, and regular columnist for Bee Culture magazine. Lots to learn, lots to hear. Hit the play button now! Links and websites mentioned in this episode: Maddie's paper, "The behavioral regulation of thirst, water collection and water storage in honey bee colonies" Maddie's carpenter bee video showing the CAT scan results: https://youtu.be/H0Xt2oMwGgU ______________ Kirsten's interviews are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Sam Ramsey joins us again to share what he has found from his most recent work on Tropilaelaps mites in Thailand. He has been looking at the history of this mite's movement around the world, the biology and its life cycle. Just as important he is exploring the differences and the similarities of the Tropilaelaps to the Varroa mite. His work points out why this pest is so very difficult to control with chemicals, why it is so genetically diverse, what helps it adapt quickly to new control tactics and why populations build so fast in the colonies it infests. His work was interrupted by the spread of Covid-19 around the world and he had to return home this spring. We were able to catch up with Sammy while he is back in Maryland, exploring the possibility of making honey bee larvae produce fat bodies without the necessary proteins that varroa need to develop. Meanwhile, he is looking forward to going back to Thailand and picking up where he dropped off. Listen today and you will understand why the Tropilaelaps is a far greater threat than the varroa ever has been. You can listen to Sammy's talk with us about the varroa mite and the honey bee fat body during our Season 1 visit with him by clicking here. ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

This week, guest co-host Kirsten Traynor chats with Adam Ingrao, Ph.D, founder of Heroes to Hive. Heroes To Hives is a veterans training program he started five years ago. They train veterans, especially those suffering from PTSD, how to manage honey bee hives and get started in beekeeping. Over 500 vets and family members are enrolled in this free program this year, making it one of the largest vet training programs in the US. Kirsten also talks with Adam about his own struggles with opioids, how honey bees helped him regain purpose. He then describes how he got the program off the ground, the organization's goals and the tremendous success the program has had getting veterans focused on a project that has a multitude of rewards. Why does beekeeping appeal to vets? Often vets have their minds filled with memories and have trouble focusing, are looking for a mission again and can contact other vets who have a shared interest in nurturing something living that's also a tad dangerous. Heroes to Hives is based out of Michigan State University, where Adam collaborates closely with extension agent Dr. Megan Milbrath. Listen in to find out more, and check out the web pages listed below. Bees are the perfect gateway bug, opening up a greater appreciation for nature, which is just one of the interesting impacts of the Heroes to Hives program. Links and websites mentioned in this episode: Heroes to Hives - https://www.canr.msu.edu/veterans/ ______________ Kirsten's interviews are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this episode, we talk with James Wilkes and Joseph Cazier from Appalachian State University, who spearheaded the World Bee Count program just completed this spring. Bee Count is an annual event that aims to identify pollinators around the world and also measure pollinator health, dispersion and biodiversity. James is a Professor in Computer Science at ASU and founder and manager of HiveTracks, the Bee Hive data collection and analysis program. Joseph, a frequent contributor to Bee Culture magazine, writing on bee hive data collection and analysis, is Director of the Center for Analytics Research and Education. Together, cooperating with a whole crew of beekeepers, scientists and others, these professors are gradually working toward perfecting the Genius Hive. The World Bee Count is just one component of their data collection analyses for this project. Relatedly, the team is working on a standardization for all data collection programs. A standardization will allow researchers, beekeepers or suppliers to talk to and learn from each other. Learn more by listening today! Websites and links mentioned in the podcast: World Bee Count: https://beescount.org World Bee Count at ASU: https://care.appstate.edu/world-bee-count Hive Tracks: https://hivetracks.com Genius Hive: https://www.beeculture.com/peering-into-the-future-a-path-to-the-genius-hive/ ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

