Challenges of Beekeeping In Wildfire Area

WEBVTT

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In a world brimming with complexity, few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee. With tireless

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precision, she dances from bloom to bloom, each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct, each act in service to the whole. And

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then there are... the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy, and curly, tending to

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the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara. sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping

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presented by our good friends over at Man Lake.

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As if beekeeping wasn't tough enough, imagine

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doing it in one of the most wildfire prone areas

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of the planet. That's all coming up on today's

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interview, but first... Is beekeeping legal where

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you live? Do you know the laws? If you live in

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a rural area, the easy answer is usually yes,

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but if you're in a large city or suburb, the

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local ordinances can be all over the place. One

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example is a controversy brewing right now in

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Barberton, Ohio, population about 25 ,000. The

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city already has an ordinance dating back to

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1957 But it has no real regulations, just a stipulation

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that the city at their own discretion can make

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you get rid of your bees if they want to. Local

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beekeepers are backing a new ordinance that makes

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beehives clearly legal with some common sense

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regulations about setbacks, number of hives per

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lot size, etc. But some residents don't want

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any bees at all. including one who spoke out

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about her severe allergic reaction to being stung.

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Then let's say you live within an HOA, it may

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have its own rules against beekeeping. I guess

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the bottom line is get involved, let your voice

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be heard, also let's make sure we're good neighbors

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and good stewards of the bees to minimize the

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impact on others as much as possible. Of course

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if your neighbor has a garden and fruit trees

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they may be thrilled that you have beehives.

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If they have a swimming pool, maybe not so much.

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The simple fact is, the world needs bees and

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we need to get along with our neighbors. With

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responsible actions and respect for others, I

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believe we can do both. Alright, now let's jump

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right into the middle of our fun discussion with

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Eli. This is Buckwheat. Hi Buckwheat. Hey buddy,

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can you see me? I don't think he likes me yet.

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Buckwheat's named after the summer bloom that

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we get here in Southern California. California

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buckwheat. Yeah, I've heard different things

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about buckwheat, honey. Some people say it doesn't

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taste very good. What do you think? Well, you

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got to differentiate this buckwheat like what

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people make out in the Midwest and such, I think,

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is a different flower than the California buckwheat,

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which is a totally different genus of. a flower

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and makes a really delicious honey. It makes

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usually a summer honey. And we have a couple

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different species, but they're like endemic to

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California. So our California buckwheat is absolutely

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delicious. I really should introduce you before

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we go any further, Eli. I'd like to welcome to

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the show Eli Lichtermark, coming to us from Southern

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California. Good morning, Eli. What's up? Good

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morning. Thanks for having me. I got to meet

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Buckwheat already, and that was awesome. And

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what kind of a dog is he? She is a red healer.

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I'm sorry, my apologies, Buckwheat, for calling

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you a he. She is a red healer. OK. OK, so actually,

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Buckwheat is a red healer, a Queensland healer.

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And she is the puppy of a litter of one of the

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owners of my apiary properties where I keep my

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bees. He's like a wild guy in Topanga where I

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live who has like three or four of these dogs

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and he let them all breed and he made a bunch

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of, um, litters of puppies. And Buckwheat was

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one of those. So she's like a true, uh, you know,

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bee yard dog. So does she get along with the

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bees? Does she get stung or anything? She despises

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the bees. She will cower in fear if even any

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kind of buzzing insect, even if a motorcycle

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drives by, she thinks it's a bee. She'll be running.

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She hates the bees. We had a chocolate lab and

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she would go out with me in the bee yard. And

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as far as I know, it never got stung. She had

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no problem. It was weird. Good vibes. Because

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I've seen pictures online of labs that have been

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stung on the face and they look all... all goofy

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and stuff. But we're here to talk about beekeeping.

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And it's going to be fun. Would you describe

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yourself as a small commercial beekeeper or a

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individual commercial beekeeper? What would you

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call yourself? You know, I've been working for

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years in this kind of in -between zone. It's

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my only job. So I'm definitely a professional

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beekeeper. I have other jobs I do on the side,

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but this is my main focus. I have about... between

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three to six, 700 beehives that I manage. And

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that fluctuates mostly just because either I'll

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sell bees off or I'll take a bunch of losses

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or I'll make a bunch of splits and grow a lot

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one year. But essentially, I think what defines

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me as a commercial beekeeper is that I have a

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flatbed and a forklift and I move my bees like

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that and I participate in the almond pollination.

