How to Build a Beekeeping Business - Young Entrepreneur Tells All

WEBVTT

00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:06.719
In a world brimming with complexity, few creatures

00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:12.839
embody harmony like the honeybee. With tireless

00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.739
precision, she dances from bloom to bloom, each

00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:22.420
motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:28.940
instinct, each act in service to the whole. And

00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:34.570
then there are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

00:00:34.570 --> 00:00:40.490
of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

00:00:40.909 --> 00:00:45.490
part poet, they move along their hives with the

00:00:45.490 --> 00:00:50.549
efficiency of mow, levy, and curly, tending to

00:00:50.549 --> 00:00:54.070
the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,

00:00:54.929 --> 00:00:59.659
and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

00:00:59.659 --> 00:01:05.599
Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.219
like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:30.650
journey. partners in beekeeping, Man Lake. If

00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:32.730
you have ever wondered how to build a beekeeping

00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:35.430
business and make it your full -time career,

00:01:35.930 --> 00:01:38.849
you are going to love today's guest. He has one

00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:41.569
of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories

00:01:41.569 --> 00:01:44.950
in the industry. But first, in beekeeping headlines

00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:48.090
from around the world, new evidence reveals why

00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:51.549
the Bible called ancient Israel the land of milk

00:01:51.549 --> 00:01:54.950
and honey. For a long time, historians believe

00:01:54.950 --> 00:01:58.250
that the honey part came from dates, not actually

00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:02.150
honey. New evidence shows honey was being produced

00:02:02.150 --> 00:02:05.709
by bees there nearly 3 ,000 years ago around

00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:08.810
the time of the prophet Elisha, archaeologists

00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:12.129
say. They have found rows of clay cylinders,

00:02:12.650 --> 00:02:14.689
each one of them about two and a half feet long

00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:17.770
and about one foot in diameter, and they realize

00:02:17.770 --> 00:02:20.930
that these must have been used as beehives. The

00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:23.710
apiary was found at a site in the Jordan Valley

00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:27.310
called Tel Rahav. In those days a lot of trade

00:02:27.310 --> 00:02:29.569
was happening between the people in that area

00:02:29.569 --> 00:02:32.810
and Turkey and at the dig site they have evidence

00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:36.629
of bees native to Turkey. Each hive was made

00:02:36.629 --> 00:02:40.030
of unbaked clay mixed with straw and at one end

00:02:40.030 --> 00:02:42.530
of the cylinder there was a small hole for the

00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:45.689
bees to enter and exit. At the other end a fitted

00:02:45.689 --> 00:02:48.530
clay lid could be removed to extract the honey.

00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:52.520
Now archaeologists claim, quote, it's clear they

00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:55.180
knew very well how to raise bees. There were

00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:57.900
very sophisticated apiaries there and I think

00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:01.460
that maybe much of the biblical honey or Devosh

00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:05.960
is really bees honey. Researchers estimate there

00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:09.120
were at least 180 hives at this one location

00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.020
and maybe more than a million bees. Each hive

00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:15.620
could have produced about 11 pounds of honey

00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:18.879
each year, making it a suitable business effort.

00:03:19.340 --> 00:03:22.020
In addition, the beeswax was very important to

00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:26.020
different types of industries and crafts. And

00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:29.099
in headlines from Milwaukee, a local beekeeper

00:03:29.099 --> 00:03:31.460
reminds the public that the bees that are buzzing

00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:34.599
around your picnics and backyard barbecues right

00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:38.379
now are actually yellow jackets, not honey bees.

00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:42.400
That area had a mild winter and dry summer which

00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.879
allowed the Yellowjacket colonies to grow large

00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.639
this year. Now their hives are full and they're

00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:50.740
searching for food including your outdoor meal.

00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:53.680
Personally I have found that the Yellowjacket

00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.719
traps from the home centers were just great and

00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.139
online you can find a number of do -it -yourself

00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:03.800
traps as well and remember to get them out early

00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:07.439
next spring when the queens are flying. Each

00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:11.280
yellow jacket queen can lay up to 25 ,000 eggs

00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:14.400
in her lifetime. So for every queen you catch

00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.100
early, you're making a huge dent in their population.

00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:26.459
I'd like to welcome to the show today our very

00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:29.360
special guest Jeremy Jensen, coming to us from

00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.860
Southern California. How are you Jeremy? Doing

00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:33.920
great. How are you doing today, Eric? I'm doing

00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:37.970
fantastic. By the way, listeners, I know we've

00:04:37.970 --> 00:04:40.589
had a lot of Californians on it seems like in

00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:43.009
the last couple of months. This is not a California

00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:46.329
show. This is a worldwide and nationwide show.

00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:48.870
It's just been the luck of the draw because we've

00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:52.230
had some fantastic, interesting guests from Southern

00:04:52.230 --> 00:04:55.910
California. So anyway, but Jeremy's got a great

00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:57.829
story. Let's start with a little bit of your

00:04:57.829 --> 00:05:00.470
background. When did you get into beekeeping

00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:03.339
and why? I've been in beekeeping about 15 years

00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:06.680
now. I started when I was about 13, 14 years

00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.079
old. I just turned 30. I got into it because

00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:11.300
I heard, well, do you want the truth or do you

00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:13.779
want the corporate story? Well, maybe she'd give

00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:17.819
us both and we'll determine which is which. I

00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:19.339
got into bees because I just thought they were

00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:22.740
such fascinating animals. But as a 14 year old

00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:26.810
kid, the larger driver is I needed a job and

00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:30.649
I wanted to buy cars and take girls out on dates

00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:33.009
and I heard about bees and I said oh my gosh

00:05:33.009 --> 00:05:36.550
these little bugs can produce honey and go to

00:05:36.550 --> 00:05:39.050
pollination and they're little money factories

00:05:39.050 --> 00:05:40.670
and they're bees you don't have to do anything

00:05:40.670 --> 00:05:43.769
with bees it'll be so easy I'll just rake in

00:05:43.769 --> 00:05:46.250
the money well we're all beekeepers we know that's

00:05:46.250 --> 00:05:49.670
not true Now tell us the true story. That is

00:05:49.670 --> 00:05:51.870
the true story. I thought the bees were going

00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:54.189
to be the get rich quick scheme of the year,