As part of the pollinator week special, guest host Kirsten Traynor chats with Dr. Dave Goulson, an expert on pollinator health from the University of Sussex. Dave Goulson has been fascinated with insects since he was a boy and was able to turn this love of all things that fly, creep and crawl into a career. One of the bumble bees from his childhood became extinct in the 1980s, so he and his research team tried to reintroduce it to the UK, first from New Zealand and then from Sweden. Although they released countless queens over multiple years, it did not reestablish. However, the new habitat they created to help it thrive has been a boon for many other rare bumble bees. We also chat about his efforts to restore the farmland around his summer home in France to a wildflower rich meadow and the insect diversity that has returned to this nectar rich habitat. And if he had to pick a pollinator avatar, Dave would be a hairy footed flower bee—Anthophora plumipes—even though he doesn't have hairy feet. Links and websites mentioned in this episode: David's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbnBys2Hl1T26dzO_nbgbiw Goulson Lab, University of Sussex: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/goulsonlab/index The Pollinators Movie: https://www.thepollinators.net ______________ Pollinator Week episodes are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Bee Friendly Farming has a good friend in Ron Bitner, Co-Chair of this Pollinator Partnership program. Ron runs Bitner Winery near Boise Idaho in Treasure Valley and for 40 some years was involved in non-apis bee management for pollination. Bee Friendly Farming has between 800 – 900 Bee Friendly Farmers, who practice reducing chemical use and use a whole row of holistic farming practices that improves the health of their soil and provides forage for bees. Ron's goal is to double or even triple the number of BFFs so there's even more out there for bees and pollinators. BFF are more or less self-regulated, but do have to report chemical use, acres covered, and the cover crops used to meet Bee Friendly Farming certification. Their newest adventure is working with almond growers to take advantage of the bare ground in orchards with a program called Qcify. Tune in and find out why Bee Friendly Farming is the only way to go. Links and websites mentioned in this episode: P2 Bee Friendly Farming: https://www.pollinator.org/bff P2 Qcify Program: https://www.pollinator.org/bff/qcify Bitner Vineyards: https://www.bitnervineyards.com The Pollinators Movie: https://www.thepollinators.net ______________ Pollinator Week episodes are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Andony Melathopoulos is the Pollinator Health Extension Specialist for Oregon State University. He's not just about honey bees, but every pollinator out there. But honey bees are a big part of what he does because of the multitude of crops grown in Oregon that need 'mostly' honey bees for pollination. He works equally with the farmers who grow the crops, spray the crops, and provide additional forage for the bees. Additionally, Andony works with the Oregon Department of Transportation, home owners, and Oregon's huge Master Gardener programs. He's even helping with the new Master Mellipolous Program, sort of like a beekeeping club, but for native bees. Visit his web page, listen in and learn a lot about a lot of pollinator work in Oregon and across the US! Links and websites mentioned in this episode: The Oregon Bee Project: https://www.oregonbeeproject.org Oregon State University Pollinator Health: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/pollinator-health/pollinator-health The PolliNation Podcast: http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/ The Pollinators Movie: https://www.thepollinators.net ______________ Pollinator Week episodes are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Orley, "Chip" Taylor started Monarch Watch about 30 years ago. So far, he and his group have managed to tag over two million monarchs so they can study the migration habits of this beautiful butterfly. His research has also determined where monarchs spend their time all year, the flyways they follow going from Canada to Mexico and back, when they start, when they arrive and how many weeks it takes them to travel this incredible distance. Chip and his team have determined how to produce milkweed plugs by the thousands to provide food sources for monarchs and make these available to buy. Chip talks about how habitat loss and climate change is a double whammy these butterflies face, and may not be able to overcome. Improving life for the monarch will improve life for all pollinators. This is a fascinating discussion for this Pollinator Week! Listen today! Links and websites mentioned in this episode: Monarch Watch Organization: https://monarchwatch.org Milkweed Market: https://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/market/ Monarch Habitat Restoration: https://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/free-milkweeds-for-restoration-projects/ Free Milkweed for Schools and Nonprofits: https://biosurvey.ku.edu/application-free-milkweed-nonprofits-and-schools/ More Information about Milkweeds: https://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/milkweed-profiles/ The Pollinators Movie: The Pollinators Movie ______________ Pollinator Week episodes are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Welcome to the first of our Pollinator Week Special Episodes. Each day this week we'll release new interviews with teams and individuals who are all working to protect, provide and propagate pollinators all over the globe! Pollinator Week was started by Pollinator Partnership and we kick-off the week with P2's President Laurie Adams and Program Director Kelly Rourke. P2's projects include Monarch Wings Across America, North America Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) – in its 20th year, Mite-a-thon, Bee Friendly Farming, research grants for researchers focusing on forage development, posters, recipes, and all sorts of activities you can be a part of. What a way to kick off this exciting series… and all the while starting our third year of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Links and websites mentioned in this episode: Pollinator Partnership: https://www.pollinator.org Pollinator Week & Related Activities: https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator-week Pollinator Poster: https://www.pollinator.org/shop/posters TheBeeMD: http://www.thebeemd.com Bee Friendly Farming: https://www.pollinator.org/bff ______________ Pollinator Week episodes are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

This week, we talk with Dr. Jamie Ellis, from the University of Florida about The BEEMD website, the UoF Bee Lab, Coloss, research, teaching and his extension work! All his work is centered on honey bees, is beekeeper driven and embraces collaboration. Dr. Ellis has a brand-new bee lab with over 50 grad, undergrad and volunteer students conducting research. In addition, he is working on the U of F Master Beekeeper Program, is teaching 5 levels of honey bee classes, speaking to beekeeper groups, hosting his own podcast and more (if you can believe it!). Get set to sit on the edge of you chair for some of the most exciting information on honey bees you've heard in a long time – well, at least since our last podcast! Find out more by listening today! Links and websites mentioned in this episode: The BeeMD: http://www.thebeemd.com The University of Florida Bee Lab: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/ The COLOSS Honey Bee Research Organization: https://coloss.org Two Bees in a Podcast: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/podcast/ ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this episode, guest co-host and 2 Million Blossoms editor Kirsten Traynor joins Jeff and Kim with her Dr. Meghan Milbrath interview. Meghan applies her epidemiology background in her work with honey bee diseases as an academic specialist at Michigan State University. Megan started keeping bees over 20 years ago with her father and continues today at The Sand Hill Apiary a small livestock and queen rearing operation near Munith, MI. Kirsten and Meghan talk about her history keeping bees, swarms, queens, bee diseases – including European Foulbrood, pests and even hygiene in the bee yard! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – The Sandhill (Meghan's website): http://www.sandhillbees.com MSU Pollinator Champions Program: https://pollinators.msu.edu/programs/pollinator-champions/ The latest news on the Asian Giant Hornet in Washington State: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets ______________ Kirsten's interviews are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is also brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Ask beekeepers and you will hear many different opinions on Russian Honey Bees. Mostly, they either love them, hate them or know nothing about them. In this episode, we go directly to the US source of these bees with Dr. Tom Rinderer and Steve Coy. Tom was instrumental in the early days of the research resulting in the introduction of this line of honey bee to the US by visiting Russia to find these varroa resistant bees. He talks about the issues of getting them into this country, sorting out the best lines – very varroa resistant, not defensive, healthy in all aspects and while producing honey! From there they did side by side tests with other domestic lines to see if indeed they would do well here and soon after, they helped to form the Russian Honey Bee Breeders Association to maintain the breed. Steve Coy is one of the producers from the breeder's association. He talks about what the association is doing and how they are working to increase its adoption. These are the bees in the US that you can buy that are resistant to varroa and this is their story! Links and websites mentioned in this episode: Russian Honey Bee Breeders Assn: http://www.russianbreeder.org Russian Honey Bees - The Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Honey-Bees-Thomas-Rinderer/dp/1655328131 ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Guest co-host and 2 Million Blossoms Editor, Kirsten Traynor and Tucka Saville chat this week, talking about treatment free beekeeping, having bees in Florida and Upstate New York, raising queens with Michael Palmer in Vermont, and working with Sam Comfort in Florida. They discuss raising queens, swarms, making simple, simple hive, being online and the whole community of beekeepers. Tucka is a commercial beekeeper and queen producer mostly in Florida with between 300 and 500 colonies. She sells nucs, and is absolutely in love with queens and everything about them. Oh and humming birds. There's lots of good information here from a working beekeeper, you will definitely want to hear. Listen today! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Tucka's Instagram: Tucka.bee ______________ Kirsten's interviews are brought to you by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is also brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

