Making Mead & Money With Beekeeping - Guest Rick Reault

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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 great friends and partners in

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beekeeping. Man Lake. Today's show features my

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recent conversation with a longtime Massachusetts

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beekeeper and entrepreneur Rick Rowe. We're going

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to discuss making mead, making money in the bee

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business, and so much more. Rick is a wealth

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of information and an absolute joy to talk to.

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I think you'll love him. First in our invention

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mention segment I'm trying out a few new tools

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of the trade that may not be brand new but some

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of them are new to me. everybody has their own

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way of lighting a smoker i know and it's one

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of those age -old how do i really figure this

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thing out well and how do you keep it lit you

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know i usually just throw a bunch of flammable

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anything that i can get my hands on in that smoker

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get it started let it burn for a while then add

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some fuel that i like but last weekend i tried

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this beastart smoker starter it's this stuff

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right here and i kind of liked it what it is

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you've got these What would you say these are

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about two inches long by I don't know half an

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inch wide And it's really easy to light these

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things even on a windy day So you just light

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two or three of them put them in the bottom of

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your smoker let them burn for a couple of minutes

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So it gets really hot in there, and then you

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add whatever fuel you like. It's easy. It's easy

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easy. I like it I know, I know, I'm probably

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the only hobbyist who still doesn't have a hot

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uncapping knife, until now. I recently tried

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out the Speed King uncapping knife and wow, I

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mean wow. Now realize, they don't work on all

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frames, especially if the bees didn't draw the

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wax out quite deep enough past the edges of the

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wooden frame. But for those frames that are drawn

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out, well, take a look at this. It is fast, it's

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easy, it's clean, the wax comes off beautifully.

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And this thing heats up so fast, you almost need

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to be careful. Lastly, let's talk about the age

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-old Hive Tool. I know these things are like

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the tools of the trade. It's sort of like, you

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know, how can I make a better mousetrap kind

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of situation. Here's your normal old Hive Tool

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right here. Okay, it's got the bend. it's got

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a hole I guess so you can hang it on a hook or

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something and it's got a nice scraper end and

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these things work great and most of us have used

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them for years but have you ever tried one with

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a J hook on it? I've been using one for a while

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and recently I got one with an even bigger J

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hook and this thing amazing if you haven't used

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one of these the idea is you put it in the edge

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of a frame and you can pry it out with this and

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you've got the leverage here on the other frames

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or the side of the box to push that frame up

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that may be stuck down with a whole bunch of

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wax or propolis on the other end of this thing

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they have really done a nice job of grinding

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on this hard steel, a very sharp edge. So you're

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scraping off wax, you're scraping off anything

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you need to to clean up those frames and those

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boxes. They call this multifunction hive tool.

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I like it a lot. I recommend trying something

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like this if you haven't yet. These are the kinds

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of things that are inexpensive and can really

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make our beekeeping adventures a little easier

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and a little more fun. And speaking of fun, let's

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get to our interview with Rick. I would like

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to welcome to the show. We're gonna have an awesome

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time today. We're meeting with Rick Rowe in Massachusetts

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today. Long time beekeeper. How are you, Rick?

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Very good. How are you, Eric? I'm doing fantastic.

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Except for the cough drop. Getting over a little

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bug from epimondia, but other than that, doing

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great. You have a big operation and it's gonna

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be fun learning about different sides of the

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beekeeping business. to be business itself because

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there's a lot of sideliners and even hobbyists

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out there that are thinking yeah I want to figure

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out how to make a little bit of money while I'm

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doing this and I think they're gonna get some

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tips from you today as well as tips about making

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mead we'll get to that so before we jump into

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it for those that don't know you how long have

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you been beekeeping tell us a little bit about

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your journey So I've been beekeeping about 30

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years, and I started my business, New England

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Beekeeping Supplies, in 2006. And I ran that

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business out of our home, my wife Sue and I,

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and then we purchased a plot of land in Tingsboro,

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where we live, and we built a facility in 2019.

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And so now we have been operating out of that

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facility, which we call the colony, since, yeah,

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2019. So that was right before the pandemic.

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Yes. Was the pandemic good for business or tough

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on business? The pandemic was, I would have to

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say, overall good for business, but we had to

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make some quick changes, temporary changes, and

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but we got through it pretty good. I know a lot

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of people jumped into it and chickens and gardening

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and things like that for the first time. And

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some have already dropped out once they realized

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beekeeping is not easy. There is a lot to learn,

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but it's so rewarding. So for those of you that

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stayed, congratulations. It is super rewarding.

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I'm just going to go through a little list here.

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A few of the different aspects of your business

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and then you fill in whatever I missed. Here

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we go. Okay. You make and sell mead. Yes. Beekeeping

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supplies. Honey. Yes. You do pollination. Yes.

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You do gift packages. Yes. You sell bees in packages

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and nukes. You have what you call an apothecary.

