Episodes

Before getting into the honey of it all, host Eric riffs on a string of bizarre highway mishaps — rolled-over bee trucks, a tofu spill, flaming ribeyes — proving that 2026 is just a weird year for cargo. Then the real magic begins: mechanical-engineer-turned-beekeeper Bill Hesbach drops some serious hive-mind wisdom on condensing hives , the practice of letting bees manage their own internal climate instead of beekeepers cranking up the ventilation. _____________ $10 off your next order! https:/...

Host Eric Bennett, travels across the pond to Cornwall, England, for a fascinating conversation with Molly Earl, full-time beekeeper and founder of Bees Off and The Rescued Bee . Molly specializes in live bee removals — rescuing honeybee colonies from chimneys, walls, flat roofs, and other structures — and has grown what started as a two-hive hobby into an operation managing roughly 300 beehives across mid-Cornwall. ______________ $10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/ • Discount ...

In this fun episode of Bee Love Beekeeping , host Eric Bennett sits down with Tara Skubella and Darrin Reay — survivalists best known from Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid — to talk all things honey bees and beekeeping. The duo shares their passion project: a custom apitherapy bee hut built atop four Langstroth hives, where visitors breathe healing pheromones and soak up therapeutic vibrations without a single sting. ______________ $10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/ • Disc...

Hold onto your veils, because this week's episode is a wild ride through the wonderful world of beekeeping with Ohio-based guest Emily Mueller, a certified master herbalist, doctoral student, homeschooling mom of four, and — most importantly — a certified crazy bee lady. Beekeeper Emily schooled us on the art of drone races, the jaw-dropping healing powers of propolis for cavities and cold sores, and bee venom therapy, which she's been administering to herself and others for more than a decade. ...

What happens when bees ignore your perfectly prepared swarm trap and instead move into a beat-up, broken-lidded box on a woodshed floor? Pure beekeeping magic, apparently. Host Eric Bennett, kicks off this episode with exactly that delightful chaos before welcoming guest Michael Scott from Indiana, Pennsylvania — a town whose name exists solely to confuse people. The two dive deep into sustainable beekeeping, covering everything from honey colors (light and citrusy tulip poplar vs. dark, rich k...

Heroic news for a bee truck traveling the mountains of Utah... Bees on the loose at the White House... And building a beautiful long lang hive! This episode of Bee Love Beekeeping features host Eric Bennett in conversation with Curtis "Jack Lumber" Nielsen, a first-year beekeeper from British Columbia, Canada, who dove headfirst into beekeeping by building his own custom hive from scratch. Rather than purchasing a standard setup, Jack designed and milled an impressive 80-inch long langstroth h...

Buckle up, honey lovers — this episode is a wild ride through the wonderfully chaotic world of beekeeping with Connecticut backyard beekeeper Lauren Doninger! Before diving into the conversation, host Eric drops ten mind-blowing facts about honey bees (spoiler: they might understand the concept of zero and play soccer). Then Lauren takes us through her approach to swarm catching, the vertical split technique, condensing hives, her biggest beekeeping mistakes and a ton more! She also gives us a p...

What do a Massachusetts eviction standoff, a forklift disaster, and the secret to a thriving bee yard have in common? They all made an appearance in this week's absolutely buzzing episode of Bee Love Beekeeping! Host Eric Bennett kicked things off with a wild news story about a beekeeper who showed up to a $1.9 million home eviction with a truck full of hives — and yes, things went exactly as chaotically as you'd imagine. Then Eric welcomed Utah commercial beekeeper Seth Homer, whose family oper...

Bob Ford of Sticky Bee Honey Farm in southern Minnesota is living proof that beekeepers never do anything halfway. What started as two hives quickly ballooned to 65–80 before his back had other ideas. Now running 40–45 hives, Bob shares the joys and heartbreaks of Minnesota beekeeping — where you can survive a brutal winter only to watch colonies mysteriously collapse during a "false spring" a few weeks later. He also gets real about varroa mite management, wind exposure, and the sad reality of ...

Brian Schmitz keeps bees on Orcas Island in Washington's San Juan Islands — a place so peaceful and remote that residents refer to trips to the mainland as "going to America." A pandemic-era beekeeper turned 30-colony operator, Brian navigates a uniquely temperate maritime climate where the ocean acts as a natural air conditioner. He's also the reigning salmon derby champion at his local American Legion post, a title unchallenged since 2019 — and yes, he's proud of it. The real action comes when...

Beekeeping Advice from Dr. Sammy Ramsey! In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, host Eric Bennett welcomes Dr. Samuel (Sammy) Ramsey — PhD entomologist, National Geographic Explorer, and producer of the new Disney+ and Hulu documentary series Secrets of the Bees . Dr. Ramsey shares what it was like collaborating with James Cameron and National Geographic, how filmmakers captured never-before-seen footage inside a beehive using endoscopy cameras and high-speed rigs, and what it meant to contribu...

How do you reach out to local beekeepers to help save millions of bees after their transport truck jackknifes? In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping , host Eric Bennett welcomes Tristen Tartaglia, a Southern Oregon beekeeper and owner of Southern Oregon Swarms, to share her remarkable story of saving millions of bees after a major truck accident. Tristen is deeply embedded in the local beekeeping community, performing 60–120 cutouts per year — including chemical-free removals of yellow jackets ...