On this day as the world is celebrating honey bees and all that they do, Dewey Caron, Kim Flottum and Kathy Summers share stories and memories of Ann Harman, a world bee celebrity who passed on May 1. Ann was an exceptional beekeeper, active in honey shows around the world, held key positions in the Eastern Apicultural Society, was a Welsh Honey Judge, and contributed to Bee Culture magazine for over 35 years. She traveled to 50 some countries as a volunteer instructor, was instrumental in publishing several key beekeeping reference books, still had time for her horses, cats and dogs. Ann will be missed by the beekeeping industry and by beekeepers around the world. We know that wherever she is now, it will be better with her being there. Thanks Ann. ________________________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

This week, get out your traveling bee suits, because we are going to visit three different beekeepers in across the country. This time of the year, beekeepers in the US and northern hemisphere are all very busy, but are they all doing the same? Are they all experiencing the same things? In this episode we set off to find out. We talk with beekeepers from North Carolina, Northeast Ohio and the western slope of the Rockies in Colorado. Each of these beekeepers have a unique, and somewhat tricky environment to raise bees and they are as much different from each other as they are alike to each other. We brought them all together and their conversations and observations are fascinating! First, we meet Mark Smith, in Locust, North Carolina who is a chemical free Beekeeper. Not treatment free, but chemical free. He raises his own queens and lives in a very isolated location so varroa isn't a constant threat. He hasn't bought a bee since 2011. Then we travel north to Northeast Ohio, near Kent and meet up with Tracy Alarcon. He too raises his own queens, but isn't even close to being isolated. He has lots of migratory beekeepers driving by all season so has constant varroa pressure. He's looking for hygienic behavior in his bees and does all the right things for honey and pests. Then we head out west to visit with Ed Colby on the western slope of Colorado. Ed runs about 100 colonies and has them in yards ranging from 5500' to 9000', which gives him a six-week difference between bee yards in the spring and fall. Does he worry about varroa? You bet. His whole operation is overrun with commercial area outfits so he has constant varroa pressure. We hope you enjoy listening to their stories. ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

This episode is our first with guest co-host, 2 Million Blossoms editor, Kirsten Traynor. Kirsten will be our guest co-host on a regular basis bringing us interviews with young and upcoming personalities and researchers in the world of beekeeping. In this first episode, Kirsten introduces us to Sarah Red Laird. Sarah Red-Laird, probably better known as The Bee Girl. She's very visible in the beekeeping community for her work with kids and bees at National, Regional and local beekeeper's meetings. But there's so much more! She works hand in hand with local farmers using regenerative agriculture, diversity in plantings and providing food for the soil, and food for bees. Bee pasture and bee nutrition are a big part of what she's involved in, along with local farmer's unions and getting everybody involved. But then add in her work with local chefs and bakers and brewers and millers using the diversity of grains these farmers are growing for some fantastic farm to table events. Sarah Red-Laird is all of these things - beekeeper, teacher, land use coordinator and foodie. Listen to this talented and dynamic part of our beekeeping universe. We wrap up the show with a recognition of the passing of longtime friend and advocated of beekeepers worldwide, Ann Harmon. We will miss you, Ann! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – The Bee Girl Organization - https://www.beegirl.org ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Jeff Pettis left the USDA some time ago to pursue other avenues of research. His current work is studying issues with queens, primarily longevity, affect of pesticides, virus interactions, shipping problems and more. Relatedly, he is working with drones, which of course play a big role in how queens produce. He's looking at sperm issues, affects of pesticides, mating problems, heat stress and mating success. He's also working with varroa resistance to miticides, affects of miticides on queens, workers and drones and essentially what is working, and what isn't and why. In-between research projects, he is expanding his beekeeping operation with his son, running up to 75 colonies, doing some local pollination work, and producing and selling his honey at local outlets. In his 'spare' time... he has been serving as the Bee Health Commissioner for the International Beekeeping Association Apimondia for the past 8 or 9 years, and in 2019 was the first American Elected President of that group. His goals are to establish better communication between the group and the worlds beekeepers and to concentrate on global honey fraud, a major issue everywhere. Listen in and learn much more about Apimondia and what the future holds as the first American President takes over with a new and exciting agenda. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Apimondia: https://www.apimondia.com Google Scholar for Dr. Pettis: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C48&q=jeff+pettis&btnG= The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Fifty years ago today, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, there was a celebration of the very first Earth Day, sponsored by then Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who had organized the event as a teach-in on campuses across the country. It was scheduled for the weekend between spring break and finals week, always an exciting weekend, with students both excited about spring, and serious about the upcoming exams. 20 million people took part across the country, and by the end of 1970, the a bipartisan federal government passed several environmental measures, most notably the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Really, 50 years ago today was the birth of the modern environmental movement. By 1990 it had grown to a global movement with over 200 million people celebrating in 140+ countries, and today, more than a billion are, as much as possible, making note of this most auspicious celebration. So we could think of no better guest today than Dr. Johnathan Lundgren, a leader in the Regenerative Agriculture movement that is slowly beginning to be noticed. His work with soil microbiomes and overall soil regeneration, the restoration of cover crops and plant diversity creating a living roof, the value of compost and the marriage, again, of crops and animals is making betters soils, better crops, better farmers and beginning to produce healthier honey bees. We had Dr. Lundgren as a guest in March 2019 where he talked about the beginnings of his program and what he was finding. This time he has a much bigger crew, more than a year's results under his belt, and a three year+ program with the almond industry, and farmers from Canada to Nebraska and beyond. His programs have gained much positive attention plus garnered some significant findings. It's becoming obvious that the future of modern farming lies in his regenerative agriculture findings. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Blue Dasher Farm - https://www.bluedasher.farm Ecdysis Foundation - https://www.ecdysis.bio Earth Day Organization - https://www.earthday.org ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Stay Safe Everyone! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Sit back and listen while Jeff and Kim talk with Kim Eierman, founder of EcoBeneficial, and the author of The Pollinator Victory Garden, How To Win The War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening. If you've been thinking of starting some plantings for pollinators in your backyard, you couldn't find a better place to gather information on the how, when, where and why of what to plant for all pollinators, anywhere and everywhere. Kim's book is full information for all kinds of plants for all kinds of pollinators. Lists by region, county, even zip code. And every kind of flower for birds, bees, bats, butterflies, beetles, flies and all the rest. Native plantings, developing pollinator pathways, and resources galore. Everything you'll ever want to know about creating pollinator gardens of all sizes is in this book. Kim Eierman shares more information in just a half hour than you can find almost anywhere. We also have an audio postcard from Rich Morris, of Broodminder who we interviewed earlier on Season 2, Episode 2! So queue it up, sit back and enjoy! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – EcoBeneficial: https://www.ecobeneficial.com The Pollinator Victory Garden on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1631597507/ The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com Listener's Questions Luke V. asked about this swarm. What do you think? Let us know! ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Sue Cobey, Tim Lawrence and Steve Sheppard join the podcast this week to discuss their new three-part video series on how to develop an effective and productive honey bee breeding program. Topics discussed in the series include record keeping, drone population, selecting from a large population of colonies, evaluating colonies for specific traits, artificial insemination, developing drone comb and protecting from varroa, avoiding inbreeding, keeping diversity in the population, questions to ask queen producers, sperm preservation and much more. The three new films are 1) An update on Instrumental Insemination, 2) Sperm preservation and the 3) Techniques and science of honey bee selection and breeding. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Sue & Tim's Honey Bee Insemination website: http://www.honeybeeinsemination.com WSU video on Selection Methods and Honey Bee Breeding: https://vimeo.com/380776410 WSU Bee Lab: http://bees.wsu.edu New World Carniolan FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/New-World-Carniolan-bees-106187637408691/ The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