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Is that like soap and things like that? Yeah,

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soap, lip balms, lotion bars, beeswax candles

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we put under our pocket carry too. Yeah. And

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you do beekeeping classes. And I've been teaching

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beekeeping classes for probably over 25 years.

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What did I miss? I think that's it. You know,

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we started our business out of our home and then

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we started very small, just myself. And I figured

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I would start a little part -time job because

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it was coming after 9 -11, and I had a commercial

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contracting company. So I was building houses

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and doing some commercial work as well. Boy,

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that came to a very, you know, almost like grinding

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halt. So I said, well, I'm gonna take my hobby

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and see if I can make a little business out of

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it. And that was it. I started in 2006, in April

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of 2006, and then... We've had 20 years of growth

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with our company, New England Beekeeping. So

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a little business that took off. I have a feeling

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some of that's because you got kind of hooked

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on it. How many bee hives do you run? Currently,

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I mean, we've run up to a thousand. But currently,

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after we built our facility, we had a downscale

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quite a bit because it really changed my responsibilities

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within the company and I couldn't be out in the

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field as much. I believe, you know, next year

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we'll be probably running about six or seven

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hundred hives. That's plenty. What size of staff

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do you have? Yeah, we have six full time employees

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and we have about, you know, about eight or nine

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part time employees. Some people work one shift

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and then other people, you know, work about 30

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hours. So we have a really, really good crew

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at we call it at the colony. Yeah. I want to

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jump in first to the thing that I know the least

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about. And here's my disclaimer. I don't drink.

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So I'm going to probably ask some really stupid

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questions about mead, but I do find it super

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interesting. I know mead is something that's

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been around for hundreds or thousands of years.

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First of all, describe it and give us an idea

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of how you make it. When I talk to people about

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mead and boy do I dislike really saying this

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but if people ask me what mead is the easiest

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answer is not the best answer so the easiest

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answer is it's a honey wine but it is not mead

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is not a wine it's its own category so mead is

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an alcoholic beverage fermented from honey and

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water and yeast And then you can make variations

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by adding spices or fruits or actually it's unlimited

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possibilities on how many different meads you

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could make. And that's what mead is. It's the

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oldest alcoholic beverage known to man, we'll

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make that claim, and dates back, you know, hundreds

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of thousands of years. Compared to someone that

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owns, say, a brewery, How difficult is mead to

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make compared to beer? I like saying beer is

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the most difficult to make, then wine, and then

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mead. Mead is not as hard to make as wine and

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beer. What we do in making mead is We have honey.

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We make batches in the sizes of... We have two

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different tanks. One of them is a 200 gallon

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tank, a fermenting tank, stainless steel fermenting

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tank, just like you would use in beer or wine.

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And then we have two 300 gallon tanks. So we'll

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take a barrel of honey out of our warming room

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and bring it out at about... you know, 120 degrees

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and then we will start pumping that into another

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barrel. We'll be adding cold water to that barrel

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and then we pump that into the fermenting tank.

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Then if we're using a fruit we're going to pump

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that in and we kind of mix it all into a barrel

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and pump it into the tank. And then we will control

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the temperature of the mead. At that point it's

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called the must and we'll Keep it between 60

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and 65 degrees. We have a chiller unit that circulates.

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It's like a double wall honey tank, except this

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is a fermenting tank. It's a double wall and

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it runs through a chiller unit so you can control

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the temperature of your must. And then we'll

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pitch yeast into it. It will start fermenting

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within 24 hours. Usually we're in the fermenting

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tank for about six to eight weeks. From there

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we will pump it into, usually it's going to be

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an oak barrel, whether it's a Chardonnay barrel,

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a bourbon barrel, a whiskey barrel, and sometimes

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just a stainless steel barrel, and we'll pump

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it into those vessels and we'll age it for a

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year. How hard is it for a hobbyist to do? Well,

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hobbyists, you know, there's a lot of hobbyists

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that will make five gallon batches or they might

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have small fermenting. So it's pretty popular.

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My first year in beekeeping is I wanted to try

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everything. I wanted to make candles. I wanted

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to, you know, I wanted bees. I wanted to make

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splits. I wanted to go everywhere. I wanted to

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remove bees from houses. I kind of did it all.

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And then the mead was another one. My first year,

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you know, I tried making mead. And how did it

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turn out first time? Oh, it was awful. It was

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the worst. You know, the worst part is you wait

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one year and, you know, for it to age and everything,

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and then you taste it. And it just was God awful.

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And I actually took it. I had friends over and

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we were planning on trying the mead and I took

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the five gallon carboy and I poured it out on

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the ground in front of everybody and I said,

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nobody wants to try to taste this. It was bad.