00:05:54.269 --> 00:05:57.050
but I caught the bug and fell in love with the

00:05:57.050 --> 00:05:59.209
bees and never looked back. You know, one hive

00:05:59.209 --> 00:06:01.970
turns into two and two turns into 10 and 10 turns

00:06:01.970 --> 00:06:06.009
into 50. And more is always more fun in beekeeping

00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:08.889
in my book. Speaking of getting the bug, Jeremy,

00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.269
I'm just going to warn everybody is going to

00:06:11.269 --> 00:06:14.149
drop every beekeeping pun on us today that there

00:06:14.149 --> 00:06:16.819
is. All right. I have a lot of fun with my beekeeping

00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:20.980
funds. Did you drop two or three on me before

00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:23.180
we started and you just got the bug for this?

00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:25.639
I've got a whole hive full of them. Did you ever

00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.579
work for another beekeeper or have you always

00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:31.740
been the entrepreneur kid? So I've always been

00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:34.139
the entrepreneur kid is the answer. I got my

00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:37.379
first genius idea was I was going to do free

00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:39.319
beehive removal, which, you know, I'm going to

00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:41.220
get some hate on the comments for that one, but.

00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:44.470
I put an ad on Craigslist and I said hey free

00:06:44.470 --> 00:06:46.750
beehive removal pay for my gas and I figured

00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:49.209
well I'm a 15 year old kid I don't have a driver's

00:06:49.209 --> 00:06:51.990
license I don't really know what I'm doing so

00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:54.129
I'll just give it my best shot yeah so I was

00:06:54.129 --> 00:06:55.970
just doing bee removals and I thought hey I'll

00:06:55.970 --> 00:06:58.750
just charge for gas and it'll be fun so I did

00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:01.430
that a few times and you know got 10 -20 beehives

00:07:01.430 --> 00:07:03.470
and it was going real well and I thought well

00:07:03.470 --> 00:07:05.589
I guess I could charge a little bit for the bee

00:07:05.589 --> 00:07:08.050
removal so I started charging a fee and I ended

00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:10.709
up with about 50 beehives. I was trying to keep

00:07:10.709 --> 00:07:13.389
them alive and feed them and, you know, figure

00:07:13.389 --> 00:07:15.569
out what's going on in these beehives. And so

00:07:15.569 --> 00:07:18.550
I went to a beekeepers association, the Los Angeles

00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:21.910
Beekeepers Association, and they had a beginning

00:07:21.910 --> 00:07:25.870
beekeepers class. And I said, well, I could learn

00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:27.509
something from anyone, you know, let's go to

00:07:27.509 --> 00:07:29.720
the class, see what they're talking about. I

00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.459
got 50 hives. We might as well learn what we're

00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:35.160
doing. I'm curious, where did you put all these

00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.399
hives? Did your family live on a ranch or something?

00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:41.199
So we live in the suburbs. I'm down here in Los

00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.860
Angeles, just about 25 miles north of the city

00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:46.379
in the San Fernando Valley. I'm a kid from the

00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:49.600
suburbs, but my family has a ranch near Gorman.

00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.740
which is just going up the I -5 and we have about

00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.519
40 acres out there. So I started stashing beehives

00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.779
on the ranch. And so all around the ranch I'm

00:07:57.779 --> 00:08:01.740
stashing beehives and it's pretty deserty. So,

00:08:01.779 --> 00:08:04.579
you know, you make a big honey flow, but you're

00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:06.600
feeding them after that and trying to keep the

00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:08.399
wheels on the bus. So I started saying, well,

00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:10.300
there's got to be some other places. So I started

00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:13.519
stashing beehives in bushes places because I

00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.500
didn't know how it works. I'm 16 years old now,

00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:17.660
you know, I've got a pickup truck and I said,

00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:19.800
well, I could just put this beehive together

00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:21.560
and stash it in the bushes there's beehives in

00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.139
the bushes already feral hives there's one more

00:08:24.139 --> 00:08:27.100
in a box so uh i called myself a renegade and

00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:30.439
that was that came back and bit me later oh that's

00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:33.200
fun though what was that first class like that

00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.059
you went to it was a hoot i learned so much just

00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:38.820
in the first class if you start beekeeping from

00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:42.519
zero from i don't know anything i read daydance

00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:46.500
first lessons in beekeeping as a kid in math

00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:49.580
class, there's a lot more to it, as we all know,

00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:53.000
and it was enlightening to see, oh wow, there's,

00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:54.440
you know, all these people that are into it,

00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:55.980
and there's all this science that we can do,

00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:58.539
and oh, we can test for baromites, instead of

00:08:58.539 --> 00:09:00.259
just squinting our eyes and looking as hard as

00:09:00.259 --> 00:09:02.740
we can, and it was really enlightening, and I

00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:04.600
just, I ate it up. I was in the front of the

00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:06.840
class, and we were around a beehive, and there

00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:08.779
was probably a hundred beekeepers there that

00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:11.860
day, and so at the end of the class, we were

00:09:11.860 --> 00:09:14.159
walking out, and the fella teaching it, his name

00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:17.080
was Bill, of Bill's bees, he walked up to me

00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.059
and he said, hey, you've got a dirty bee suit

00:09:19.059 --> 00:09:21.480
and you're really interested. Do you want to

00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.279
learn more? And I said, absolutely, Bill. So

00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:25.679
he said, all right, well, why don't you come

00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.379
by on Monday and come learn something? I said,

00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:31.039
all right, sounds good. So I showed up on Monday

00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:33.240
morning at 7 a .m. and I said, what are we doing?

