Treatment-Free Beekeeping, Why & How?

WEBVTT

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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures

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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless

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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each

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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of

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instinct each act in service to the whole and

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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,

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part poet, they move along their hives with the

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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to

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the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,

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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the

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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing

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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their

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journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping

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presented by our great friends over at Man Lake.

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Today's guest has an apiary and beekeeping business

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on the big island of Hawaii. Yes, I'm still there

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and it is raining in paradise today, but that's

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okay. Our guest and his partner focus solely

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on regenerative and treatment free beekeeping.

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Now, I know, I know you're saying, Eric, you've

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just opened up a giant can of worms by discussing

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one of the most polarizing topics in beekeeping.

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Okay. Let's all just take a breath. If you're

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new to the show, let me explain something. We

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are not here to tell you how you must do your

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beekeeping. We're here to share information.

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Then it's up to you to decide what's best for

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your bees and the style of beekeeping that feels

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most right to you. It's been said that beekeeping

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is a blend of science and soul. So do your homework,

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get in touch with your bees and do what your

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soul tells you. Before we jump into that, I know

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we've all heard about, read about, and seen with

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our own two eyes, most of us, the wackle dance

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that bees do. Well, we can always learn more.

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There is a new research study out where the waggle

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dance of the honey bees was researched. It's

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always been thought that the waggle dance is

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something that just points the direction for

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the bees in which they should go to find sources

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of nectar and pollen. But a recent study published

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in Current Biology investigated the remarkable

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communication strategy to a whole new level.

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Some of what they learned is that bees use their

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own memory of the topography, the terrain around

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them, as they interpret this waggle dance, and

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the two work together. Let me just quote from

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some of it. Did the dance teach the bees? If

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you can imagine a bee moving with fear, though

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emotion didn't play into its study, to anticipate

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a bump in the road at a specific point on the

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journey. Are the bees in fact pantomiming the

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way itself? I'm getting wet. Researchers trained

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a small group of foragers to visit a feeder location

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north of a hive along a gravel road. However,

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they released the bees from three different sites

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and what they discovered is that the dance was

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even more complex and detailed than they had

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originally understood. In a diagram of the dance,

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we learned that it includes spatial expectations,

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not just directions, a truly intelligent and

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efficient form of communication. Researchers

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placed a feeder with a sugar solution north of

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the hive along a gravel road and trained foraging

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bees to visit it. One site, as reported, had

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a distinct path whereas another lacked these

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types of markers. Then they let the bees perform

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their magic trick of dancing to show their friends

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and indicate where the food was located. They

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had never visited the hive themselves. Researchers

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awaited to determine whether any information

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about the landscape what to anticipate on the

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flight itself if any of that was communicated

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in the waggle. In a quote they said, we employed

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harmonic radar tracking, a powerful tool for

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recording the detailed light trajectory of individual

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bees. Researchers found that the receivers of

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the dance weren't just following the direction

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and distance indicated by the waggle dance, They

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integrated the dance's vector information with

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the memory of landscape features that they might

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encounter along the way. In the absence of an

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expected landmark, their search behavior became

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more exploratory. They flew farther and in less

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straight paths. They're calling this a multifaceted

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form of communication. In conclusion, the author

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states, our experiments address the question

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of whether the vector information conveyed by

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the dance is integrated into a recruits spatial

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representation constructed from its own experience

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and whether this integration occurs within a

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common frame of spatial reference shared by both

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the reported symbolically communicated vector

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and self -experienced locations. What they found

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is that the cognitive structure at play here

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is most adequately conceptualized as a cognitive

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map. So bees are even more impressive than we

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had already given them credit for. These intelligent

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bees aren't just following the vector, they retain

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a spatial layout of the environment and incorporate

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it into their navigation. Last quote from the

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scientists, our study reveals a higher level

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of cognitive complexity in bee communication.

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With the waddle dance, bees don't simply follow

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a blind vector instruction. They integrate it

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with a cognitive map of their surroundings built

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during earlier exploration flights. This allows

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them to form expectations and navigate more efficiently.

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What do we take away from this besides the fact

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that these little girls are, you know, even smarter

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than we ever give them credit for? When we talk

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about orientation flights, Usually we're just

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thinking of them circling around right in front

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of the hive and going up. But it appears something

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that's been learned is that they're orienting

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a lot more of their surroundings around them.

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For example, they know where high hedges are.

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They know where roads are. They know where trails

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are. They know where trees and bushes and other

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things are going to be in their way. And is there

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reading or receiving a waggle dance? They're

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putting all that information in together with

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what they're learning from the waggle and mapping

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this whole thing out. It appears consciously,

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cognitively before they actually take their flight.

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They know where they're going. It is amazing.