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As far as like my designation, I think I'm like

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a small, small commercial operation, a one man,

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small commercial operation. Yeah. A few hundred

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hives versus the guy with 10 ,000 or 50 ,000

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hives and a whole ton of employees and fleet

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of trucks. And that sounds too big to manage

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to me for it to be fun. I think you're the size

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where you can do it full time and still have

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fun at it. Would you say that's it? I think if

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you have fun working nonstop and, uh, having

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some great victories and some epic failures,

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if you enjoy that, then, yeah, it's pretty fun.

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Do you enjoy that? Uh, I think I do. I think

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I, like, um, really attracted to how challenging

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this practice is and how, like, it keeps moving

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out from under me. You know, like, every time

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I'm like, okay, I got it. Something happens.

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either in my personal life or in nature, that

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just, you know, keeps it from being easy. Let's

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just call it that. And there's always so much

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to learn. Yeah, and everyone out there knows,

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if you've done any beekeeping, you know, you

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start out and you're like, wow, this is so easy.

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Right? And then you quickly realize, like, this

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is not easy. There's so much to it and there's

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so many challenges even in the last, you know,

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couple decades that have made beekeeping really

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different than it ever was before. If you think

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it's easy, it's because you so far don't know

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what you don't know. We'll put it that way. For

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those that are maybe a hobbyist or a sideline

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beekeeper and thinking about working their way

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up, I want you to talk about a couple of different

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things. One, tell me about your day today. as

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an average day, because we were going to do this

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a couple hours ago, and I got a text from you

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saying, we're having bee problems and need to

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postpone this a little bit. So what's a bee problem?

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And then I'd love to learn how you made the transition

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from being a hobbyist and getting up to where

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you are now. Okay. The context for this morning

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was that we actually did most of our final harvest

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for the year. We pulled all the supers off of

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our boxes that are out in Malibu right now. It

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was a tough honey year for us. And typically

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we do like two or even three harvests out there.

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And this year we just pulled this one. I just

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left all the honey onto the end of the year.

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So we had a kind of a victory yesterday. We got

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two pallets of honey, which is pretty good. Those

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are deep boxes. That would probably be like a

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drum, drum and a half of honey or maybe two drums.

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I took it to the kitchen, which for me is about

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a 20 minute drive away, dropped it off and I

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had to pick up all the spun frames from the last

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harvest we did. So I put those on my truck and

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last night I worked until about 6, 7 p .m. got

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home and I said, you know what, I can't go drop

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these off at the bee yard and I can't leave them

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at home because what will happen is all the bees

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from the neighborhood will come. and start to

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rob those spun -out frames, and I live on a property

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with a five -year -old and a renter, and I have

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neighbors, and they would not be happy about

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that. It would be a bee storm. So my plan was

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to wake up early, about 5 a .m. Everything was

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loaded on the truck already. I had a forklift

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on the back, drive to the bee yard, closest bee

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yard, drop it off, get back, have some breakfast,

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and have our interview. I got to the bee yard,

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and, you know, about 7 a .m. I'm unloading all

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the boxes and I just realized everything's kind

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of disorganized. So I'm reorganizing things I'm

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getting off the forklift getting on the forklift

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Like you know this pile tips over falls on the

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ground all of a sudden I realized it's like 830

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supposed to be home, you know for our interview

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and The bees have already gotten on the frames

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and I didn't really I didn't put on my bee suit

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so now I'm like fighting off bees that are robbing

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the boxes and I'm getting stung all over and

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I'm swatting at bees and At a certain point,

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it hurts, but I just feel kind of silly. So it

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took a really long time, got everything organized,

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and got out of there. I threw a couple things

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back on the truck that I need, and I just rushed

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home. That's not a typical morning, but I don't

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think there is a typical morning. There's always

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something new to do. But that's kind of a typical

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issue that comes up. I have a project. And it

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just doesn't turn out the way I planned it to

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turn out. It wasn't just today. All right, tell

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us a little bit about your journey from hobbyist

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on up. So I started out beekeeping. I first discovered

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beekeeping. I'm a big surfer. So I went on a

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surf trip when I was like 23 years old. And I

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ended up in central Chile. And Chile has a really

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vibrant beekeeping culture. It has a big commercial

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beekeeping. business and has a lot of really

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smart people doing beekeeping down there. And

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I met a guy who lived near where I wanted to

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go surfing. So we kind of did an exchange. I

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had never done beekeeping before. I stayed with

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him, helped him with the bees over the winter

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while I just surfed my brains out. And then when

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I came back to California, my father had met

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this guy. My father had had a swarm land on his

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house, right? And rather than have the swarm

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removed, he had... the swarm hived into a box.

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So my father just had a beehive. I said, Oh,

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I know how to take care of that. So I started

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out like that, like just how a lot of hobby beekeepers

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started out by catching a swarm. But I, you know,

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I really liked it. I don't know something about

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it was so again, it was like something so challenging

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and new and weird. And I ended up working with

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the gentleman, David, who did the swarm capture.