00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:34.559
He said, get in the truck. I said, all right,

00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:38.019
we'll get in the truck. And so Bill has a, had,

00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:40.159
I do it now, he had a service where he would

00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.580
go around the city and tend beehives in the yards

00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:46.330
of Wealthy people. Some people have a gardener,

00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:47.750
some people have a pool man, and some people

00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:50.629
have a beekeeper. The client, they get to keep

00:09:50.629 --> 00:09:52.210
the honey, and they get to tell their friends

00:09:52.210 --> 00:09:53.730
about the bees, and some of them want to get

00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:56.649
in the hives, and some of them don't. It's kind

00:09:56.649 --> 00:09:59.610
of a private client service, and so it's really

00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:01.870
tailored for each one. And so we jumped in the

00:10:01.870 --> 00:10:04.509
truck, and we took the flatbed with us, and we

00:10:04.509 --> 00:10:06.809
drove up to Beverly Hills and pulled up into

00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:08.629
the driveway of this house, and he said, all

00:10:08.629 --> 00:10:10.169
right, get out. And I said, all right, I'm out.

00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:13.899
and he had an easy loader at the time, a hive

00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:17.279
crane for loading beehives. And he said, all

00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:20.559
right, stand on the forks of that easy loader

00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:24.159
and I'm going to lower you over the edge of this

00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.840
brick wall. It's about 20 feet down. And I said,

00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:29.460
all right, let's go. So he lowers me down and

00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:31.120
we worked on the, I don't know, there must've

00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.399
been six or 10 beehives down there. Worked on

00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:36.259
the hives and raised back out of there. And we

00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:38.019
went and did this at different locations all

00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:40.679
day long. At the end of the day, I said, well,

00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.340
what you doing tomorrow, Bill? And he said, well,

00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:45.200
show up at 8 a .m. I said, all right, I'll see

00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:47.559
you at 8. And we went and harvested honey off

00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:49.139
a few hundred hives. And I said, what you doing

00:10:49.139 --> 00:10:51.279
tomorrow, Bill? And he goes, well, show up at

00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:53.940
7 a .m. I said, all right, show up at 7. And

00:10:53.940 --> 00:10:56.019
this went on for about a month. And we were riding

00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:57.580
around in the pickup one day, and he goes, hey,

00:10:57.620 --> 00:10:59.860
what's your social security number? And I said,

00:10:59.899 --> 00:11:01.419
oh, you know, one, two, three, four, five, six,

00:11:01.460 --> 00:11:04.399
you know. That's an odd question, yeah. I'm 16

00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:06.139
years old, and people must ask this, you know.

00:11:06.789 --> 00:11:08.669
And he says, no, I need you to like fill this

00:11:08.669 --> 00:11:09.990
form out. I said, why do you want me to fill

00:11:09.990 --> 00:11:13.549
a form out? He said, well, I'm going to put you

00:11:13.549 --> 00:11:15.610
on payroll. I said, I don't want to be on your

00:11:15.610 --> 00:11:17.590
payroll. I don't work for you. He said, well,

00:11:17.610 --> 00:11:19.889
you have been for a month. And I said, well,

00:11:19.889 --> 00:11:21.649
I'm not going to work for you, Bill. I've got

00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:24.269
too much to do. I'm in school. I've got my B

00:11:24.269 --> 00:11:27.009
hives. I've got probably 50 or 75 hives now.

00:11:27.309 --> 00:11:30.570
I'm too busy. And he said, I'm putting you on

00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:32.309
payroll, and that's just the last thing about

00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:33.750
it. I said, all right, well, I guess I'll be

00:11:33.750 --> 00:11:36.669
on payroll. So I started working for Bill and

00:11:36.669 --> 00:11:38.889
kind of doing that on the side and doing my own

00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.289
bees. And we started running our bees together

00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:43.830
to the almonds and pollination of different things.

00:11:44.549 --> 00:11:46.470
And I said, hey, you want another 100 hides?

00:11:46.610 --> 00:11:49.470
Sure, bring them over. And we'd run them up to

00:11:49.470 --> 00:11:51.490
wherever we're going. And that's kind of how

00:11:51.490 --> 00:11:52.950
I got started. That's how I got hooked up with

00:11:52.950 --> 00:11:56.649
Bill. That is such a great story. Yeah. I'm still

00:11:56.649 --> 00:11:59.389
picturing this first beekeeping class because

00:11:59.389 --> 00:12:02.879
I can just see. a hundred Southern Californians

00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.779
in their brand new pearly white beekeeping suits.

00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.919
And then there's Jeremy standing there all, you

00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:13.159
know, dirty like the rest of us because he actually

00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.679
uses his beekeeping suit. I love it. Well, I

00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:19.019
didn't even know you had to wash them. This thing

00:12:19.019 --> 00:12:22.539
could stand up on its own. Oh, man. OK, now you

00:12:22.539 --> 00:12:25.029
were going to say fast forward to. Fast forward

00:12:25.029 --> 00:12:27.789
a few years, I'm graduating high school and I

00:12:27.789 --> 00:12:29.269
kind of had to figure out what am I going to

00:12:29.269 --> 00:12:31.750
do? And I'm going to college and I said, Bill,

00:12:32.129 --> 00:12:33.789
see you later, buddy. I got to go to college.

00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:38.110
I've got 150, 200 hives now. I'm running on the

00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:40.889
side. I'm doing two farmers markets a week, maybe

00:12:40.889 --> 00:12:42.769
three at that time. And I just, I don't have

00:12:42.769 --> 00:12:45.029
time to work for you. It's been fun. And he said,

00:12:45.049 --> 00:12:47.029
that's fine. Just, you know, stay in contact

00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:49.330
and we'll see what happens later. And so I was

00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:52.220
graduating college a few years later and I called

00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:54.159
Bill up and I said, hey Bill, beekeeping's a

00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.299
lot of fun. I got three to five hundred hives,

00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.600
maybe it was something like that, 450 or however

00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.620
many I was running. It's funny, you forget the

00:13:01.620 --> 00:13:04.580
numbers. Yeah, I ask beekeepers all the time

00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:06.519
and they can't give me a number. How many hives

00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.139
do you have today? You couldn't tell me how many.