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All right, let's get on with our guests. This

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is going to be a lot of fun today. I'd like to

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welcome to the show today with a great big aloha,

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Kevin O 'Connor. Good morning, Kevin. Morning.

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Aloha, Eric. How are you? I'm fantastic. Are

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you kidding? What's not to love about being in

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this beautiful place? Speaking of beautiful places,

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you are in Waiohinu, Hawaii, correct? Yes, down

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close to South Point on the Big Island, which

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is the southernmost point of the United States

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of America, by the way. Yes. OK. and there's

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a lot of businesses that will remind you of that

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including our favorite punalu bakery and by the

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way they're not giving me anything free for saying

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that but uh you can't drive through without getting

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some sweet bread and a malasada anyway hey i

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met you at the farmers market the other day and

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today we're going to talk about farmers markets

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we're going to talk about treatment free beekeeping

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regenerative beekeeping all kinds of things and

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If you don't mind, give me a little bit of background

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first. Yeah. Like when did you start beekeeping?

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Why? What do you love about it? Yeah, so I started

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beekeeping in 2006, this spring. I came out to

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Hawaii that winter and then got a job while I

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was out here catching queen bees. I love about

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beekeeping, the dynamic aspect of it, how it's

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like really kind of connects you with nature.

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I've always been a gardener ever since I was

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a kid and then made a business out of it and

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always also been, you know, attracted to just

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the natural cycles of nature, the seasonal changes,

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the different flowers and how they interact with

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each other and how beautiful they can be when

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you arrange them, you know, in a garden and landscape

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certain ways. and always kind of appreciated

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that different environments and ecosystems require

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different plants and they have different aspects

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that how they contribute to the ecosystem, what

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have you. And honeybees beekeeping is like a

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natural extension to gardening, because honeybees

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are so integral to the garden, as well, of course,

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as other pollinators. But honeybees are something

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that you can actually manage and work with and

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interact with on a more intimate and in -depth

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level. It was interesting catching queens. I

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had not really known anything about beekeeping

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and it was a really quick like deep dive into

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beekeeping because you get to know all about

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all the different aspects of beekeeping and queen

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rearing which kind of is just like a quick deep

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dive into beekeeping and one of the things that

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was like concerning to me at that time we started

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having a lot of like we were calling them blowouts

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where the little nukes weren't surviving two

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weeks to even allow that virgin queen to go mate

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come back and be caught to sent along around

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the world. We were concerned that as one of the

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first jobs we had in the morning of the beekeeping

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the day we would have a 55 gallon drum and dump

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like seven bags of sugar into that, mix it with

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water and then the fumigillin and stuff like

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that and I was scratching my head like what is

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this all about and you know feeding the bees

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and kind of understood that because it's so intensive

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with allowing that little nuke to raise the queen

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we needed to do that and that got me interested

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in natural beekeeping and other beekeeping methods

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that wasn't so Intensive and stressful on the

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bees cuz we're seeing that they weren't surviving

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there was this kind of drop off in the nukes

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lasting and the queens being able to be caught

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in thousand two thousand six which is like right

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at the beginning of colony collapse. So yeah

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that was kind of our start of beekeeping. So

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for people that. don't know. Some of the largest

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queen producers in the world and some of the

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best are here on the big island of Hawaii. So

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were you working for one of them? Yeah, back

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in 2006. Okay, and then you've just sort of taken

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your own journey from there. Your company is

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called B -Boys. So it's you and how many other

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boys? Just me and Ryan, just two of us right

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now. Alright. Yeah. And then we do have, we work

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with a couple other beekeepers, Artemis Smiles

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down on South Point. She does very similar beekeeping

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practices and because our, you know, we've grown

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a bit so and we can't handle all of the... demand

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so which is good we're able to work with other

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beekeepers and and grow in that way because we

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only because of the style of beekeeping it's

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very labor intensive you know beekeeper can't

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really manage many colonies as many colonies

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as large commercial beekeepers do because of

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the labor the difference the different approach

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that we take Well, let's talk about that style

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of beekeeping as long as you brought it up. And

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if you don't mind, I'm going to read something

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straight from your website. Okay. So hopefully

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this still applies. And oh man, this is where

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the controversy begins. And I love controversy.

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No, we like telling both sides of the story on

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this show. So here we go. Your apiary says our

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apiary is 100 % treatment free. We encourage

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hygienic behavior in our bees. We allow our bees

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to raise their own queens. Bees are encouraged

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to constantly build their own comb. We do not

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use plastic foundation. We do not use beeswax

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foundation. Bees are allowed to swarm and not

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collected. Absolutely no plastic in the hives.

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This includes plastic frames, feeders, and any

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component of the hive. We do not paint hives.