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I ended up working with him for a couple of years

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doing a swarm capture, hive removal, stuff like

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that. And I just failed every year at keeping

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the bees. I could catch a lot of colonies, but

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every year they would all die. And I, well, why

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are they dying? Someone said, oh, you have to

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treat for mites. Oh, okay. Someone would say,

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oh, you have to feed them. Oh, okay. I didn't

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know any of this stuff, right? So I slowly built

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up and all of a sudden I had like 40 hives and

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then all of a sudden they started surviving.

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I had a hundred hives. And I built up to about

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120 or 200 hives. And I was still a total just

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novice, but I was having success. And then a

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big fire came through, the Woolsey fire in 2018,

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and burned all my hives. And I got an ELAP payment.

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And I decided, I said, I could cash out or I

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could just build a business. So at that point,

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I thought, why not just build a business? So

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I bought a bunch of new boxes, I bought some

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bees, and that was sort of the genesis of the

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organized bee business that I've now running

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today. So Big Surfer, I need to introduce you

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to the head of Man Lake. He surfs a lot and he

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lives just up the coast from your ways. Oh, yeah?

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We'll talk later. I want to hear about fires,

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because you're in an area, we always hear about

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these Santa Ana winds and the great big fires

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and stuff. You got wiped out one year. Has that

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been a problem in other years too? Well, we had

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that fire was like pretty significant. That was

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like, you know, we're in this kind of era of

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these mega fires that since like the 2020s has

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just sort of like shocked everybody year on year.

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It's like the next biggest fire, the next biggest

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fire. That fire was pretty remarkable because

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of just like how much acreage it burned up. And

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that was a very like the Santa Monica Mountains

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like Fires Not New happens all the time, right?

00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:42.789
Like... This is the environment that I've chosen

00:14:42.789 --> 00:14:45.769
to be in. It's actually a great environment for

00:14:45.769 --> 00:14:49.409
bees. We have beautiful sage blooms. We have

00:14:49.409 --> 00:14:52.029
Laurel sumac in the summer and Toyon and we have

00:14:52.029 --> 00:14:54.929
the buckwheat. We have really nice native plants

00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:57.610
that make beautiful honey, but it's a very variable

00:14:57.610 --> 00:15:00.690
environment. So it goes from El Nino year where

00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:04.549
we get like 30, 40, 50 inches of rain to last

00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:06.450
year we got like 11. The year before that we

00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:11.399
got four. So it's these like drastic swings of

00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:14.200
environment. And part of that is the fires. This

00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:18.360
last year, January 2025, we had the Palisades

00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:21.769
fire. And the Palisades fire was very close to

00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:23.710
home. I grew up in the Palisades. I started my

00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:27.379
business in a place called Rustic Canyon, which

00:15:27.379 --> 00:15:31.100
is on the east end of the Palisades. Everything

00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:34.580
in that area burnt. And actually, I was talking

00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:36.879
about my honey kitchen. It's in that neighborhood.

00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:39.840
Still, that's where my parents live. When the

00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:44.000
fire happened, I was pretty certain that the

00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.200
garage where I store my honey drums burnt to

00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:49.379
the ground. And I believe there was something

00:15:49.379 --> 00:15:52.559
like 16 drums of honey stored in that garage.

00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:56.820
You know, I'm watching the fire. I'm very, very

00:15:56.820 --> 00:16:00.539
fire aware ever since that 2018 fire happened.

00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:03.059
And I was convinced it was all gone. Luckily,

00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:05.779
it wasn't. But everything around the garage was

00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:08.610
torched. So I got really lucky. I couldn't get

00:16:08.610 --> 00:16:10.610
to the honey because there's like a bridge to

00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:13.990
get to that garage and that bridge burnt. So

00:16:13.990 --> 00:16:16.649
that honey just sat there for six months and

00:16:16.649 --> 00:16:20.919
I couldn't get to it. But, I mean, fire is so

00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:23.059
important. It's such a big part of our life.

00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.500
I actually, after the Palisades fire, started

00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.580
training as a firefighter. And I now work for

00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:30.779
the Los Angeles County Fire Department as a call

00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:36.019
firefighter here in Topanga at station 69. So

00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:39.139
it's part of my life with the bees and part of

00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:41.940
my life outside of the bees as well. Beekeepers

00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:45.220
all over the world are thinking, well, I've got

00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:49.440
Varroa, I've got snow, I've got all these issues.