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Then I met a friend who had taken my beekeeping

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class and he brought a bottle of mead. to the

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class and when I tried that I really complimented

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on him because it was very good. Because with

00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:07.879
mead you can taste some meads and some of them

00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.179
can be very bad and then the very good ones are

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very rare. And so his was very good. So we started

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making mead together at my house. And then today

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he's one of my partners. He invested in my company

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when we when we built our facility. So Mike Mince

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and so we we made the first good meat I made

00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:33.320
was with him. And what flavors are your favorite

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or your best sellers? So we have a honey that

00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:41.759
is in the northeast area and it's it's the honey

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is is made from Japanese knotweed and it's also

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nicknamed like bamboo. So knotweed is from the

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buckwheat family, but it is very smooth, very

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caramely and it's dark and when you hold it up

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to the light it has a reddish tint. So I started

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making mead with that honey and started entering

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competitions and I started scoring better and

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better and better and to the point where I got

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a perfect score. And so I call that mead red

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bamboo, which is a straight traditional mead,

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meaning that it's made with honey and water,

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no fruit. And we age it in an oak barrel. In

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most cases, we're aging ours in a bourbon barrel.

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And we've done extremely well with that one in

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competition. That's probably the best mead I

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make. But then we make one with with black currants.

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We make one with blueberries We make a sizer

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with apple cider. So we have like 10 different

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leads that we make All right I'm gonna be sure

00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:59.179
to put a link to your website in the show notes

00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:02.259
in case anybody wants to find you Wants to taste

00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:04.100
any of this stuff. They know how to look you

00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:07.740
up, but it's the colony ma .com, right? That's

00:16:07.740 --> 00:16:12.179
correct, yeah. We can ship mead to about 40 states.

00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.379
We're partnered with Vino Shipper. We're a little

00:16:15.379 --> 00:16:18.159
bit different. A lot of meaderies, they'll be

00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.659
like a micro brewery, like a little brew pub.

00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:24.080
And you'll go in and it might be a small little

00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:27.340
restaurant and they'll have mead and you can

00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:31.179
buy mead by the glass. We're not like that. We

00:16:31.179 --> 00:16:35.370
make mead on site. and then we bottle it and

00:16:35.370 --> 00:16:38.129
sell it by the bottle. Are you a beekeeper who

00:16:38.129 --> 00:16:41.049
loves sharing tips, asking questions, and showing

00:16:41.049 --> 00:16:43.909
off your latest honey haul? Then join the hive.

00:16:44.210 --> 00:16:46.610
Introducing the Man Lake beekeeping community

00:16:46.610 --> 00:16:50.190
on Facebook, your new go -to for everything honey

00:16:50.190 --> 00:16:53.409
bees. Whether you're struggling with mites, trying

00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:56.470
a new winterization method, or just need to know

00:16:56.470 --> 00:17:00.049
what that weird thing on your frame is, our group

00:17:00.049 --> 00:17:03.210
is a supportive, spam -free zone for beginners

00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:05.869
and pros alike. Stop scrolling through endless

00:17:05.869 --> 00:17:08.569
forums and connect directly with beekeepers and

00:17:08.569 --> 00:17:11.329
the professionals at Man Lake in one buzzing

00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:13.869
place. We'll put a link to it down in the show

00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.269
notes. Just click over and join up. Customers

00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:21.920
can come in our store and try a sample of mead

00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.599
which is nice because it's just when we when

00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:28.579
we sample the mead when we give samples to the

00:17:28.579 --> 00:17:31.259
mead we almost like 95 percent of the people

00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:34.880
buy it uh they they like it it's different we

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:37.500
do really well in the holiday times when people

00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:40.460
want to give it away as a gift and uh during

00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:42.799
the holidays and uh but we have a lot of fun

00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.940
with it all right let's shift gears let's talk

00:17:44.940 --> 00:17:47.059
a little bit about honey and you just talked

00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:51.079
about the knotweed honey yes where Where else

00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:54.099
are you putting your bees? Or is it just in Massachusetts?

00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:59.220
So our location, the colony, is in my hometown

00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:02.539
of Tingsboro, Massachusetts. And we border eight

00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:05.559
towns. And three of the towns that we border

00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.599
are New Hampshire. So Nashville, New Hampshire,

00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:10.539
Hudson, New Hampshire, Pelham, New Hampshire.

00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:13.839
So our bees are in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

00:18:14.259 --> 00:18:18.000
At one time we had 75 locations. Now we're running

00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:21.579
about about 35 locations. Well, easier to keep

00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:24.839
track of that way. Yeah. Yeah. So besides the

00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:28.019
knotweed, what other kinds of honeys do you have?

00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:31.619
Or are a lot of them just wildflower? Most of

00:18:31.619 --> 00:18:34.500
them are all wildflowers. So you'll have your

00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:39.440
early summer production, which will be like honeysuckle

00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:45.019
and Russian olive and black locust and dandelions.