The world's largest hornet, The Asian Giant Hornet was discovered in the State of Washington in the fall of 2019. Also known as the Japanese Hornet, the Yak-Killer Hornet or the Giant Sparrow Bee, this ground nesting giant is as big as your thumb, and just loves eating honey bees. Honey bee larvae that is. It just kills all the honey bee adults in a hive to get to the larvae, leaving behind devastation beyond belief. Control is stopping the spread of queens in the fall, which means finding nests in the summer. Listen in as Sven-Erik Spichiger, the Washington State Entomologist, and North America's leading hornet hunter and expert fills us in on all the details. What to look for, when to look, how to trap them and more. Hope that getting rid of this pest happens in Washington this season, but be ready for them if not. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – WSDA Asian Giant Hornet Website: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets USDA Asian Giant Hornet Fact Sheet: https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf Washington State University Extension AGH Site: https://extension.wsu.edu/wam/asian-giant-hornet-found-locally-what-we-know/ The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com *** Newly Added Links *** How to Identify Different Wasp Species: https://entomologytoday.org/2020/05/11/big-beautiful-confusing-deciphering-true-hornets-vespa/ ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this bonus episode, Jeff and Kim talk about the just announced discovery of a new race of honey bees, uncovered in the Solomon Islands, Apis gigantica-nordquist, on the smallest uninhabited island, Vangunu. Vangunu, the smallest, uninhabited speck of land in the Solomon Islands is the home to one of the largest rats in the world. But it turns out it is also the home to the largest honey bee species in the world. When loggers felled a tree on Vangunu late last year, a large honey bee colony came down with it. A typical honey bee is the size of a paperclip. These honey bees are about the size of a tube of lipstick or roughly three times the size of Apis Mellifera. Listen today on the first day of April about this latest discovery in 2020, a year that will go down in history as one of the weirdest and wildest, ever.

This week we meet with Kelly Kulhanek, a BIP Sentinel Apiary Scientist. Since gearing up in 2015, this program monitors colonies in 30 states with over 100 beekeepers. Once enrolled, you'll take samples from your hives and have them tested for varroa, nosema and anything else the BIP people find for over 6 months a year. This is a perfect educational tool for bee clubs everywhere, teaching members how to take samples, letting them see what else is going on around them and being able to make informed decisions about colony health and management. You can sign up for 4 or 8 hives. In return, you'll receive a sample kit and record keeping info from the same colonies, all season long. At the end you'll have a season's worth of detailed records, healthy hives and peace of mind. Perhaps a greater value is that the program has beekeepers all over the US taking samples, throughout the season and anything that isn't supposed to be here in the US will get found. A perfect early warming program. Visit their web page for lots more info. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Bee Informed Partnership - www.beeinformed.org BIP Sentinel Program - https://beeinformed.org/citizen-science/sentinel-apiaries/ Bee Club Basics (on Amazon) - https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1080790209/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_AK7EEb9Q4B8NC ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