00:16:49.659 --> 00:16:51.720
There aren't that many that are dealing with

00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:55.659
wildfires. I mean, how much can you even do about

00:16:55.659 --> 00:16:58.940
it? Right? Sometimes you can see a couple days

00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:01.990
in advance. Oh. there's a fire headed this way

00:17:01.990 --> 00:17:05.210
towards this apiary I'm gonna go move my 100

00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:07.890
hives out of there or whatever the case may be

00:17:07.890 --> 00:17:10.250
and you can do that if it starts too close you

00:17:10.250 --> 00:17:13.630
can't you can keep all the vegetation mowed down

00:17:13.630 --> 00:17:16.890
I mean what would you need in a big fire you'd

00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:20.630
need to go out what 50 yards 100 yards or something

00:17:20.630 --> 00:17:23.849
from your apiary to have everything mowed down

00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:26.569
for your bees to still be okay if they stayed

00:17:26.569 --> 00:17:29.869
what would it take Yeah, so there's a couple

00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:32.490
things that I've learned to do. None of them

00:17:32.490 --> 00:17:34.809
are foolproof. And like you said, you know, if

00:17:34.809 --> 00:17:37.930
a fire starts close and the wind's blowing, there's

00:17:37.930 --> 00:17:40.269
nothing you can do. Like the Santa Ana winds,

00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:42.890
like what happens with the Santa Ana winds? When

00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:47.890
a fire starts on a low humidity, high wind day,

00:17:48.549 --> 00:17:50.650
there's nothing you can do because even if you

00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:53.630
clear vegetation, you're going to get embers

00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:57.650
the size of small tree limbs. flying through

00:17:57.650 --> 00:18:01.680
the air, landing up against hives. On this podcast

00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.640
you often hear a lot of talk about winter preparation

00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.099
and there are many different philosophies mostly

00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:11.539
involving hive insulation. But what you haven't

00:18:11.539 --> 00:18:14.700
heard until now is a solution where insulation

00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:18.339
is built right into a traditional wooden hive

00:18:18.339 --> 00:18:21.599
body. That's what Man Lake just did. created

00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.200
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00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:28.299
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00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.099
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00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:35.039
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00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:38.839
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00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.720
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00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:44.960
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00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:49.059
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00:18:49.059 --> 00:18:53.650
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00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:58.329
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00:18:58.329 --> 00:19:02.589
MLBlove10. When my hives burned in the Woolsey

00:19:02.589 --> 00:19:05.589
fire they were in cleared meadows and when I

00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:11.059
got there all that was left were piles of staples

00:19:11.059 --> 00:19:15.339
from the boxes. So once the wax ignites it burns

00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:17.799
so hot that it just will ignite all the other

00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:21.150
boxes around it. That being said I'm still here.

00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:23.049
I'm still keeping my bees in those same locations.

00:19:23.690 --> 00:19:27.230
I do have, like, a much more rigorous clearing

00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:30.109
practice now. I try to clear, like, at least

00:19:30.109 --> 00:19:32.329
30 feet away from the beehives. But that's an

00:19:32.329 --> 00:19:35.470
enormous job. And this is not... We're not in

00:19:35.470 --> 00:19:38.529
a meadow. We're not in grass. This is, like,

00:19:38.829 --> 00:19:42.809
thick brush shopper owl. So very thick. It's

00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:45.430
a huge expense for me to go out and chainsaw

00:19:45.430 --> 00:19:48.170
up, you know, a huge portion of mountainside.

00:19:48.470 --> 00:19:50.869
So there's that. You can do prep. You can clean

00:19:50.869 --> 00:19:53.710
up. There's another thing I do, which is, like,

00:19:53.710 --> 00:19:55.670
you know, if you clean up enough, you just go

00:19:55.670 --> 00:19:57.730
to the bee yard and you pick up the pallets.

00:19:57.789 --> 00:19:59.890
This is something that a friend of mine, a Ventura,

00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:03.049
does. And he just moves them towards the middle

00:20:03.049 --> 00:20:05.750
of the yard. So just squish all the bees together

00:20:05.750 --> 00:20:08.250
so that they're not near the brush on either

00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:11.309
side. Who knows if that will really help in a

00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:13.769
big event. And then the last thing is, like,

00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:16.670
I actually pull out of the mountains if we're

00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:19.819
in the fall. and try to consolidate in locations

00:20:19.819 --> 00:20:23.500
that are easier to load in and out because a

00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:26.380
lot of my locations would be pretty dangerous

00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:29.579
to be driving in with a forklift and a flatbed

00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:32.839
on a windy day, you know, with a fire bearing

00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:34.880
down on you. You wouldn't want to put yourself

00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:38.299
in the middle of those conditions. So I try to

00:20:38.299 --> 00:20:40.759
just consolidate, pull them out, put them in

00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:42.700
places where if there was something to happen,