00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:50.170
And then You'll go into all your apple and fruit

00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:54.710
blossoms, depending on where you are. And then

00:18:54.710 --> 00:18:57.710
you have your clover. Then we have a lot of sumac

00:18:57.710 --> 00:19:02.630
in our area. We do have quite a few linden trees,

00:19:03.210 --> 00:19:06.789
similar to basswood. Late summer, we have those,

00:19:06.829 --> 00:19:10.670
you know, your goldenrod and your, we used to

00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:13.150
have a lot of purple loosestrife. We don't. have

00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:15.549
as much, but it seems to be making a comeback.

00:19:15.990 --> 00:19:18.569
The state released some beetles years ago and

00:19:18.569 --> 00:19:20.549
ate up a lot of the purple loosestrife. They

00:19:20.549 --> 00:19:23.369
considered it too invasive. We'll have like right

00:19:23.369 --> 00:19:26.250
now almost everything is gone by, but we have

00:19:26.250 --> 00:19:29.970
asters. So a lot of wildflowers. We probably

00:19:29.970 --> 00:19:34.059
have a hundred different sources. early spring

00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:37.559
we'll have maple a lot of maple blossoms and

00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:41.339
a little bit of poplar so it's a real wide variety

00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:44.200
but every once in a while like with knotweed

00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:49.119
when knotweed blooms it's it's like mid mid -August

00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.299
to mid -September and it has such a distinctive

00:19:52.299 --> 00:19:56.200
color that you can really tell when you're producing

00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:59.240
that particular honey and you can segregate it

00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:01.819
a little bit. But for the most part there's not

00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:06.000
too many honeys. that we can segregate unless

00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.240
we're going up to the blueberries in Maine or

00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:12.160
you happen to get a farm that grows all raspberries

00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.420
and blackberries and you know there are situations

00:20:15.420 --> 00:20:18.500
like that but it's a it's quite a large variety

00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:21.220
in the northeast. So what kind of advice do you

00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:24.400
have for someone that's going from one stage

00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.880
in their beekeeping journey to another and maybe

00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.059
they get in as a hobbyist and they love it and

00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.380
they're like okay. I want to turn into a sideliner

00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:36.220
and then they love that and I want to do this

00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:38.880
full time. Right. What kind of advice do you

00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:42.220
have for some of those steps? Yeah, I give a

00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:44.880
presentation. I've been brought into a lot of

00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:47.740
different clubs and and I did a state presentation

00:20:47.740 --> 00:20:55.400
on that topic and so I tell people figure out

00:20:55.400 --> 00:20:57.910
what you want. How much money do you want to

00:20:57.910 --> 00:20:59.990
make? Are you looking to supplement this? Are

00:20:59.990 --> 00:21:02.970
you looking to make a career out of this? And

00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:07.710
when I started, I said, I have to find five ways

00:21:07.710 --> 00:21:12.829
to make $20 ,000 in each segment. And then I

00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:16.240
went from there. And I never knew. how it would

00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.799
grow. Today I can tell you that it grew into

00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:22.059
honey. New England Beekeeping Supplies, we're

00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:25.640
primarily a honey company where we sell to about

00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:29.299
250 stores and farm stands, we sell honey in

00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:32.599
buckets, we sell honey in our store at retail,

00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.220
and we sell it online off our website. So that's

00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:39.470
what we became. But find your passion. Like I

00:21:39.470 --> 00:21:42.910
loved making mead. So mead became a part of our

00:21:42.910 --> 00:21:46.269
business. We have five or six different people

00:21:46.269 --> 00:21:49.990
in our company that like making candles. So we

00:21:49.990 --> 00:21:53.400
all make. beeswax candles and we sell those in

00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:56.940
the store. My wife Sue likes to make soaps and

00:21:56.940 --> 00:22:00.220
lotion bars and lip balms and she makes that

00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:03.700
at home and we bring that over to the store and

00:22:03.700 --> 00:22:06.339
sell it there. So that we can take all these

00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:09.279
products, the honey, the mead... the candles,

00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:13.359
the lip balms, lotion bars, and we can package

00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.859
that into gift packaging, but we can place it

00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:18.839
on our shelves so that we have a large variety

00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.220
of things to sell in our store. Every area is

00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:25.599
difficult, especially selling packages, transporting

00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.619
packages from Georgia to Massachusetts. I've

00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:33.890
been doing that now for 20 years. And I've made

00:22:33.890 --> 00:22:38.410
over 50 trips. It's 1 ,300 miles down to Georgia

00:22:38.410 --> 00:22:41.589
and 1 ,300 miles back, because I'm like in South

00:22:41.589 --> 00:22:44.890
Central Georgia, Moultrie, Georgia, from Rossman

00:22:44.890 --> 00:22:48.190
Aperies. And then I also have packages trucked

00:22:48.190 --> 00:22:51.549
up to us from Wilbanks Aperies. So they do that

00:22:51.549 --> 00:22:55.029
transportation. But I've been going down to Georgia

00:22:55.029 --> 00:22:58.769
three times a year for the first year I went

00:22:58.769 --> 00:23:01.630
once, the second year I went twice. And starting

00:23:01.630 --> 00:23:05.650
my third year, I go three times. And it's like

00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:10.639
you leave Massachusetts on a Thursday. Drive

00:23:10.639 --> 00:23:13.380
24 hours down to Georgia. You get there Friday.