00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.159
Oh, no chance. I could spitball you. I said,

00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.679
let's have breakfast. I got to graduate in college

00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:16.259
and I've just got some questions for you. And

00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:19.100
so Bill was he was an aeronautical engineer before

00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:22.299
he was a beekeeper. And he quit that because

00:13:22.299 --> 00:13:24.620
he was just bored out of his head. He said, I'm

00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:26.960
bored. I don't, you know, I'm sitting in an office

00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.360
all day. I want to be outside. And he found the

00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:31.639
bees and he became a commercial beekeeper. And

00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:33.299
so we went to breakfast and I said, you know,

00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:35.600
I'm graduating college. I'm looking down the

00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.659
barrel of either I'm going to be a sideline beekeeper

00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:40.980
with a few colonies forever and, you know, get

00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:44.070
my big boy job. with my college degree and kind

00:13:44.070 --> 00:13:46.269
of quit and kind of declare that this was fun

00:13:46.269 --> 00:13:48.309
and there's a new season coming or I'm gonna

00:13:48.309 --> 00:13:51.029
go whole hog and I'm gonna jump into bees but

00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:53.610
that's gonna be a hard scrabble life with 300,

00:13:53.730 --> 00:13:57.250
400 hives it's not quite enough for me to buy

00:13:57.250 --> 00:13:59.909
a house in Southern California and support a

00:13:59.909 --> 00:14:02.769
wife and do the thing and he said oh no no that's

00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:04.250
not why we're at breakfast at all you're not

00:14:04.250 --> 00:14:05.889
quitting beekeeping and I said no that's why

00:14:05.889 --> 00:14:07.950
I called you to breakfast Bella that's why we're

00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:09.889
here And he said, no, you don't understand. I'm

00:14:09.889 --> 00:14:13.409
selling you my company. I'm ready to quit. I've

00:14:13.409 --> 00:14:15.990
brought the papers with me. And I said, oh, well,

00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:17.789
this is a very different conversation today.

00:14:18.110 --> 00:14:20.570
I guess I'm buying Bill's bees. So I bought Bill's

00:14:20.570 --> 00:14:23.190
operation off of him. We signed some papers there

00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:26.490
at the breakfast table. And I said, well, I'll

00:14:26.490 --> 00:14:28.870
do it. Why not? I'll take a loan out, and I'll

00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:32.789
do it. And that'll be that. And it was that same

00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:34.509
week. I think it was two days later. I had another

00:14:34.509 --> 00:14:37.120
beekeeper call me who I had. ran some bees with

00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:38.919
and done this and that, bought some honey off

00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:41.200
of, sold some honey too. And he said, hey, I'm

00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:43.320
getting older and I want to spend time with my

00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.480
grandkids. I got a couple hundred colonies and

00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.320
I'm ready to be done by these colonies. And I

00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.799
said, all right. So all of a sudden I turned

00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:54.639
around and I'm in it. I said, well, I didn't

00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:56.159
plan that, but it looks like the Lord planned

00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.740
it for me. That's hilarious. And these older

00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:02.000
people didn't give you any choices. They're like,

00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.659
you're working for me. You're buying my business.

00:15:04.909 --> 00:15:06.889
Oh, here's someone else. You're buying all my

00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:11.409
business. It is a free country, but obviously

00:15:11.409 --> 00:15:14.389
you loved it and went with the program. What

00:15:14.389 --> 00:15:17.370
size of business did Bill have? Bill's business,

00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:20.970
when I bought it, focused a lot on doing farmers

00:15:20.970 --> 00:15:24.610
market. He had sold off most of his assets when

00:15:24.610 --> 00:15:26.850
me and him came together because he had been

00:15:26.850 --> 00:15:30.429
downsizing for years. He was renting a place

00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:34.190
that changed hands and so he no longer had a

00:15:34.190 --> 00:15:37.190
great home for the operation. And so he decided,

00:15:37.289 --> 00:15:39.470
well, I'm going to sell off boxes and equipment

00:15:39.470 --> 00:15:42.470
and colonies and just try to shrink this all.

00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:44.850
And so kind of the last portion was he had a

00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:47.029
few colonies left and he had the farmers markets.

00:15:47.049 --> 00:15:48.990
He'd sold off most of his honey and sold off

00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:50.830
most of his colonies. And, you know, he said,

00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:53.210
well, I'm really looking for a buyer that has

00:15:53.210 --> 00:15:56.009
a bunch of beehives and a bunch of honey to step

00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:59.029
into my shoes here at the farmers markets. Otherwise,

00:15:59.049 --> 00:16:00.730
I'm just going to kind of quit and they'll dissolve.

00:16:00.950 --> 00:16:03.659
So the only way to monetize them is to The rest

00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:06.299
of this stuff, he had a honey bottling operation

00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:08.519
down in a warehouse in Carson, which is near

00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:10.580
Long Beach. And so he said, I'm going to lay

00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:12.320
off all my employees. I'm going to quit all the

00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.200
farmers markets. I'm going to sell the last of

00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:15.720
the colonies and that's going to be the end of

00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.220
it. Or I'll sell it to you and you can kind of

00:16:18.220 --> 00:16:20.059
step in my shoes. So he did a lot of farmers

00:16:20.059 --> 00:16:23.620
markets around the city and had a great distribution

00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:26.240
network of long -term clients and restaurants.

00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.639
And so I said, all right, I'm a good fit for

00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:30.840
you because I've got a bunch of colonies and

00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:33.879
I've got the extracting infrastructure set up

00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.639
and I've got this separate infrastructure for

00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.799
my own business that can kind of fit into what

00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:41.600
you're doing as well. I just can't even imagine.