00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:46.140
we could show up and pull them out. And then,

00:20:46.140 --> 00:20:48.500
you know, other than that, you just they're just

00:20:48.500 --> 00:20:51.180
beehives. So it's not really worth risking your

00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:54.480
life for some bees, even though we do that kind

00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:00.220
of every day. Yes, you do. All right. I know

00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:02.279
a big part of your income is honey. Tell me about

00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.039
the different crops of honey that you get. Every

00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:07.420
year is kind of different. I've learned that

00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:10.380
I can't be that creative because it just doesn't

00:21:10.380 --> 00:21:12.920
work for just like what a customer wants. Like

00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:15.599
people, they want variety. They want to see the

00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.250
real deal, but they also they don't want to get

00:21:18.250 --> 00:21:21.569
confused by too many options, right? So I fit

00:21:21.569 --> 00:21:24.410
my honeys into kind of four general categories.

00:21:25.089 --> 00:21:28.650
I have my Topanga harvest, which is just colonies

00:21:28.650 --> 00:21:30.829
in Topanga Canyon, which is where I live. And

00:21:30.829 --> 00:21:33.089
I have to do the farmers market here. And, you

00:21:33.089 --> 00:21:35.910
know, that's my community. That honey is about

00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:39.470
120 colonies that live in this canyon. And it

00:21:39.470 --> 00:21:41.849
makes like that's basically my summer harvest

00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:46.289
for Topanga. So that's a honey that's made from

00:21:46.380 --> 00:21:50.779
Little sumac, Toyon, these are native plants

00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:52.680
to the Santa Monica mountains that produce kind

00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.240
of like a red honey. Toyon, it almost has like

00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.259
a burning sensation in your throat. It's like

00:21:59.259 --> 00:22:01.559
kind of has like some medicinal feeling. I really

00:22:01.559 --> 00:22:03.460
love that honey. It's really special and really

00:22:03.460 --> 00:22:05.720
beautiful. And I make it like, you know, five

00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:07.440
minutes from my house. So that's pretty nice.

00:22:07.819 --> 00:22:10.660
On a good year, we'll make sage honey. And the

00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:14.140
sage is, early sage is like a black sage that

00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:18.799
we make. which is a very clear, very light, very

00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.940
resistant to crystallization honey, really special.

00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:25.279
And then we also make like a purple sage, which

00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.339
is a little bit darker, a little bit redder,

00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:30.500
more amber, which is also very delicious, but

00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:32.839
not as kind of like rarefied as the black sage.

00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:35.259
So I call that my purple sage or my sage. And

00:22:35.259 --> 00:22:39.480
then I make a Western Malibu, which I'm not sure

00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:42.099
if I'll continue doing it just because... Like

00:22:42.099 --> 00:22:44.779
the concept was from the beginning that I was

00:22:44.779 --> 00:22:49.140
sort of tracking the plants post the Woolsey

00:22:49.140 --> 00:22:52.900
fire. So when you burn the mountains in Southern

00:22:52.900 --> 00:22:56.279
California, you get a whole new plant succession

00:22:56.279 --> 00:22:59.319
that comes after. And you also get a whole kind

00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:02.279
of different type of honey. It was mainly this

00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:04.700
one plant that the beekeepers call it wireweed.

00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:07.440
I've heard other people call it deerweed. It's

00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:10.539
in the pea family, and it's a little yellow -red

00:23:10.539 --> 00:23:13.900
flower that just like blanketed the mountains

00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.299
after the fire. And it made an incredibly light

00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:20.619
honey with almost like a hint of cinnamon in

00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:23.119
it. And I made a ton of that in the three or

00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.299
four good rain years after the big fires passed

00:23:25.299 --> 00:23:28.500
through. And then the last one I call Costa wildflower,

00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:31.339
and it's sort of like whatever I can harvest

00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:34.839
after June, basically. And it's a darker honey.

00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:38.279
Typically, buckwheat honey, and that's a more

00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:41.019
rich, earthy honey that I sell. You mentioned

00:23:41.019 --> 00:23:44.099
a honey kitchen. Is that just a place where you're

00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:46.299
harvesting honey or is that where you're bottling

00:23:46.299 --> 00:23:50.099
or what's a honey kitchen? I call my honey kitchen

00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:52.900
basically my extraction room. It's a garage that

00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:56.599
I've put in some sinks. I put in some surfaces.

00:23:57.380 --> 00:24:04.140
I rescued a like 1956 Cowan uncapping machine.

00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:08.279
you know, like with the vibrating knives. Like

00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:10.700
it's made of cast aluminum. It's probably, you

00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:13.319
know, it's as old as my... older than my parents.