00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:16.880
Check on the bees. Then we kind of go out to

00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.079
eat. We sleep in the hotel. We get up. We have

00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:21.279
breakfast. We go pick up the bees, load them

00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.119
up, and we drive straight home. Get home on Sunday.

00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:26.539
Give the bees out on Monday. And then we turn

00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:29.880
around and do it right the second week right

00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:32.019
after that. And then we skip a week and do it

00:23:32.019 --> 00:23:36.440
a third week. So there's a lot of difficulties.

00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:39.839
And I could write a whole book on transporting

00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:44.579
bees and what you have to look out for and how

00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:48.299
you have to do it properly. And it's a real partnership

00:23:48.299 --> 00:23:51.519
with the apiary down south that you're dealing

00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.079
with, whether it's Rossman or Wilbanks. That's

00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:55.880
a challenge. That's a tough way to make a few

00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:59.220
dollars. If you're starting a business, you really

00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:02.319
need to say, hey, how much do I want to make?

00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:05.299
What do I like to do? What do I want to do? And

00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:08.710
you start. From there and you see where you end

00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:11.230
up, you know I never thought that I was going

00:24:11.230 --> 00:24:13.609
to build a facility and we spent a lot of money

00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:16.690
building a facility and Then I didn't know how

00:24:16.690 --> 00:24:19.460
to set it up Because I said, where do I put my

00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:21.359
bottling tanks? Where do I put my meat tanks?

00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.660
How do I design the store? And one thing we did

00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:27.119
was say, OK, we're going to put a building on

00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.440
our lot, but we're going to make sure a tractor

00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.799
trailer can get in and drive right around our

00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.700
building so we can unload the deliveries. You

00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:37.900
don't have to do that. Some people, my uncle,

00:24:38.329 --> 00:24:41.029
who taught me beekeeping. He had a little sign

00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:45.009
on his mailbox and he made some nice extra money

00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:48.410
by just selling honey out of his porch and did

00:24:48.410 --> 00:24:51.329
it for years. One thing I love about beekeepers

00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:55.230
is they're just open to sharing all this knowledge.

00:24:55.289 --> 00:24:59.000
Yes. In some other businesses there's So many

00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:01.279
of these are trade secret kind of things that

00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.019
you wouldn't be sharing, but beekeepers are so

00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:06.240
awesome about it. And I really appreciate you

00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.599
doing that for us. I've always wanted to share

00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:11.000
my business experience. I've always wanted to

00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:14.680
share my mead making, you know, what I know about

00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:17.400
mead making and or what I know about keeping

00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:19.920
bees or what I know about running a business.

00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:22.940
I've never kept that a secret. I like to share

00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:25.500
and I think it comes back to you because people

00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:28.319
appreciate that. I know when people come in my

00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:32.339
store and I see them like looking at my treatment

00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:34.440
or something and I'll just say, hey, how you

00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:36.940
doing? Have you used that treatment before? Because

00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:39.900
we have a new one, right? Varroxan that we've

00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.460
been using. And then we get into a conversation.

00:25:43.819 --> 00:25:46.160
And then at the end of it, they just look you

00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:48.920
in the eye and they say, wow, thank you for spending

00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:53.140
time with me. And that's the feel good part of

00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:56.019
the industry. How's Varroxan been working for

00:25:56.019 --> 00:26:00.720
you? I like it very much. We needed something

00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:03.279
that lasts in the hive, that kills mites for

00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:05.839
an extended period of time. It does that. We

00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.380
need something that's not harsh on the bees,

00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.660
and it's not. So time will tell, but I think

00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:15.160
our bees going into the winter look really good.

00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:19.119
I have very healthy looking brood patterns. Now

00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:23.349
we're into October. I always look when I look

00:26:23.349 --> 00:26:25.529
at my bees in October I want to know is the queen

00:26:25.529 --> 00:26:28.690
still laying and we're going in and the queens

00:26:28.690 --> 00:26:30.910
are still laying which is a good sign because

00:26:30.910 --> 00:26:33.410
now you're going to have you know a young cluster

00:26:33.410 --> 00:26:35.829
going into the winter which is always a plus.

00:26:36.450 --> 00:26:38.849
What have been some of the just difficult things

00:26:38.849 --> 00:26:42.589
over the years? Oh, I mean, I think colony health

00:26:42.589 --> 00:26:46.309
is just, is always been very, very difficult

00:26:46.309 --> 00:26:50.150
since day one, you know, keeping the bees healthy.