We've all seen the bottles of Sioux Honey in the grocery store. Ever wonder how the Sioux Honey cooperative works? Could you join? Would you want to? In this episode, we meet Matt Beekman, a 4000-colony co-op member in California who recently joined Sioux and shares information on this 100-year-old agriculture cooperative. Sioux's 250 or so members produce somewhere around 60 million pounds of honey each season and the co-op buys everything the members produce. Not only the honey, all the beeswax produced from this honey production is sold by the co-op too. Selling 5 different kinds of honey – local spun honey, Aunt Sue brand and others make Sioux a major player in the domestic honey production market. Matt is also an almond pollinator, with essentially all of his bees sitting in almonds the day we talked. Find out about almonds, almond pollination, honey production and what it takes to be Sioux Honey member with Matt Beekman. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Sioux Honey Assn. Co-Op - https://siouxhoney.com The Pollinator's Film by Peter Nelson - https://www.thepollinators.net ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

We recently talked with the good folks at ApisProtect, a technology company located in Cork, Ireland and Salinas, CA. Dr. Fiona Edwards Murphy and Dr. Whelan Padraig are the engineers and beekeepers whose ideas and hard work have made this possible. At a high level, ApisProtect technology collects hive data using their sensor is monitored and analyzed remotely using artificial intelligence. Captured data includes temperature, humidity, sound, CO2 and hive movement. They have been developing this for just over 3 years and are ready to go commercial this summer. Find out how their device works, what information it provides, and how you and your bees can benefit. The Internet of Things continues to expand. Listen and share this episode today! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – ApisProtect - https://apisprotect.com Colony Monitoring Conference - https://westernapiculturalsociety.org/4th-international-conference-on-bee-and-hive-monitoring/ DC Beekeepers Alliance - http://www.dcbeekeepers.org ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Welcome to our four-part series on getting started in this fascinating and educational backyard pastime, sideline job, or full time career. All are possible with honey bees. Listen in as Kim Flottum, author and retired Editor of Bee Culture magazine, Dr. James Tew, author, Bee Culture magazine contributor and retired Extension Specialist in Beekeeping from the University of Alabama and Ohio State University, and Jeff Ott, a skilled, long time back yard beekeeper discuss the ins and outs of this craft, covering all aspects of getting started. Part 4 - You Are A Beekeeper Now! Once you get your brand-new bees established in your brand new equipment, what happens? Well, the rest of the world wants to know what's going on in that brand-new hive. Already your bees are making babies, gathering pollen and honey, and there's even a few nasties that might come to visit. And you need to learn about them for sure. So make room in your hive for honey, for bees and take care of the issues that may arise, all here in the final segment of our special series, "How To Get Started With Bees". ____________________ Resources for Beginning Beekeepers Books The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition - Kim Flottum The New Starting Right with Bees - Kim Flottum, Kathy Summers Wisdom for Beekeepers: 500 Tips for Successful Beekeeping - James E. Tew The Beekeeper's Problem Solver: 100 Common Problems Explored and Explained - James E. Tew ABC-XYZ of Bee Culture - A.I. Root Company Magazines Bee Culture American Bee Journal The Beekeeper's Quarterly Associations & Organizationshttps://beeinformed.org American Beekeeping Federation American Honey Producers Association Bee Informed ______________ The How To Get Started with Bees Series is Sponsored by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Midway Music, "All We Know"

Welcome to our four part series on getting started in this fascinating and educational backyard pastime, sideline job, or full time career. All are possible with honey bees. Listen in as Kim Flottum, author and retired Editor of Bee Culture magazine, Dr. James Tew, author, Bee Culture magazine contributor and retired Extension Specialist in Beekeeping from the University of Alabama and Ohio State University, and Jeff Ott, a skilled, long time back yard beekeeper discuss the ins and outs of this craft, covering all aspects of getting started. Part 3 - Bees Are In... NOW What?!! One of the most exciting, and absolutely wonderful events when you are just starting out is receiving your first order of bees, and getting them into all that equipment you just built. There's lots of ways to install them, and most will get the job done. Which way is tried and true? We discuss your options. Then, once they are installed... what do you do, what can you expect, and what's normal? In this episode of the series we get you into and past your first month of having bees. __________________ Resources for Beginning Beekeepers Books The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition - Kim Flottum The New Starting Right with Bees - Kim Flottum, Kathy Summers Wisdom for Beekeepers: 500 Tips for Successful Beekeeping - James E. Tew The Beekeeper's Problem Solver: 100 Common Problems Explored and Explained - James E. Tew ABC-XYZ of Bee Culture - A.I. Root Company Magazines Bee Culture American Bee Journal The Beekeeper's Quarterly Associations & Organizationshttps://beeinformed.org American Beekeeping Federation American Honey Producers Association Bee Informed ______________ The How To Get Started with Bees Series is Sponsored by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Midway Music, "All We Know"

Welcome to our four-part series on getting started in this fascinating and educational backyard pastime, sideline job, or full time career. All are possible with honey bees. Listen in as Kim Flottum, author and retired Editor of Bee Culture magazine, Dr. James Tew, author, Bee Culture magazine contributor and retired Extension Specialist in Beekeeping from the University of Alabama and Ohio State University, and Jeff Ott, a skilled, long time back yard beekeeper discuss the ins and outs of this craft, covering all aspects of getting started. Part 2 - Where To Get Bees So you've got a good idea about what equipment you'll need and where your bees will go, so now, where do you get bees? There are several 'races' of bees you can get, just like dogs or cows. They are similar in most ways, but each has some special traits you will want to investigate. Then, once you've decided what kind of bees will be best for you, how do you get them into that equipment you just picked out. Well, all manner of techniques exist…from the postoffice, from a local supplier or from a local beekeeper, and they come in all kinds of containers, so check out all the bees, and all the ways you can get them. ____________________ Resources for Beginning Beekeepers Books The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition - Kim Flottum The New Starting Right with Bees - Kim Flottum, Kathy Summers Wisdom for Beekeepers: 500 Tips for Successful Beekeeping - James E. Tew The Beekeeper's Problem Solver: 100 Common Problems Explored and Explained - James E. Tew ABC-XYZ of Bee Culture - A.I. Root Company Magazines Bee Culture American Bee Journal The Beekeeper's Quarterly Associations & Organizationshttps://beeinformed.org American Beekeeping Federation American Honey Producers Association Bee Informed ______________ The How To Get Started with Bees Series is Sponsored by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Midway Music, "All We Know"