00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:16.440
And I rescued that and rebuilt that and I have

00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:18.759
that set up and I have a couple extractors set

00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.180
up. And then I use it mostly just for extracting

00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:25.880
honey and for spulk storing drums of honey. I

00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.079
do my bottling here. I've outfitted a container

00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.299
to be kind of my bottling room. I try not to

00:24:32.299 --> 00:24:35.650
do both, but... I do try to all the sticky stuff

00:24:35.650 --> 00:24:38.710
I try to do there. Yeah. Leave it someplace else.

00:24:39.029 --> 00:24:42.849
Yeah. I get it. I have a feeling that you're

00:24:42.849 --> 00:24:45.150
going to have some really a couple of fun, wild

00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:48.230
and crazy beekeeping stories. This is something

00:24:48.230 --> 00:24:50.589
that I really enjoy talking about with people

00:24:50.589 --> 00:24:53.109
because we all have them. It reminds us of the

00:24:53.109 --> 00:24:56.049
fun and some of the love of beekeeping. Can you

00:24:56.049 --> 00:24:59.140
think of one or two you can share with us? Yeah.

00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:03.119
So I'm small commercial beekeeper. It's kind

00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:05.400
of unique that I'm here in Los Angeles, right?

00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:09.940
Like in LA County, there's a few of us. In West

00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:14.140
LA, not many, right? I think I'm really the only

00:25:14.140 --> 00:25:17.960
beekeeper at scale. And so it's a little weird.

00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:19.920
I'm kind of like driving around these like super

00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:23.660
fancy neighborhoods in like flatbeds, pulling

00:25:23.660 --> 00:25:26.700
forklifts with bees on the back. It's a pretty

00:25:26.700 --> 00:25:30.779
unique kind of juxtaposition of cultures, right?

00:25:31.589 --> 00:25:34.829
And I grew up actually in a family where my parents

00:25:34.829 --> 00:25:38.150
worked in the film business, right? So I'm not

00:25:38.150 --> 00:25:41.470
really like a, you know, farmer lineage. And

00:25:41.470 --> 00:25:45.329
so for me too, I'm like very aware of I'm like

00:25:45.329 --> 00:25:48.609
in this old truck, making a mess, whatever. You

00:25:48.609 --> 00:25:51.430
know, like a friend of mine once said that I

00:25:51.430 --> 00:25:54.170
was a menace to society. Because everywhere I

00:25:54.170 --> 00:25:56.009
go, people are just like getting stung by bees.

00:25:56.490 --> 00:25:59.549
So the story I wanted to tell was kind of like

00:25:59.549 --> 00:26:04.509
tying that in. When I first sort of had this

00:26:04.509 --> 00:26:07.789
feeling, this need to like kind of step it up,

00:26:08.450 --> 00:26:10.869
I started borrowing equipment from another beekeeper.

00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:13.690
For many years, I just kept my bees in the mountains

00:26:13.690 --> 00:26:16.829
and left them there all year and grew them big.

00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:21.549
And we have like, we have kind of, I would say

00:26:21.549 --> 00:26:25.009
probably some of the meanest bees in terms of

00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:28.490
the feral bees population here in Southern California.

00:26:28.789 --> 00:26:30.849
I've heard of the... Florida bees being pretty

00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:33.950
mean, but our bees are pretty nasty. If you don't

00:26:33.950 --> 00:26:37.049
change your queens out all the time, you end

00:26:37.049 --> 00:26:40.150
up with feral bees in your colonies. And then

00:26:40.150 --> 00:26:42.789
when you're moving bees around and such, like

00:26:42.789 --> 00:26:44.930
they're not nice bees, right? They're not just

00:26:44.930 --> 00:26:47.529
hanging out on the truck. Well, you've got Africanized

00:26:47.529 --> 00:26:51.309
genetics in there. Oh, yeah. So that's actually,

00:26:51.349 --> 00:26:53.049
that's like a whole nother story to talk about.

00:26:53.210 --> 00:26:56.390
It's just how it is to keep bees in this environment

00:26:56.390 --> 00:27:00.799
when you're basically chasing down Any queen

00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:03.779
loss means you might turn out with a monster

00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:06.640
queen in your yard. So this was early on in my

00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:10.380
growth towards being a more commercial beekeeper.

00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.420
I started borrowing equipment. So I borrowed

00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:15.140
a forklift and I borrowed a truck. The only problem

00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:18.480
was the only truck I could borrow was a 1989

00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:22.539
F -250 that had been sitting in this guy's yard

00:27:22.539 --> 00:27:24.980
for God knows how long. He hadn't driven it.

00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:27.680
All his other trucks were out working. I'm collecting

00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:30.319
the bees for the almonds. I said, no problem.