00:26:50.369 --> 00:26:53.890
I mean, when I started, I mean, we tried everything

00:26:53.890 --> 00:26:56.509
and, you know, you had the pesticides, you know,

00:26:56.630 --> 00:26:59.369
your Apistans and your Cuma Foss and you had

00:26:59.369 --> 00:27:02.589
all those things and then you tried all your

00:27:02.589 --> 00:27:06.150
IPMs and then you tried your screen bottom boards

00:27:06.150 --> 00:27:09.819
and your fogging with mineral oil and then all

00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:12.339
these different things that came out and then

00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:15.700
formic acid came out and then there was different

00:27:15.700 --> 00:27:19.019
variations of that because everybody was trying

00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:22.980
to improve on what they had. So I think colony

00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:26.920
health has been and will be the struggle for

00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:31.240
some time. Especially if we're introduced to

00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:35.539
new bee pests and then it'll make it even tougher.

00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:40.019
Don't say the T word. Right. Right. I won't.

00:27:40.259 --> 00:27:42.339
And we talk about Varroa so much on this show

00:27:42.339 --> 00:27:45.440
that I'm glad we haven't talked too much about

00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.740
it today. We give people a little bit of a break

00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:50.519
today. Tell me some of the joys of beekeeping.

00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:54.240
What do you love about honeybees? Well, you know,

00:27:54.299 --> 00:27:57.839
from From the first day that I started keeping

00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.579
bees, I probably remember my first inspection.

00:28:01.420 --> 00:28:05.319
That was with my uncle bringing me out as a kid.

00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:09.200
And I never forgot that. And then time went by,

00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:12.859
and then finally I asked my uncle if he wanted

00:28:12.859 --> 00:28:15.720
to keep bees at my house. And he said all his

00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:19.440
bees had died from mites. It was in the mid -1990s.

00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:23.839
And so I said, well, if I get into it, will you

00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.420
help me? And from the minute I started going

00:28:26.420 --> 00:28:29.660
into the hives, I knew I was going to really

00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:33.440
like it. I started reading. I started going to

00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.619
beekeeping meetings. I started going to conferences

00:28:36.619 --> 00:28:44.069
and really learning about the bees. when you

00:28:44.069 --> 00:28:46.130
have that knowledge and then you know what to

00:28:46.130 --> 00:28:48.390
look for and you always see something new when

00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:50.750
you're going through the hives and you know you're

00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:53.289
outside it's most of the time it's nice weather

00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:57.210
hopefully but yeah you can't beat that it's just

00:28:57.210 --> 00:29:02.190
it's i love that i've never i never say i don't

00:29:02.190 --> 00:29:04.329
want to go to work and i never say i don't want

00:29:04.329 --> 00:29:08.289
to look at bees that day never comes like i say

00:29:08.289 --> 00:29:10.609
if you love what you're doing it's not work it

00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:14.019
isn't right right Yeah, any advice that you might

00:29:14.019 --> 00:29:16.500
have for somebody that's brand new and just thinking

00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:19.119
about getting into beekeeping I've been teaching

00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:23.279
classes for a long time and you know, I've taught

00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.619
several thousand people and a lot of those people

00:29:26.619 --> 00:29:29.759
become my customers and The first thing that

00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:32.440
I say in in beekeeping class is this isn't easy.

00:29:32.619 --> 00:29:35.299
It's it's not easy Don't think it is you have

00:29:35.299 --> 00:29:37.619
to do certain things when you're required to

00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:41.259
do them and the bees don't wait And if you don't

00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:43.859
do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed

00:29:43.859 --> 00:29:46.880
to do it, then there'll be consequences and it

00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:50.940
makes the hobby more difficult. Whether your

00:29:50.940 --> 00:29:53.960
bees will get sick if you don't treat them, whether

00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:56.039
you don't manage them correctly, they'll swarm

00:29:56.039 --> 00:29:59.019
on you and now you have other issues. So there's

00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:03.240
nothing easy about beekeeping. But if you're

00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:05.940
up for challenges, I've played sports my whole

00:30:05.940 --> 00:30:08.380
life. Playing sports is not easy. You don't...

00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.779
walk out on a basketball court and win every

00:30:10.779 --> 00:30:13.880
game you play. But if you work hard, you win

00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:16.539
most of them. And that's what I was in with a

00:30:16.539 --> 00:30:18.779
group of people that we all worked hard, we all

00:30:18.779 --> 00:30:21.799
worked together, and we were successful. And

00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:24.220
it's the same thing in beekeeping. If you work

00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:26.440
hard at it, if you like it, and you put your

00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:29.880
time into it, you can be very successful. But

00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:32.500
to put bees in your backyard and leave them alone,

00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:36.380
you will not be successful at all. And so I tell

00:30:36.380 --> 00:30:39.900
people it's easy to fall in love with what you're

00:30:39.900 --> 00:30:42.720
doing, especially if you like being outside,

00:30:42.940 --> 00:30:45.859
if you like gardening, if you like bird feeders,

00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:49.740
if you just like to be outside and like nature,