00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:45.539
I know teenagers. You're not an average teenager

00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:49.100
back then. You were driven and you found your

00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.879
passion at such a young age. And so many people,

00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:54.500
most of us, it just takes a long time to find

00:16:54.500 --> 00:16:57.659
our passion. So. I'm just so happy for you. And

00:16:57.659 --> 00:17:00.799
it's no wonder that it's worked so well for you

00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:02.879
because when you find something that you love,

00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:05.019
you're going to be good at it. And if you're

00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:06.839
good at it, you're going to be one of the best

00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:08.819
and you're going to make money at it. And you're

00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:11.880
obviously smart and hardworking and you've figured

00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:13.539
out how to do all that. And I just think it's

00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:17.240
awesome. Let's talk about bees and actually beekeeping

00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.640
for a few minutes. So give me an idea of Southern

00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:23.980
California weather. Like you've got bees that

00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:27.329
are active all year round. What kinds of problems

00:17:27.329 --> 00:17:31.769
do you run into? For example, where I am during

00:17:31.769 --> 00:17:34.210
winter, we have a nice brood break that helps

00:17:34.210 --> 00:17:37.589
with Varroa some, assuming your bees make it

00:17:37.589 --> 00:17:40.329
through winter. You don't have that. Give us

00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:43.109
a little bit of an idea about seasonality and

00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:46.329
problems like Varroa. Yeah, so it's interesting.

00:17:46.450 --> 00:17:49.549
You know, we kind of all know this about beekeeping

00:17:49.549 --> 00:17:51.529
and brood breaks. It's something that we all

00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:53.569
kind of take for granted. But I remember when

00:17:53.569 --> 00:17:57.759
I started beekeeping, The popular thing to do

00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.880
was to winter your bees in Southern California

00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:05.400
or Florida and try to avoid Winter get them as

00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:07.779
far south as you can and you know chase the warm

00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:10.140
So these bees are always have brood in the hives

00:18:10.140 --> 00:18:11.700
and it's been really interesting for me to watch

00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:14.529
over the past uh let's call it five to seven

00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:16.910
years this shift for people to say you know it's

00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.309
actually really good for the bees to take a break

00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:21.809
and get ahead of the varroa your queen gets a

00:18:21.809 --> 00:18:24.829
break and everything's pretty okay so i've i've

00:18:24.829 --> 00:18:26.789
really seen a shift especially in the california

00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:29.589
beekeepers in what they believe to be the best

00:18:29.589 --> 00:18:32.789
practice for the bees it's time right now to

00:18:32.789 --> 00:18:35.750
prepare your bees for winter and man lake is

00:18:35.750 --> 00:18:38.589
the place to help you make it happen when it

00:18:38.589 --> 00:18:41.250
comes to prep the first thing to think about

00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:44.769
is varroa If your mite levels are high, yeah,

00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:47.869
you'll be buying new bees come spring. Man Lake

00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:50.950
has the Varroa test kits and all the treatments

00:18:50.950 --> 00:18:54.930
that you may need. Next priority is food stores.

00:18:55.450 --> 00:18:57.529
If you're sure your bees have enough honey reserves

00:18:57.529 --> 00:19:00.490
to make it through winter, great. But if the

00:19:00.490 --> 00:19:03.029
hives are a little light, or you're just not

00:19:03.029 --> 00:19:05.630
sure, you can't go wrong with helping them top

00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:08.910
things off with continued feeding. In fact, fall

00:19:08.910 --> 00:19:11.349
is often a dearth period and even if things look

00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:14.630
good now, by November your colonies might be

00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:18.269
light. Like I say, when in doubt, put the food

00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:21.230
out. And right now Man Lake is offering podcast

00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:25.210
listeners $10 off your next order. Just enter

00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:29.569
code MLBlove10 at checkout. That's manlakeltd

00:19:29.569 --> 00:19:36.130
.com Discount code MLBlove10, Man Lake, trusted

00:19:36.130 --> 00:19:41.250
by beekeepers since 1983. We never go broodless.

00:19:41.589 --> 00:19:45.950
Maybe a week a year we go broodless. But I can

00:19:45.950 --> 00:19:48.130
kind of even manipulate that to go to the coast

00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:50.930
and go to places that are pretty warm. And we're

00:19:50.930 --> 00:19:53.130
going to have brood in that colony all year long.

00:19:53.250 --> 00:19:55.690
And as long as we're feeding them protein and

00:19:55.690 --> 00:19:58.089
carbohydrates, we will keep that colony growing.

00:19:58.150 --> 00:20:01.000
And that's tough to control varroa a lot of our

00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.920
you know a lot of the tools that we use in other

00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.220
parts of the country are not as effective here

00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:08.359
because we don't get a broodless period so that's

00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:11.980
part of our our constant struggle but i do enjoy

00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:14.559
the southern california hustle because i can

00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.380
open a beehive almost every day of the year and

00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:18.599
i don't know what i would do with my time if

00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.059
i put them in the potato shed cellars i'd miss

00:20:21.059 --> 00:20:23.839
my bees Yeah, that's when the not as fun work

00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:27.079
comes in, where people are just building hives,

00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:28.960
you know, they're cleaning up old equipment,

00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:32.039
they're destroying worn out equipment, they're

00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:35.180
doing all that kind of not so fun stuff, paperwork,

00:20:36.059 --> 00:20:38.880
working on almond contracts, filling up the tires

00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:40.940
on the truck, you know, all that kind of stuff

00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.880
that's bee related, but you're not in with the

00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:46.579
bees. So for most of us, that wouldn't be near

00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:49.240
as fun. One of the big things we notice is our

00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.539
queens just wear out. because we're pumping eggs

00:20:52.539 --> 00:20:55.980
out all year long. A year is a good queen. If

00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:58.960
I can get one year out of that queen, she's on

00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.579
her last leg. There's only so much, you know,

00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:04.940
semen in that spermatheca, and so they run out.

