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…

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 cont…

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 …

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 fo…

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 c…

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 …

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, B…

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 cont…

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 …

Shane Gebauer is the President and Partner at Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, the catalog and online bee supply company based in Moravian Falls, NC. Shane has been keeping bees for many years and speaks nationally on beekeeping. You can also see Shane on several Brushy Mountain YouTube videos on variou…

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, bev…

In this episode, Jeff and Kim talk with Dr. Reed Johnson. Reed got his start in research beekeeping while looking for a summer job in his hometown, Missoula, Montana. He knocked on the door of Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk at the University of Montana, was offered employment, and was quickly drawn into th…

Davey Hackenberg is a second-generation of beekeeper following in the steps of his father, Dave Hackenberg, in the honey and pollination business. Davey lives in Lewisberg, PA where he and his family run Hackenberg Honey, home of Buffy Bee Honey!

In this candid interview, Davey talks openly abo…

Dr. James Wilkes is a co-founder and CEO of HiveTracks. When he is not working at HiveTracks or teaching computer science at Appalachian State in Boone, NC, James manages over 150 colonies with his son to producing sourwood honey on their Faith Mountain Farm.

In this episode, Jeff and Kim discu…

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 throu…

Dr. Jonathan Lundgren is a former USDA-ARS soil scientist, having received his PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois in 2004. Today he is Director of ECDYSIS Foundation and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm. He has also recently contributed to Bee Culture magazine!

ECDYSIS Foundation is focus…

Marina Marchese is a beekeeper and honey sommelier. She is the founder of the American Honey Tasting Society and is a frequent speaker and author on the topic of honey tasting and pairing. In this podcast, Marina joins Jeff and Kim to introduce the topic of honey tasting and that it is more than sm…

Bill Hesbach is a long time Connecticut beekeeper, an EAS Master Beekeeper and an University of Montana Master Beekeeper. In this episode, Jeff and Kim talk with Bill about the Connecticut Backyard Beekeepers Organization, the CBA "Bee Talks" informative gatherings and finally the Connecticut Queen…

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 ha…

Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk and Dr. David Firth from the Univerisity of Montana are working together on a new application for beekeepers called Bee Health Guru. The application uses artificial intelligence (AI) to listen to the sound and based upon complex algorithms and learned history, can provide a d…

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 Commit…

Dr. Geoff Williams is an assistant professor at Auburn University. He is in charge of the Bee Lab and is on the Board of the Bee Informed Partnership. Selina Bruckner is a PhD student in entomology at Auburn and working on the Annual Colony Loss and Management Survey.

The Bee Informed Partnersh…

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 t…

Eric Wenger is the Chairman of True Source Honey, LLC - an organization created through the efforts of multiple honey companies and honey industry participants who collectively working to provide a way consumers and customers from the problems associated with unlawfully sourced honey 'dumped' on th…