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We do not spin honey or reuse honeycomb. We refrain

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from pesticide and herbicide use completely.

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We do not feed our bees ever. We do not move

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bees for pollination services or nectar sources.

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We follow biodynamic principles and apply instinctual

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beekeeping methods. I'm almost done. We do not

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purchase commercial bee stock or collect swarms.

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We maintain an eight -year line of genetics.

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All our current colonies came from the same colony

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eight years ago. Our entire apiary is a true

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family. Okay, where do we jump in? How do you

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want to explain that? So, yeah, we keep bees

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basically how they were kept hundreds of years

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ago before we got too smart for ourselves. You

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know, we found that through all of our intense

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research about colony collapse disorder and engaging

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interacting with the honey bees, you know, it's

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a big one. lesson we learned was in 2010. So

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we became keeping bees in Hawaii and then suburbs

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of Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania. We

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don't keep bees in southeastern Pennsylvania

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anymore. We stopped in like about eight years

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ago. And the biggest lesson we learned in southeastern

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Pennsylvania was our bees were always kind of

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struggling until the economy kind of started

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collapsing in 2008, seven, eight. One of the

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first things that our neighbors did, because

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we're in suburbs, you know, it's not agriculture,

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but it's similar within there's a lot of chemicals

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used in the garden and on the lawn. And one of

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the first things that people stopped doing because

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it was easy to cut and save hundreds of dollars

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a month, not using the herbicide, the chemlon,

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I think they call it true green now, and all

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of the different strong chemicals to make that

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golf course green lawn. And what started happening

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is in our neighborhood, all the dandelions started

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popping up, all the ground ivy, which is a beautiful

00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.519
little purple flower, clover, violets, all the

00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:41.159
little wildflowers that live in the lawn that

00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:43.460
makes for a healthier lawn, it kept it greener,

00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:47.120
longer. during the droughts of the summer, and

00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:51.019
our bees were thriving in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

00:15:51.139 --> 00:15:55.279
We had swarms. We were collecting gallons and

00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.379
gallons of honey per colony and not using treatments.

00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.399
Yes, we were planting thyme in front of the hive,

00:16:02.539 --> 00:16:04.779
the bees all around in the gardens and stuff,

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:08.950
because the bees collect the thyme. rosins, propolis,

00:16:09.090 --> 00:16:12.389
to create their own medicines for the varroa

00:16:12.389 --> 00:16:14.490
mite. And there's many different facets of it

00:16:14.490 --> 00:16:16.529
with being treatment free and having them build

00:16:16.529 --> 00:16:19.009
their own honeycomb. They start making their

00:16:19.009 --> 00:16:21.909
cell size smaller and all these different things.

00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:24.629
And also, yes, you're going to lose bees during

00:16:24.629 --> 00:16:27.049
the process because the genetics that aren't

00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:29.570
strong to survive all these different changes

00:16:29.570 --> 00:16:32.350
and stressors will fall away. And the genetics

00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:35.350
that are strong and are able to adapt will come

00:16:35.350 --> 00:16:38.110
forward. Are you a beekeeper who loves sharing

00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:41.169
tips, asking questions and showing off your latest

00:16:41.169 --> 00:16:44.269
honey haul? Then join the hive introducing the

00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:47.289
Man Lake beekeeping community on Facebook, your

00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:50.629
new go -to for everything honey bees. Whether

00:16:50.629 --> 00:16:53.750
you're struggling with mites, trying a new winterization

00:16:53.750 --> 00:16:56.870
method, or just need to know what that weird

00:16:56.870 --> 00:17:00.309
thing on your frame is, our group is a supportive,

00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:03.610
spam -free zone for beginners and pros alike.

00:17:03.870 --> 00:17:06.269
Stop scrolling through endless forums and connect

00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:08.569
directly with beekeepers and the professionals

00:17:08.569 --> 00:17:11.930
at Man Lake in one buzzing place. We'll put a

00:17:11.930 --> 00:17:14.750
link to it down in the show notes. Just click

00:17:14.750 --> 00:17:18.490
over and join up. And that's using nature's way

00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.099
instead of you know, getting in the microscope

00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:23.539
and grafting or doing all that stuff to create,

00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:25.940
you know, oh, we want this desirable trade or

00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:27.940
that desirable trade. We allowed the bees to

00:17:27.940 --> 00:17:31.420
do it because they know how to be better than

00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:35.079
we do. So that's the approach that we took and

00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:40.720
that we found success. And then in 2010, in suburbs

00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.099
of Philadelphia, the economy started coming back

00:17:43.099 --> 00:17:46.829
and people started using the true green again

00:17:46.829 --> 00:17:50.829
and spraying their trees because all these ornamental

00:17:50.829 --> 00:17:54.650
gardens are, you know, they require all these

00:17:54.650 --> 00:17:57.589
chemical intervention, which isn't necessary.