00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:07.539
And if I let it go a year and a half, two years,

00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.119
we end up with lots of supersedure problems,

00:21:10.299 --> 00:21:12.400
lots of swarm problems, and supersedures down

00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:14.430
here in Southern California are a big... issue

00:21:14.430 --> 00:21:16.710
for us. It's something that we really try to

00:21:16.710 --> 00:21:20.210
avoid at all cost, because when we mate a new

00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:23.529
queen with, you know, local drones, even if we

00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:25.430
put our own drones, you know, put drone hives

00:21:25.430 --> 00:21:28.809
in the area, they just come out nasty. They're

00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:31.349
fussy little bees. They're partially Africanized,

00:21:31.609 --> 00:21:34.940
and we're really against that. It's not a safe

00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:37.779
way to work. It's not a sustainable way to have

00:21:37.779 --> 00:21:40.079
employees go into the bee yard and trying to

00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.880
control aggressive beehives and the public's

00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:44.940
around and there's roads and there's you know

00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:47.099
the farmers working and you can't have a bunch

00:21:47.099 --> 00:21:49.900
of bees on the attack. So come springtime splitting

00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:52.680
and requeening is our big mission. Every queen

00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:54.960
needs to be changed and every colony needs to

00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:57.859
be split three ways or four ways. Are you raising

00:21:57.859 --> 00:21:59.859
any of your own queens or do you buy the queens?

00:22:00.140 --> 00:22:02.519
We buy the queens right now. We're just too far

00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.200
south to raise queens that are friendly. Yeah.

00:22:05.420 --> 00:22:07.960
I hear a lot about Africanized genetics down

00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:10.960
there in Southern California. And some beekeepers

00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.759
are just okay with them. They're like, these

00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:17.380
are good, strong, Varroa resistant bees and we

00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.099
just deal with their behavior. And it's kind

00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:22.039
of refreshing to hear what you're saying here.

00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.980
Yeah, I was real involved in our LA County Beekeepers

00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:28.599
Association for a while. And I'm still involved,

00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:30.779
but just not in a leadership role anymore because

00:22:30.779 --> 00:22:33.240
we all have too much to do. But it was interesting.

00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:37.019
After doing that, I kind of had this new perspective

00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:40.980
on requeening. And the bottom line is if you

00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:43.680
have a colony that's difficult to work, it's

00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:47.259
bad for beekeeping as a whole. Because someone

00:22:47.259 --> 00:22:49.839
gets stung and your neighbor gets stung or you're

00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:53.200
on the local news and bees get a blemish. The

00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:57.259
publicity about bees is negative. And with that,

00:22:57.579 --> 00:22:59.880
all the queen breeders I ever talk to, I don't

00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:02.140
know any of them that say, you know, I don't

00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:05.079
care about Varroa. No, they're all fighting Varroa.

00:23:05.099 --> 00:23:07.819
They all want Varroa resistant genetics. I mean,

00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.299
that's that's the hot ticket in queen breeding

00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:14.059
and beekeeping. So The argument that these Africanized

00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:16.880
bees are so much more varroa resistant, well,

00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:19.400
I would push back on that and say, yeah, feral

00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:22.140
bees have their own selective breeding program,

00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:24.720
but get them from somebody that's controlling

00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.900
that, somewhere else in the country, somewhere

00:23:26.900 --> 00:23:29.619
farther north that they're not angry, because

00:23:29.619 --> 00:23:31.640
the simple thing is just get some bees that aren't

00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:33.859
mad, and you can have a great time beekeeping.

00:23:34.099 --> 00:23:36.769
I've got beehives that are... Pretty close to

00:23:36.769 --> 00:23:38.970
the public. I've got one I've got an observation

00:23:38.970 --> 00:23:42.029
hive at a grocery store nearby here and people

00:23:42.029 --> 00:23:43.990
park next to the exit and you know we've got

00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:46.009
a little flight barrier but they're not getting

00:23:46.009 --> 00:23:48.109
tagged when they get out of their car and so

00:23:48.109 --> 00:23:50.589
this kind of publicity for bees I think is really

00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:53.029
good for our industry and it's good for the beekeeper

00:23:53.029 --> 00:23:55.470
to say hey I've got gentle bees and we can work

00:23:55.470 --> 00:23:57.650
them without gloves I don't always wear a suit

00:23:57.650 --> 00:23:59.710
you know just put a veil on or even just wearing

00:23:59.710 --> 00:24:02.109
the half suit But when you get into these nasty

00:24:02.109 --> 00:24:04.309
colonies, and that's one of the reasons I stopped

00:24:04.309 --> 00:24:07.109
doing removals, is it was just too hard. We're

00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:09.089
always requeening these feral colonies. They

00:24:09.089 --> 00:24:11.250
don't want to take a European queen and they're

00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:13.269
nasty and they're hard to work and it's hard

00:24:13.269 --> 00:24:15.529
to have your employees go work on them. And so,

00:24:15.630 --> 00:24:18.730
yeah, controlled genetics is really, really important

00:24:18.730 --> 00:24:21.089
to us. I agree with all that and let me just

00:24:21.089 --> 00:24:24.029
add one thing to it. If you're keeping those

00:24:24.029 --> 00:24:27.789
hot hives around and they're multiplying, you're

00:24:27.789 --> 00:24:30.650
just spreading those hot genetics and so you're

00:24:30.650 --> 00:24:33.529
making this whole problem worse. So totally makes

00:24:33.529 --> 00:24:36.390
sense what you're doing. With how much experience

00:24:36.390 --> 00:24:40.130
you have, give me an idea from the outside of

00:24:40.130 --> 00:24:42.910
a hive before you crack open the lid, what kinds

00:24:42.910 --> 00:24:46.470
of things can you tell that are going on inside?

00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:50.180
For example, disease, queen problems. What can

00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:52.220
you tell from the outside? I can hear a queen

00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:54.099
problem when I roll into the yard. If you got

00:24:54.099 --> 00:24:56.819
50 colonies in that yard and I hear the moan,

00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:58.299
I say, there's a queen problem here. Let's go

00:24:58.299 --> 00:25:00.880
find it. Tell us what it sounds like for someone

00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.000
that's never heard it. It's a queen -less moan.