00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:33.140
I'll make it work. So I went and I picked up,

00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:36.279
I think, 32 colonies. It was about eight pallets.

00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:39.740
I put them on the truck. These are doubles. These

00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:44.299
are ferocious mountain colonies that are in double

00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:47.000
deeps, full of honey, ready to go to the almonds.

00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:51.779
And I'm driving through Malibu. And there's a

00:27:51.779 --> 00:27:55.900
road called Canaan Road. And Canaan is like a

00:27:55.900 --> 00:27:58.500
long, long, long descent out of the mountains.

00:27:58.769 --> 00:28:02.130
And I've never really driven a forklift that

00:28:02.130 --> 00:28:05.309
weighs 7 ,000 pounds, eight pallets of bees that

00:28:05.309 --> 00:28:08.009
weigh what, four or 5 ,000 pounds, maybe a little

00:28:08.009 --> 00:28:10.609
bit less than that, but maxing out this truck.

00:28:11.150 --> 00:28:16.390
I'm coming down this mountain and I smell this

00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:19.349
smell and I'm like, oh my God, there's something

00:28:19.349 --> 00:28:22.589
on fire, right? And this is the end of the season,

00:28:23.170 --> 00:28:26.130
getting ready for almonds. It's like... There's

00:28:26.130 --> 00:28:28.450
this excitement has to happen now right like

00:28:28.450 --> 00:28:30.670
it all of this needs to happen immediately or

00:28:30.670 --> 00:28:33.170
else we're gonna miss this opportunity I pull

00:28:33.170 --> 00:28:36.410
over I get out of the car and the all of the

00:28:36.410 --> 00:28:40.009
brakes and the rotors are on fire It's because

00:28:40.009 --> 00:28:42.549
I'm going down the hill all riding on the brakes

00:28:42.549 --> 00:28:45.710
the brakes were not adjusted correctly and my

00:28:45.710 --> 00:28:48.390
Brake rotors are just on fire. I go in the car.

00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:50.309
There's nothing to put the fire out except for

00:28:50.309 --> 00:28:53.829
like my Coconut water that I got at the gas station

00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:57.480
So I put the fire out with the coconut water.

00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:00.759
I get back in. I call the owner. Hey, I'm sorry.

00:29:00.859 --> 00:29:03.319
I set your car on fire. He says, oh, don't worry.

00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:06.349
You just need to keep driving. I said, I have

00:29:06.349 --> 00:29:08.450
to keep driving? He said, well, if you don't

00:29:08.450 --> 00:29:10.789
keep driving, then the rotors are going to freeze

00:29:10.789 --> 00:29:12.390
and you're going to be stuck forever. And you

00:29:12.390 --> 00:29:13.730
got all those bees on the truck. So you better

00:29:13.730 --> 00:29:16.910
go. I'm like, OK, I'm only halfway down the incline.

00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:21.069
So this was probably about five, six, maybe like

00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:22.970
seven, eight o 'clock at night. It was dark already.

00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:27.279
I had a newborn at the time and my partner, she

00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:29.680
was worried about me. I call her and say, hey,

00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:33.799
my car started on fire. I don't have a phone

00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:36.759
charger. My phone's going to die. I don't know

00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:38.559
what's going to happen. I'll see you later tonight.

00:29:39.890 --> 00:29:43.650
So then I get back in the car and I'm driving

00:29:43.650 --> 00:29:46.930
down the hill. Way to get her worried. Oh my

00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:51.680
gosh. So I put it in first gear. I'm using the

00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:54.099
trailer brake to brake me going down the hill

00:29:54.099 --> 00:29:57.490
and I'm carrying a big forklift too. And I think

00:29:57.490 --> 00:29:59.710
I worked till like that night, like three, four

00:29:59.710 --> 00:30:02.569
in the morning, driving at like 10 to 15 miles

00:30:02.569 --> 00:30:05.730
an hour, dropping off those colonies, you know,

00:30:05.730 --> 00:30:09.250
where they needed to go. Turns out she had left

00:30:09.250 --> 00:30:11.609
the house, you know, an hour later looking for

00:30:11.609 --> 00:30:13.490
me. She said, oh, I'm going to go look for him.

00:30:14.109 --> 00:30:16.150
I said, I don't know why she would do that, but.