Welcome to our four part series on getting started in this fascinating and educational backyard pastime, sideline job, or full time career, sponsored by BetterBee! All are possible with honey bees. Listen in as Kim Flottum, author and retired Editor of Bee Culture magazine, Dr. James Tew, author, Bee Culture magazine contributor and retired Extension Specialist in Beekeeping from the University of Alabama and Ohio State University, and Jeff Ott, a skilled, long time back yard beekeeper discuss the ins and outs of this craft, covering all aspects of getting started. Part 1 - So You Want To Get Bees You've made the decision to get started. What do you need, and how does this work? Find out about hive types, protective gear and the tools of the trade. Learn about local regulations, concerned neighbors and where will you put your hives, anyway? Jeff, Kim and Jim put a total of over 100 years experience in getting started. They've made a lot of the mistakes already, so you don't have to. Listen today and find the right way to start. Resources for Beginning Beekeepers Books The Backyard Beekeeper, 4th Edition - Kim Flottum The New Starting Right with Bees - Kim Flottum, Kathy Summers Wisdom for Beekeepers: 500 Tips for Successful Beekeeping - James E. Tew The Beekeeper's Problem Solver: 100 Common Problems Explored and Explained - James E. Tew ABC-XYZ of Bee Culture - A.I. Root Company Magazines Bee Culture American Bee Journal The Beekeeper's Quarterly Associations & Organizationshttps://beeinformed.org American Beekeeping Federation American Honey Producers Association Bee Informed Project Apis m. ______________ The How To Get Started with Bees Series is Sponsored by BetterBee. BetterBee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. How do they do this? Because many of their employees are also beekeepers, so they know the needs, challenges and answers to your beekeeping questions. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Midway Music, "All We Know"

In this episode, we talk with Jeremy Burbidge of Northern Bee Books, located in Mytholmroyd, in northern England. Northern Bee Books publishes books on every aspect of bees and beekeeping you can imagine. Jeremy is a retired school teacher and a beekeeper, and has been publishing not only books on bees and beekeeping for over 20 years, but also publishers two beekeeping magazines, The Beekeepers Quarterly, and Natural Bee Husbandry, another quarterly aimed at Natural Beekeeping and beekeepers, which is popular in the US. Jeremy has been involved with the National Honey Show for decades, assisting with speaker selection and other details and was recently honored by the Show for his service. His book display stand at that show covers a dozen tables, which gives you a hint of how many titles he works with. We urge you to take a look at their online catalog which lists and gives a description of each of the nearly 500 titles they carry! Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – Northern Bee Books - www.NorthernBeeBooks.co.uk. ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