00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:09.239
I mean, that hive is moaning for a queen. and

00:25:09.239 --> 00:25:11.960
it's a documented phenomenon and I mean when

00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:13.940
you get to that hive you can hear it on the pallet

00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:15.640
and when you crack the lid open you say there's

00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:17.200
something wrong here we have to find out what's

00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:20.599
wrong and pretty consistently it's right that

00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:22.299
hive is moaning because there's no queen in that

00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:24.740
hive I noticed kind of an interesting phenomenon

00:25:24.740 --> 00:25:27.119
this year the bees they didn't want to fly there

00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:29.180
wasn't a whole lot of nectar out but there was

00:25:29.180 --> 00:25:31.839
enough to make a living and we got into the colonies

00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:34.990
and that was you know as we suspected there was

00:25:34.990 --> 00:25:37.150
a nosema problem in that yard they didn't have

00:25:37.150 --> 00:25:40.089
the diarrhea on the front of the hive like we

00:25:40.089 --> 00:25:42.470
expect to see but once we did the test and grind

00:25:42.470 --> 00:25:44.509
them up oh we've got a nosema issue we need to

00:25:44.509 --> 00:25:46.750
get some medication on these bees and within

00:25:46.750 --> 00:25:48.650
a week you could see the difference in flight

00:25:48.650 --> 00:25:51.109
so i mean even just lethargic bees that don't

00:25:51.109 --> 00:25:53.589
want to fly Hey, you might have a nosema problem.

00:25:53.789 --> 00:25:55.730
And it might not come out if you have lots of

00:25:55.730 --> 00:25:58.269
warm weather as diarrhea on the door, but it

00:25:58.269 --> 00:26:00.490
might just be a little bit of poop on the hives

00:26:00.490 --> 00:26:02.829
and a little bit of decreased flight. And so

00:26:02.829 --> 00:26:05.269
you can see that. You can also see if there's

00:26:05.269 --> 00:26:07.670
the nectar flow going on. The amount of flight

00:26:07.670 --> 00:26:10.150
is different than if there's not. They just they

00:26:10.150 --> 00:26:12.190
fly differently. Tell me one of the craziest

00:26:12.190 --> 00:26:14.930
beekeeping stories you've ever had. Oh, I was

00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:16.509
going to tell the one about being lowered over

00:26:16.509 --> 00:26:20.079
the fence with Bill over the cliff. That's pretty

00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.079
good for your very first day of working with

00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:26.559
a basically a commercial beekeeper. Yeah, that

00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.920
was that's a fun one. This is kind of a serendipity

00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.119
story. In that same season, when I was stashing

00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.579
beehives in the bushes, there was an incident

00:26:33.579 --> 00:26:36.400
that caused me to stop stashing beehives in the

00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.940
bushes. There was a place down the road from

00:26:38.940 --> 00:26:41.740
the ranch and they had some alfalfa fields and

00:26:41.740 --> 00:26:43.740
they had some big fallow fields with rabbit brush

00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:45.920
in. I said, hey, there's There's some nice bushes

00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.480
here. I could stash them. It's open land. Some

00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.359
of it's owned by the county. Some of it's owned,

00:26:50.359 --> 00:26:52.240
you know, by big investment groups. But the bottom

00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.619
line is no one's been out on this piece of land

00:26:54.619 --> 00:26:57.859
for years. It's just, it's kind of deserty. There's

00:26:57.859 --> 00:26:59.740
nothing around. And no one's ever going to care.

00:26:59.819 --> 00:27:02.359
I'll just stash these beehives in there. And

00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.240
I think I put 10 or 15 colonies in there and

00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:07.900
it was great. And they had a couple supers on

00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:10.339
them. And I had this genius idea that I wasn't

00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.400
going to put my name on them. so that nobody

00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:14.539
could get angry at me and i came back and the

00:27:14.539 --> 00:27:16.740
bees disappeared i said oh son of a gun son of

00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:19.279
a gun the bees are gone someone stole them the

00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:22.579
hives are just the bees inside the hives everything

00:27:22.579 --> 00:27:25.380
the hives okay all the equipment everything was

00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:28.019
gone just gone i said that's too bad i'm i was

00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:30.579
real upset about it and so but you move on i

00:27:30.579 --> 00:27:32.059
mean there's no way i could track down where

00:27:32.059 --> 00:27:34.500
they went i don't know who owns this land it's

00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:36.119
just kind of they were stashed in the bushes

00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:38.680
and you know i said well that that sucks and

00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:41.180
so fast forward maybe four years later There

00:27:41.180 --> 00:27:43.039
was this old fellow, his name was Siegfried.

00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:46.059
And Siegfried, they always said that he was a

00:27:46.059 --> 00:27:48.380
Nazi on the run. He was probably, man, he must

00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:50.359
have been 90 years old. And you know, he kind

00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:52.700
of marched when he walked. And he was a crazy

00:27:52.700 --> 00:27:55.000
old little German guy. And he would drive his

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.859
golf cart the wrong way down the highway. And

00:27:57.859 --> 00:28:00.000
when a car started coming towards him head on,

00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:02.319
he would dip off into the ditch, let the car

00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.480
pass, and then he'd be back up on the road. He

00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.680
was a wild man and he used to sell peaches on

00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:08.440
the side of the road. And so I stopped off one

00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:10.000
day and said, hey, Siegfried, you know, you sell

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.039
peaches here. How's it going? And he said, oh,

00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:13.579
if you want to put some bees on this property,

00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:15.240
you can put some bees here. And I said, all right,

00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:17.380
I will. And he said, oh, by the way, I know where

00:28:17.380 --> 00:28:19.420
there's some more beehives for you. I said, what

00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:21.500
do you mean more beehives? He said, oh, you're

00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:23.339
getting my golf cart. And so we're barreling

00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:26.160
down the highway. He's dodging semi trucks and

00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.400
he pulls off and we go up into this old abandoned

00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:32.190
peach orchard. It's been derelict for a decade.

00:28:32.650 --> 00:28:35.049
And we go weaving through the peach orchard and

00:28:35.049 --> 00:28:37.849
there's my beehives that disappeared years before.