00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:53.059
you're going to like beekeeping. And it's so

00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:56.619
fun because... I always pull everybody taking

00:30:56.619 --> 00:30:59.079
the class. And you get everybody. You get doctors,

00:30:59.559 --> 00:31:04.480
lawyers, judges, engineers, health care providers,

00:31:05.819 --> 00:31:10.200
construction work. You get everybody that's in

00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:12.119
there. And it's nice to bring all those people

00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:14.460
in and have something in common that you like

00:31:14.460 --> 00:31:17.220
honeybees. Rick, you've been an absolute joy

00:31:17.220 --> 00:31:20.000
here, but before I let you go, I want to see,

00:31:20.140 --> 00:31:22.779
do you have any kind of a wild and crazy beekeeping

00:31:22.779 --> 00:31:25.500
story? I'll bet you have 50 of them. Try to think

00:31:25.500 --> 00:31:29.640
of one or two for us. Oh my gosh. You know, I'll

00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:33.000
have to talk about my uncle. My uncle kept bees

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:38.019
at my grandfather's and he, my mother's the oldest

00:31:38.019 --> 00:31:43.890
of nine and This uncle, I had a great relationship

00:31:43.890 --> 00:31:46.670
with all my aunts and uncles. I loved being around

00:31:46.670 --> 00:31:49.569
them when I was younger. But this one uncle,

00:31:50.029 --> 00:31:53.089
we'd never seen to connect. But we did have one

00:31:53.089 --> 00:31:56.250
thing in common. I took care of my grandmother

00:31:56.250 --> 00:31:58.849
and he was always over there because he lived.

00:31:59.210 --> 00:32:02.609
up the street, so I took care, what I mean by

00:32:02.609 --> 00:32:06.809
that is I plowed her driveway, and I shoveled

00:32:06.809 --> 00:32:09.049
her walk all winter long, that kind of stuff,

00:32:09.069 --> 00:32:13.690
and I was always over there. So my uncle, who

00:32:13.690 --> 00:32:17.569
I think my grandfather had told him, hey, suit

00:32:17.569 --> 00:32:20.329
him up and take him out on the bees, I was probably

00:32:20.329 --> 00:32:23.650
12 years old, and I never forgot that day. So.

00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:26.279
We happened to be at my grandmother's one day,

00:32:26.299 --> 00:32:28.960
and I said, hey, you know, you want to put bees

00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:34.319
at my house? And he said, well, all my bees died.

00:32:34.599 --> 00:32:37.240
He said, you know, the mites came and wiped them

00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:39.940
out, and I don't have bees anymore. I said, oh.

00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:42.059
I said, because I thought I would give it a try.

00:32:42.660 --> 00:32:46.079
He said, well, come over to my house. And I'll

00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:47.839
give you a couple of beginner books that you

00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:51.079
can read. And then let me know. Well, I read

00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:53.099
the books. I called them the next day. I read

00:32:53.099 --> 00:32:56.660
them all one day. And I was, hey, I want to do

00:32:56.660 --> 00:33:00.259
this. So he helped me get started. So my uncle,

00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:04.799
who I had really zero relationship with, next

00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:10.470
to zero, became my best friend. And he just passed

00:33:10.470 --> 00:33:15.589
away three years ago. But there wasn't probably

00:33:15.589 --> 00:33:18.750
many days where I didn't talk to him or he wasn't

00:33:18.750 --> 00:33:22.630
over my house. And when I decided to start a

00:33:22.630 --> 00:33:25.670
beekeeping business, I had all the older beekeepers

00:33:25.670 --> 00:33:28.410
tell me, oh, no, no, no, you can't do that. You'll

00:33:28.410 --> 00:33:30.549
never make any money at it. It can't be done.

00:33:30.970 --> 00:33:34.069
And so to build something and then be successful

00:33:34.069 --> 00:33:39.220
at it has been a lot of fun. I wouldn't have

00:33:39.220 --> 00:33:42.940
even tried beekeeping. And then because I tried

00:33:42.940 --> 00:33:47.400
beekeeping, it's now my livelihood. So we had

00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:51.240
a lot of fun. I used to tease him a lot, and

00:33:51.240 --> 00:33:54.480
he was a real, real good beekeeper. And we would

00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:57.660
do hive openings for the classes that I would

00:33:57.660 --> 00:34:00.700
run. So I would send like 10 people over with

00:34:00.700 --> 00:34:03.500
him, and I would have 10 people over with me.