January 7th marked the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newest USDA Honey Bee Research Lab in Davis, California. Drs. Arathi Seshadri, the lab's Research Leader and Julia Fine are the initial staff, looking at colony health and stress factors. Dr. Fine joins the this episode to talk about her new role and the mission of the lab. Dr. Fine is more the lab person looking at the effects of nutrition stress on reproduction. The lab is just getting set up, so they are looking for grad students, post docs and people with beekeeping skills to help set up the lab's soon-to-be apiary. We plan on having Dr. Fine back after the almond bloom to get her take on this event, and see what's going on after some of the dust settles. Stay tuned for that discussion early this summer! Website and links mention in this episode include: USDA-ARS Lab Opening News Release: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=39183 PostDoc Researcher Job Listing: https://www.projectapism.org/uploads/1/0/5/7/105706229/fine_ars_postdoc_2019.pdf ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Naomi Mark grew up and lives today in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Her mom and dad homesteaded there and raised five kids. Along with the way, he started beekeeping and passed the love of bees to Naomi. Her movie, How To Bee, chronicles a period of three years after Naomi moved back from college, and her learning how to keep bees with her chronically ill father. It is a touching movie about beekeeping in the far North and how honey bees strengthened family bonds through life and death. Websites and links mentioned in the podcast include: How To Bee website - http://howtobee.ca How To Bee TV listings in Canada: https://www.knowledge.ca/program/how-bee How To Bee Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HowToBeeFilm Where to find where How To Bee is playing near you on Demand Films: https://us.demand.film/how-to-bee/ ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Lindsey White and Randi Grout work for Meadville Land Service, Inc., which is a "cousin" company of the Ernst Seed Company out of Cochranton, PA. MLS specializes in planning, planting and maintaining large scale (multiple acre) pollinator 'gardens'... OK, fields; think corporate grounds and tracts of otherwise unproductive acres. The acreage in and around solar arrays are great opportunities to plant native plants to benefit pollinators in a large scale. Not only that, it cuts down the amount of maintenance required to keep the solar arrays productive and visually attractive, reduces water runoff and helps to build a healthy topsoil for future use, among other benefits. Websites and links mentioned in the podcast include: Meadville Land Service, Inc. - https://www.meadvillelandservice.com/eps Ernst Seed Company - https://www.ernstseed.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this episode, the guys review key podcasts and guests from 2019. Then they take a look at what is planned for 2020. What were your favorite episodes? Let us know at [email protected]! ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Brian Peterson and Brian Roest are beekeepers and educators in the Detroit, Michigan area. They created "Bees in the D"; a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to create a cooperative effort between the residents, schools, organizations and business in the Detroit area to "contribute to the health of honey bee colonies and the education of their importance to our environment." The Bees in the D have over 160 colonies located throughout the Detroit area in public and corporate locations, including the rooftops of hotels and restaurants and community areas. These locations give Bees in the D many opportunities to talk with the general public about the importance of honey bees and other pollinators in the world. They have a fantastic educational program that is being modeled in other cities around the US. Their efforts will soon be rewarded with the opening of the Bees in the D Education Center in the near future. Websites and links mentioned in the podcast Bees In The D - https://beesinthed.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Kirsten Traynor joins Beekeeping Today Podcast in this episode to talk about her new quarterly publication, 2 Million Blossoms. 2 Million Blossoms is dedicated to "protecting our pollinators - both wild and managed, before they disappear." 2 Million Blossoms (first issue in January 2020) will offer short and long form articles exploring how bees, birds, butterflies and bats enhance the world they all pollinate! The inaugural issue includes articles by Dr. Marla Spivak, Craig Childs, Dr. Dave Goulson, and Dr. Mark Winston. The publication is designed to look great on any coffee table, with beautiful photographs and illustrations. It is also offered in a digital format. Why the title? It takes honey bees to visit 2 million blossoms to create 1 pound of honey! Websites and links mentioned in this podcast include: 2 Million Blossoms - https://www.2millionblossoms.com 2 Million Blossoms Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2mblossoms/2-million-blossoms-protecting-our-pollinators ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In the last episode of Beekeeping Today Podcast, Kim announced that he was stepping down his post of 30+ years at Bee Culture and handing over the reins of the world class publication to Jerry Hayes. Jerry has a a long history in beekeeping and is well respected in the industry. In this episode, Jerry and Kim talk about the transition, Jerry's direction for Bee Culture, his move to Ohio and what he sees as challenges to the industry. Also in this episode, while at Apimondia in September, Kim talked to Brett Adee about honey adulteration/contamination and the impact of that problem to beekeepers. ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Joining this episode is a team representing one of the 18 finalist in the Empire State Development and Cornell University's Center for Regional Economic Advancement for "Grow-NY". Grow-NY is a food innovation and agricultural technology business challenge focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage and agriculture innovation cluster in the Central New York, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of the State. Today's guests, one of 199 teams competing for the $1-Million prize developed an innovative approach and product "Combplex" to fight the beekeeper's #1 pest: The Varroa Mite. First up is Jenn Smith from Grow-NY who introduces the competition and provides the background. From Combplex, co-owners Hailey Scofield and Nathan Oaks join the episode. Hailey is a PhD candidate at Cornell University in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior where she studied honey bee thermoregulation and development under Thomas Seeley before transitioning to work with Professors Scott McArt and Cole Gilbert on more applied research on the impacts of transportation stress and development in commercial migratory beekeeping operations. Nathan is currently a fifth-year PhD candidate at Cornell, where he studies Computational Biology with Professor Philipp Messer and looks forward to continuing to wear many hats as Combplex grows. Websites and Links mentioned in the Podcast: Grow-NY: https://grow-ny.com Combplex: https://beecombplex.com ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Every two years, beekeepers from around the globe swarm to a chosen city for a week to discuss the honey bee: The latest research, latest products, the latest gadgets, and the must have knowledge for all those interested in the honey bee and honey business. It is called: Apimondia. This year Apimondia was held in Montreal, Canada. Kim was able to attend and provide the story for this episode. Kim reports on what defines Apimondia, who attends, its history and why it exists. He also walked the vendor floor and brings to this episode several interesting product introductions. Websites and links mentioned in this podcast: Peter Nelson's Movie: The Pollinators To find a showing near you on the US National Screening Day - November 6, 2019 check out Demand Films: https://us.demand.film/the-pollinators/ To find a showing near you on the Canadian National Screening Day - November 11, 2019 check out Demand Films: https://ca.demand.film/the-pollinators/ To find a showing near you in Australia throughout the months of October and November, 2019 - check out Demand Films: https://au.demand.film/the-pollinators/ Strong Microbials: https://www.strongmicrobials.com QSI Testing: https://www.qsi-q3.com Tropilaelaps Mite: http://idtools.org/id/mites/beemites/factsheet.php?name=15241 ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