"There is no such thing as ORGANIC U.S. honey!" Honey Dumping. Fake Honey & Much more with ABF President, Debbie Seib. The episode features beekeeper, Debbie Seib, president of the American Beekeeping Federation, who shares her decades-long journey from beginner to industry leader, offering insight into running a large-scale beekeeping operation and the realities of working closely with honey bees. Throughout the conversation, Debbie emphasizes that successful beekeeping relies heavily on educ...

Making money selling honey takes business smarts! Catch all the Do's and Don'ts this week as we wrap up a two-part conversation with beekeeper, Danielle Brooks, founder of Honey Truck in St. Augustine, Florida. Danielle is a former family photographer turned full-time honey entrepreneur who runs a brick-and-mortar shop, farmers market operation, and wholesale distribution business. All while taking care of two children and 10 beehives. In this episode, she covers the practical side of selling ...

What does it take to make money selling honey? It's Marketing 101 for beekeepers! This episode of Bee Love Beekeeping features an interview with Danielle Brooks, whose experience turning a small beekeeping hobby into a real honey business, is full of invaluable information for all beekeepers. Most beekeepers undervalue their product and underestimate the importance of knowing who they're selling to. Brooke draws on her background in photography and communications to talk about storytelling as a...

Host Eric Bennett reaches out all the way to Gloucestershire, England to have a discussion with Stuart Roweth, beekeeper and inventor of Bee Gym and Bee Gym Slim. Stuart is on a mission to help bees fight back against varroa without chemicals. He walks us through his beekeeping journey, from receiving his first swarm in a cardboard box to developing the Bee Gym, a mechanical device that encourages bees to groom varroa mites off themselves using small flippers, spikes, and wires. The episode also...

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, host Eric Bennett wraps up a three-part conversation with Mann Lake's Kim and Steph — two experienced and enthusiastic beekeepers — covering the final entries on their top 10 list of decisions to make before getting into beekeeping. The discussion covers mindset, fear of stings, how many hives to start with, long-term goal setting, predator protection, and what to do with your honey. The episode also features an "Inside the Hive" segment on beeswax, plus K...

What gear do beginning beekeepers need? What PPE do you need? Where do you place your hives? Where do you buy your bees? Smokers? Hive tools? All of these questions, and more, are answered here in Part 2 of our discussion with beekeepers, Kim & Steph. The "Inside the Hive" segment highlights the honey bee waggle dance, including new research showing individual bees navigate far more precisely than the dance itself can communicate. The episode concludes with a candid look at beekeeping phil...

Don't Start Beekeeping Until You Have Made These 10 Decisions (Part 1) Host Eric Bennett sits down with Kim and Steph — seasoned beekeepers and popular TikTok content creators — to kick off an exciting multi-episode series covering the 10 most important decisions aspiring beekeepers need to make before taking the leap into beekeeping. Kim and Steph bring years of hands-on experience working with honey bees, and their enthusiasm and practical wisdom make this an essential listen for anyone consid...

In this heartfelt and information-packed episode of Bee Love Beekeeping , we begin with an important update on new research revealing that neonicotinoid pesticides are even more harmful to honeybees than previously understood. Every beekeeper needs this information. From there, we head “Inside the Hive” to explore one of nature’s most fascinating transformations: how a queen bee and a worker bee start as identical eggs, and how just three days of royal jelly determines a worker bee's destiny. We...

Beekeeping Winterization, Mentors, Varroa, Single Brood Management, Swarms, Advice for New Beekeepers... This episode is packed! In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we dive deep into the world of honeybees and the humans who care for them. From a poetic opening that celebrates the harmony of the hive to practical, boots-on-the-ground advice, this episode blends wonder with real-world beekeeping wisdom. We kick off a new weekly segment, Inside the Hive , exploring how bees survive winter by c...

In this information-packed episode of Bee Love Beekeeping , we welcome master beekeeper Deborah Klughers for a rapid-fire deep dive into practical, real-world beekeeping. Building off her legendary “100+ tips” for beekeepers presentation, Deb shares hard-earned lessons on feeding strategies, hive stands, smoker safety, mite monitoring, drone brood management, and even the controversial—but fascinating—role of bee venom in beekeeper health. From her favorite baggie feeder system and why warm syru...

In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of honey bees , looking at how bees communicate, work together, and inspire humans—from scientists to everyday beekeepers . The show opens with a brief reflection on honey bees as masters of collective intelligence, followed by intriguing research suggesting that bees and their mathematical communication may even offer insights for extraterrestrial intelligence studies. The conversation then turns to Sung Lee , a passionate beekeeper whose backya...

Conversation with Dr. Jason Graham, Ph.D. Questions asked and answered. In this episode, we kick off our coverage from the North American Honey Bee Expo with an in-depth and surprisingly entertaining conversation with entomologist and beekeeper Dr. Jason “Dr. J” Graham . Recorded live on the bustling expo floor, this episode blends science, storytelling, and practical beekeeping insight. Dr. Graham shares his unconventional journey from high school dropout to PhD, and how a single beekeeping cla...