00:34:03.819 --> 00:34:07.000
And my line was to wait till he got into the

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:09.300
hive and just yell over to him, Uncle Donald,

00:34:09.780 --> 00:34:12.199
if you need help finding the queen, just give

00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:14.539
me a call. I'll come over and help you. And he

00:34:14.539 --> 00:34:18.099
would get so agitated with me. I can find the

00:34:18.099 --> 00:34:22.730
queen on my own, he would say. So yeah, a lot

00:34:22.730 --> 00:34:27.349
of fun. My uncle Don Landry was, I owe my beekeeping

00:34:27.349 --> 00:34:30.090
career to him. That really is part of the fun

00:34:30.090 --> 00:34:33.889
is the sociality of it. Kids, aunts, uncles,

00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:37.769
grandkids. Oh, yeah. People love it. And it's

00:34:37.769 --> 00:34:40.789
a good excuse to get together. My brother keeps

00:34:40.789 --> 00:34:45.530
bees. I've had two of my nephews keep bees, you

00:34:45.530 --> 00:34:47.849
know, so you can't, it's been passed on. Yeah.

00:34:47.980 --> 00:34:51.440
I only have a few hives but just on this topic

00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:54.380
the last time that we did a honey harvest it

00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:57.900
was so fun because I had three grandkids here,

00:34:58.360 --> 00:35:01.539
a couple of daughters, son, son -in -law and

00:35:01.539 --> 00:35:04.480
everybody got involved and everybody worked together

00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:07.659
but had fun working together, got to go home

00:35:07.659 --> 00:35:11.519
with some honey and what else do we do where

00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:14.199
we all come together and and you know do some

00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:17.889
kind of a fun work like that. I love seeing when

00:35:17.889 --> 00:35:22.789
a mother and a father with their two kids, they

00:35:22.789 --> 00:35:29.610
take our beekeeping class. And then I had a young

00:35:29.610 --> 00:35:34.349
man, he's a sophomore in college, walk in today.

00:35:34.469 --> 00:35:38.730
He worked for me one summer, but he walked in

00:35:38.730 --> 00:35:41.510
because we extracted his honey for him. And I

00:35:41.510 --> 00:35:44.400
looked back and I thought, I said, boy, Alex,

00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.760
who's like 20 years old now, I said, how old

00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:50.300
were you when I met you? Because I let his parents

00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:53.780
put bees at my house. And he said, I was five

00:35:53.780 --> 00:35:57.800
years old. And so it was 15 years ago. Yeah,

00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:01.599
yeah. And you know, they're still doing it today.

00:36:01.980 --> 00:36:04.659
But I tell people, it's just, it's a great way

00:36:04.659 --> 00:36:07.860
to connect with the kids. And it's a great learning

00:36:07.860 --> 00:36:12.329
experience. When you go through biology and botany

00:36:12.329 --> 00:36:16.090
and life cycles and development cycles, all that

00:36:16.090 --> 00:36:18.949
stuff that you learn through beekeeping. When

00:36:18.949 --> 00:36:24.329
those kids take those science classes or whatever

00:36:24.329 --> 00:36:28.269
they do, they're going to have a heads up on

00:36:28.269 --> 00:36:30.909
other people who haven't experienced it. Rick,

00:36:30.909 --> 00:36:33.130
I'd love to spend a summer with you because there

00:36:33.130 --> 00:36:36.789
would be so much to learn. But I'm going to just

00:36:36.789 --> 00:36:38.929
give you the last word here. Give us one more

00:36:38.929 --> 00:36:42.300
piece of advice. I guess my advice would be if

00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:45.500
you're into beekeeping, really put a lot of time

00:36:45.500 --> 00:36:49.000
into keeping the bees healthy. I don't know anybody

00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:52.260
that's got out of beekeeping. That produce honey

00:36:52.260 --> 00:36:55.300
their first year. So you produce honey your first

00:36:55.300 --> 00:36:57.039
year and you're hooked, you know You're hooked

00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.619
for a lifetime. Just enjoy it. It keeps changing,

00:37:00.619 --> 00:37:04.699
you know, you know keep up with it Learn all

00:37:04.699 --> 00:37:07.380
the new things and and just enjoy it. It's just

00:37:07.380 --> 00:37:10.719
a it's just a great thing to have in your life

00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:13.519
Beautiful. All right, Rick. Well, thanks a lot.

00:37:13.579 --> 00:37:19.530
I appreciate it. Thank you Eric Thanks for joining

00:37:19.530 --> 00:37:22.590
us on Be Love Beekeeping presented by Man Lake.

00:37:23.030 --> 00:37:25.110
If you like this content I hope you'll share

00:37:25.110 --> 00:37:27.989
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00:37:27.989 --> 00:37:31.050
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00:37:31.050 --> 00:37:34.420
at BeLoveBeekeeping .com Also, just a shout out

00:37:34.420 --> 00:37:36.980
to Vita B Health for their support, we appreciate

00:37:36.980 --> 00:37:40.000
them. Vita's Varroa Control range of products

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:43.619
includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Varroxan,

00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:47.519
Extended Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys,

00:37:48.039 --> 00:37:50.420
and remember, if you're not just in it for the

00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:52.960
honey or the money, you're in it for the love.

00:37:53.380 --> 00:37:54.380
See you next week.