00:30:16.279 --> 00:30:18.759
She ended up looking, going, driving around through

00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:21.240
the night, left the baby with her sister, something

00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:25.180
like that. It was total mayhem. The thing I remember

00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:29.160
was when my phone was dead, and I knew that the

00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.759
car could drive, you know, as long as I went

00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:34.730
safe, slowly, and I remember it was like this

00:30:34.730 --> 00:30:38.430
quiet night, and I just felt like, like there

00:30:38.430 --> 00:30:41.170
was all this chaos happening around me, and I

00:30:41.170 --> 00:30:43.309
just felt like this is exactly what I should

00:30:43.309 --> 00:30:46.880
be doing right now. You know, like just... disaster

00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:50.289
after disaster, and I'm just keeping cool. And

00:30:50.289 --> 00:30:53.750
it's just me and these monster bees just doing

00:30:53.750 --> 00:30:56.630
what I need to do. And like, I think anybody

00:30:56.630 --> 00:30:58.549
else would have just been not anyone else, but

00:30:58.549 --> 00:31:00.990
people who were not meant to be beekeepers would

00:31:00.990 --> 00:31:03.509
have said, this is insane. I'm never doing this

00:31:03.509 --> 00:31:06.049
again. And I remember that's when I got like

00:31:06.049 --> 00:31:10.460
kind of hooked. I was like, this is wild and

00:31:10.460 --> 00:31:13.220
crazy. And this is what beekeeping should feel

00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:16.319
like. Yeah, you don't seem like someone that

00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:19.619
wants to just sit behind a desk all day long.

00:31:20.140 --> 00:31:22.759
Eli, you need the craziness. I love it. That

00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:25.640
was a big turning point for you. Yeah. Yeah.

00:31:25.660 --> 00:31:28.640
All right. Before I let you go, how about a little

00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:32.569
advice for a young beekeeper out there? I would

00:31:32.569 --> 00:31:37.410
say just don't be afraid to make mistakes. I

00:31:37.410 --> 00:31:42.390
would say to try things. To try to focus on the

00:31:42.390 --> 00:31:45.829
basics. Forget about your equipment. on your

00:31:45.829 --> 00:31:50.089
suits and just focus on the queen and the health

00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:55.170
of the bees and the mites and let them teach

00:31:55.170 --> 00:31:58.930
you what they need and just practice listening

00:31:58.930 --> 00:32:02.230
and watching and observing. And yeah, just keep

00:32:02.230 --> 00:32:06.589
at it because you slowly, slowly build up these

00:32:06.589 --> 00:32:08.910
instincts and you don't realize it, but the more

00:32:08.910 --> 00:32:12.440
you see, the better. the better you are at identifying

00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:15.480
what's going on when. One actual just super practical

00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:18.599
thing is if you really love beekeeping, seek

00:32:18.599 --> 00:32:22.329
out a beekeeper who's got hundreds of hives and

00:32:22.329 --> 00:32:26.779
just go open beehives. You know, like when you

00:32:26.779 --> 00:32:30.799
open 50 beehives in an hour, you really get a

00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:32.900
sense of what the bees are doing and what they're

00:32:32.900 --> 00:32:35.140
needing. Just looking at one or two hives is

00:32:35.140 --> 00:32:37.019
really hard to get a sense of what the season

00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:40.829
is doing and what the bees are doing. So I think

00:32:40.829 --> 00:32:42.849
that would be like a great practical move for

00:32:42.849 --> 00:32:45.670
someone who he's really trying to learn All right,

00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:48.049
Eli. Hey, thanks a lot for being with me today

00:32:48.049 --> 00:32:49.650
I'm gonna have to get down there to Southern

00:32:49.650 --> 00:32:52.089
Cal sometime. You better bring a good bee suit

00:32:52.089 --> 00:32:55.069
because the bees can be kind of nasty I'll bring

00:32:55.069 --> 00:32:57.930
it. I'll bring two and I'll wear both of them.

00:32:57.930 --> 00:33:05.599
How's that? Thanks again for joining us on the

00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:08.660
number one Be Love Beekeeping podcast presented

00:33:08.660 --> 00:33:11.940
by Man Lake. Another big thank you goes out to

00:33:11.940 --> 00:33:15.019
Vita Bee Health for their support. Vita's Varroa

00:33:15.019 --> 00:33:18.539
control range of products includes Epistan, Epigard,

00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:22.539
and now Varroxan. Extended release, oxalic acid

00:33:22.539 --> 00:33:25.890
strips. If you haven't yet, hey please subscribe

00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:28.130
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00:33:28.130 --> 00:33:31.150
it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping .com

00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:34.450
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00:33:34.450 --> 00:33:37.190
a guest suggestion or a topic you'd like discussed

00:33:37.190 --> 00:33:41.490
on the show, shoot me an email eric at BeLoveBekeeping

00:33:41.490 --> 00:33:45.089
.com and remember if you're not just in it for

00:33:45.089 --> 00:33:47.869
the honey or the money, you're in it for the

00:33:47.869 --> 00:33:49.589
love. See you next week.