00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:39.450
And I said, oh, these are my beehives. He goes,

00:28:39.569 --> 00:28:41.309
well, I found them for you. You can have them

00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:43.230
back. And I said, oh, thanks, Siegfried. And

00:28:43.230 --> 00:28:45.509
so I came back and picked up the colonies, put

00:28:45.509 --> 00:28:47.690
them back together. few more years passes and

00:28:47.690 --> 00:28:49.930
I'm talking to this beekeeper and he says, Oh

00:28:49.930 --> 00:28:51.890
man, you know, I've always got something crazy

00:28:51.890 --> 00:28:53.750
going on out here at this field. There's always

00:28:53.750 --> 00:28:56.089
people running around and we had to do this job.

00:28:56.089 --> 00:28:58.690
We had to dig up a pipeline and there was beehives

00:28:58.690 --> 00:29:00.690
all over the top of the pipeline and I had to

00:29:00.690 --> 00:29:02.950
come move them out and they were the nastiest

00:29:02.950 --> 00:29:05.109
bees you've ever seen. They were all, you know,

00:29:05.349 --> 00:29:08.039
feral Africanized bees and looked like someone

00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:10.279
had cut them out of someone's wall. And so I

00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.140
loaded them up on my flat bed and they were so

00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:14.000
angry. I just pushed them off the side of the

00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.079
truck in a peach orchard because I didn't want

00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:17.660
to deal with them anymore. And I said, you're

00:29:17.660 --> 00:29:19.799
going to, you're going to get a kick out of this.

00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:22.799
Those were my beehives. I picked them back up

00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:25.559
out of the beach, peach orchard, and I apologize

00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:28.440
for the inconvenience I caused you. And we both

00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:31.700
had a good laugh about it. And it was a kind

00:29:31.700 --> 00:29:35.140
of a full circle story. That's hilarious. I love

00:29:35.140 --> 00:29:38.380
it. So everybody. Put your name on your beehives.

00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:41.759
Maybe put one of those Apple air tags in there.

00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:43.700
Put your phone number on them. Let someone call

00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:46.700
you. Hey, last thing before I let you go. You

00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:49.700
started off in a big way, but not with a lot

00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:51.839
of knowledge in the very, very beginning. So

00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.259
you add this naivety about the whole thing, both

00:29:55.259 --> 00:29:59.539
bees and the business side. Just lay some wisdom

00:29:59.539 --> 00:30:02.920
on us and some advice for people maybe that are

00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:05.460
kind of new at this. What do you need to know

00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:08.400
that you didn't know? Soak up every piece of

00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.859
education you can. Every beekeeper you can talk

00:30:10.859 --> 00:30:14.640
to, every beekeepers meeting, chat with the old

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.680
guy. Chat with the old guy sitting in the corner

00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:18.319
that doesn't really look like he wants to talk

00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:21.180
very much because he's going to lay some wisdom

00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:24.230
on you. There is a trick for everything. One

00:30:24.230 --> 00:30:26.130
of the tricks that an old fellow taught me is

00:30:26.130 --> 00:30:28.289
he said, hey, leave the truck running when you

00:30:28.289 --> 00:30:31.470
load bees up. Because the vibration of the truck

00:30:31.470 --> 00:30:34.609
calms the bees down and it all works out better.

00:30:34.849 --> 00:30:37.410
And to this day, I leave that truck running.

00:30:37.849 --> 00:30:39.710
Not only to mention, you know the truck runs.

00:30:39.769 --> 00:30:41.630
It's going to start because it's already running.

00:30:42.150 --> 00:30:44.190
There's lots of wisdom like this that you just

00:30:44.190 --> 00:30:47.259
don't read in all of the books. And it's passed

00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:49.839
down from beekeeper to beekeeper and soaking

00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:52.359
up as much knowledge as you can from beekeepers

00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:54.700
around you. It's a community and it's still an

00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:59.099
industry that is passed down from person to person.

00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:01.420
You can't really, you can't get it all from a

00:31:01.420 --> 00:31:03.660
class. You can't get it all from taking a master

00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:05.880
beekeeper course. You got to get involved with

00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:08.480
beekeepers around you and you'll just, you'll

00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:10.890
learn so much. All right, Jeremy, I appreciate

00:31:10.890 --> 00:31:14.289
you being with me today. And you can find Jeremy

00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:17.869
at, is it BillsBees .com? It's BillsBees .com

00:31:17.869 --> 00:31:21.450
for now. BillsBees .com without the for now on

00:31:21.450 --> 00:31:24.930
the end. I was going to say BillsBees .com forward

00:31:24.930 --> 00:31:27.809
slash for now. No, BillsBees .com. We'll stick

00:31:27.809 --> 00:31:31.150
it down in the show notes and thanks a ton. We'll

00:31:31.150 --> 00:31:33.049
get you back on sometime. This has been fun.

00:31:33.369 --> 00:31:38.940
All right. Thanks, Eric. It's a party. Thanks

00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:41.819
again for joining us on Be Love, Be Keeping presented

00:31:41.819 --> 00:31:45.099
by Man Lake. Another big thank you goes to V2B

00:31:45.099 --> 00:31:48.160
Health for their support. Vita's Varroa Control

00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:51.779
Ranger products includes Epistan, Epigard, and

00:31:51.779 --> 00:31:56.000
now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic Acid Strips.

00:31:56.140 --> 00:31:58.460
Hey, thanks a lot guys. And if you haven't yet,

00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:01.140
please subscribe to and follow the show, tell

00:32:01.140 --> 00:32:03.839
your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBekeeping

00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:07.579
.com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you

00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:10.920
have a guest suggestion or topic you'd like discussed

00:32:10.920 --> 00:32:14.240
on the show, shoot me an email, eric at BeLoveBekeeping

00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:17.470
.com. And remember, if you're not just in it

00:32:17.470 --> 00:32:20.150
for the honey or the money, you're in it for

00:32:20.150 --> 00:32:21.910
the love. See you next week.