When Xander and Samantha met several years ago, the thought they'd end up owning and running a winery in Carnation, Washington, was not even a germ of an idea. In fact, the thought that they'd be running 15 colonies and producing honey at that winery was even further from consideration as Xander had no love of flying, stinging insects. Flash forward to today, past Xander's nearly three years in the Peace Corps, where he taught beekeeping in The Gambia, Africa, and they now own Orenda Winery. In this special 'on the road' podcast, Jeff travels to Carnation, east of Seattle, to talk with Xander and Samantha about beekeeping in Africa, what prompted them to buy a winery, and how they use their honey bees as a major piece in their overall business plan. Kim joins the podcast later as he preps for Apimondia 2019. Websites and links mentioned in this podcast: Orenda Winery: http://orendawinery.com Xander's ("Angry") Hive Inspection in the Gambia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_YukQwfF4 Xander's ("Calm") Hive Inspection in the Gambia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swtdpngTqt0 Duke University Documentary of the Beekeeping Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-JWRyqOf-Y Xander's Final Blogpost from the Peace Corp with Photos: http://thecypresstree.blogspot.com Peace Corps: https://www.peacecorps.gov ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Xander and Samantha! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Steve Pernal is a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (the Canadian USDA), located at the lab in Beaverlodge, Alberta, CAN. When he isn't working with the bees in the fields of canola, clover and alfalfa of the norther plains of Alberta, he is heading up the Programs Committee for the 2019 Apimondia in Montréal, Canada. This year's 46th Apimondia Congress (September 8-12) is hosted by the Canadian Honey Council and is 4 packed days of everything and anything beekeeping: from daily key note speakers, to scientific presentations to honey shows to a large vendor area featuring worldwide suppliers of beekeeping equipment and goods. In this episode, Steve talks with Kim and Jeff about the programs attendees can expect in this year's Apimondia and what beekeepers from around the world will experience! Websites and links mentioned in the episode: Apimondia 2019 Kim & Jim Show (See the styrofoam hive in the June 18, 2019 episode.) ______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Steve Pernal! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Dr. Tammy Horn Potter started her professional life with a PhD in American Literature. Today, she is State Apriarist for Kentucky. Along the way, she's taught English and literature at several universities in the Southeast, helped her grandfather - a sometimes cantankerous man with his bees and in doing so, fell in love with them. She became involved in the reclamation of strip-mine land and mountain tops in part through the establishment of honey bee hives across those lands. She was appointed State Apriarist in 2014. She hasn't slowed down yet. Tammy joins Jeff and Kim on this show to talk about her background and her latest book, "Flower Power: Establishing Pollinator Habitat" published by one of the episodes sponsors, Wicwas Press. Flower Power provides the reader the essential tools she'd learned and used in the many different restoration and beautification projects in which she's been involved in an easy to read and concise publication. Tammy has also authored (as Tammy Horn): Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation and Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Can Teach Us about Local Trade and the Global Market. [** Update - In the podcast, it is mentioned that the Tupelo tree is an invasive species in the south. In fact, it is the Tallow or "Popcorn" Tree. Thanks to @TascatchaFarm on Twitter for that correction!] _______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com. Today's episode is also brought to you by Wicwas Press. Wicwas Press is the publisher of beekeeping how-to and scientific books, including Dr. Larry Connor's, Keeping Bees Alive: Sustainable Beekeeping Essentials. We thank Wicwas for their support of our podcast. When visiting and shopping at Global Patties or Wicwas Press, let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode with Dr. Tammy Horn Potter! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Rich Morris is a beekeeper and electrical engineer whose passion and career combined to produce Broodminder. Broodminder is a set of battery powered sensors and scale that provide insights to beekeepers on the changes within their monitored hives. The sensors include separate devices for temperature, temperature and humidity, and weight and (external) temperature. While this is interesting information on a hive by hive basis, the real power of the data is when it is combined, tracked and monitored across regions or even countries. Rich and Broodminder are achieving this through their beecounted.org website. In this podcast, Jeff and Kim talk to Rich about Broodminder, beecounted.org, their beginnings, and future. It is an interesting discussion and a peek at one tool useable in today's beekeeping management approach. Websites mentioned in the podcast include: Broodminder: https://broodminder.com Beecounted.org: https://www.beecounted.org Beekeeping Today Podcast Monitored Hive: https://map.beecounted.org/hive/summary/UdBX _______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Rich Morris and Broodminder! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

We continue our celebration of the A. I. Root Company's 150 anniversary we started in Season 1, Episode 17 with Brad Root. In this episode, we pick up about 1920 and continue to the 1980's. Brad relates several of the key events in the history of the A.I. Root Company from the end of the WWI through the Great Depression, WWII, the 50's and 60's. It is a fascinating look back at the company from the 5th Root generation managing the business. Also in this show, we get an update from Peter Nelson who joined the podcast back in Season 1, Episode 22. His movie, The Pollinators, is receiving great reviews at film festivals across the country. _______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Brad Root, President of A.I. Root Company! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

In this Season One wrap-up, Jeff and Kim talk about how the show got started, talk about some of the guests on the show. Kim also interviews Jeff during the show. Who is Jeff and why is HE on the podcast? They also discuss some of the history behind some of the podcasts including the sale of the A.I. Root beekeeping equipment business. This is a casual review of the year and a look forward to some of the guests lined up for the coming year. Links and websites mentioned in the show: Jeff's Cleveland Clinic Cancer Research Foundation Fundraiser Page (VeloSano): https://give.ccf.org/fundraiser/1819787 Dr. Tom Seeley's co-authored paper on 'Varroa Mite Bombs' in Plos|One: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218392 _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your suggestions, questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Adam Allington is the producer and host of the Bloomberg Environment podcast, The Business of Bees. Adam joins Jeff and Kim on this final podcast of the 2019 Pollinator Week series. Business of Bees is a six-part podcast series that introduces the listener to the business though in voices of those in the industry, including several you've heard here (John Miller, BTP #002 and Dr. Samuel Ramsey, BTP #015). Adam's series is a easy to listen to, high quality podcast that represents the pros and cons to the business, including how honey bees helps to pollinate the nation's crops. The series also touches on the debate of honey bees vs. native pollinators. The Business of Bees is available wherever you listen to or download your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts. Websites and links mention in the podcast: Bloomberg Business of Bees: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-16/the-big-business-of-bees _______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Adam! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Gene Brandi is a West Coast beekeeper, based out of Los Banos, California. Gene is is a great spokesman for the beekeeping industry having spent over 40 years in the business. Gene is Past President of American Beekeeping Federation, has served as the Chair of The National Honey Board, Chair of the Almond Board of California, and served in committees of both organizations... along with other responsibilities including serving on the Project Apis m Board and Carl Hayden Bee Research Center's Industry Liaison Committee. He is a busy man and we were fortunate to catch him on a busy day while he had a spare moment. On the episode, Gene talks with Jeff and Kim about the pollination business from the perspective of a longtime beekeeper in the California Central Valley. Almonds are a part of his business, but so are many of the other crops grown there throughout the year. He doesn't travel out of State with his bees but he is often on the move with them from one crop to another throughout the growing season. _______________ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this show with Gene! _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected] Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"