00:17:57.769 --> 00:18:00.250
But anyway, people started doing it, you know,

00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:03.589
good marketing, stronger, healthier, happier

00:18:03.589 --> 00:18:06.490
gardens and lawns that are all golf course again.

00:18:06.730 --> 00:18:10.549
And the bees could not collect enough nectar

00:18:10.549 --> 00:18:13.779
to make the comb to make the honey. or to store

00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:15.980
the honey for the winter. So we found ourselves

00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.660
scrambling, feeding our bees, which we hadn't

00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:22.680
done for quite a few years. And we were using

00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:28.259
like a tea mixture, sugar water, with this biodynamic

00:18:28.259 --> 00:18:31.240
preparation of like mint and thyme and a little

00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:34.920
sea salt and chamomile and to make it a little

00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.700
easier for the bees to digest the sugar. And

00:18:37.700 --> 00:18:40.700
we were looking at each other having this conversation

00:18:40.700 --> 00:18:43.480
about like, well, if our bees cannot survive

00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:46.619
in this situation, what makes because we've always

00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:48.640
heard the honeybees are the canary in the coal

00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.220
mine. What makes us think that this is a healthy

00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:53.140
environment for us? So that's when we kind of

00:18:53.140 --> 00:18:56.359
made the decision to move full time to Big Island,

00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.890
Hawaii. It sounds so perfect and idyllic. And

00:19:00.890 --> 00:19:03.349
it doesn't work for everybody, Kevin. No, of

00:19:03.349 --> 00:19:06.150
course not. It works as long as you're willing

00:19:06.150 --> 00:19:10.069
to take the risks and suffer the losses for the

00:19:10.069 --> 00:19:12.910
long -term gain. And that's what it is. We're

00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:14.529
looking at it long -term. We're not looking at

00:19:14.529 --> 00:19:17.269
it this year, these few months. We're looking

00:19:17.269 --> 00:19:21.150
at it intergenerationally so that the genetics

00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:24.369
of the bees is stronger. And yes, if you have

00:19:24.369 --> 00:19:27.069
thousands of colonies that you're trying to maintain

00:19:27.069 --> 00:19:30.309
with only a couple dozen employees, you cannot

00:19:30.309 --> 00:19:32.869
do it how we do it. You're also not going to

00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:35.470
get the quality of honey and wax and the strength

00:19:35.470 --> 00:19:37.990
and integrity and genetics in the bees. Because

00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:40.269
there's going to be, it's like a patchwork. We

00:19:40.269 --> 00:19:44.670
think we know, but we cannot comprehend the complexity

00:19:44.670 --> 00:19:48.109
of genetics and honeybee genetics and the flexibility

00:19:48.109 --> 00:19:50.910
and fluidity and plasticity that it has as well

00:19:50.910 --> 00:19:54.049
and its ability to adapt. So what we're working

00:19:54.049 --> 00:19:57.730
on is creating like a land race bee where we're

00:19:57.730 --> 00:19:59.779
located. Because we don't move them around, we

00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:02.339
don't do the pollination services. Yes, right

00:20:02.339 --> 00:20:05.480
now, the bee industry, it's geared towards pollination

00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:08.380
services. It's honey. How much, how many dollars

00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:11.700
a pound is the honey? It is so cheap right now.

00:20:11.819 --> 00:20:14.000
None of the commercial guys are making a living

00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.400
on honey. It doesn't work. Yeah. And then also,

00:20:17.579 --> 00:20:21.019
so then, so you have the other aspect, the agricultural

00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:23.839
aspect, the pollination services. If we were

00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.960
to work with the orchard tenders and be like,

00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:31.130
say hey you know an idea would be why don't we

00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:34.210
park these bees here we'll have some in -house

00:20:34.210 --> 00:20:37.450
beekeepers ours yours we'll train whatever and

00:20:37.450 --> 00:20:41.269
then you also have forage for the bees that you

00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:43.750
plant inter -row depending upon how it is or

00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:46.730
maybe take out a few acres of almonds to plant

00:20:46.730 --> 00:20:50.349
some mixed diverse plantings but it's it's like

00:20:50.349 --> 00:20:53.309
a it's a slippery slope because the agricultural

00:20:53.309 --> 00:20:56.279
industry is so intertwined with big big chemical,

00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:59.400
big ag, genetic engineering, genetic manipulation,

00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:02.160
all that stuff, and they don't want to turn that

00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.660
spigot off. And I get that. You know, once you

00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:07.480
do something, you create something, it's like

00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.799
we put all this time and energy in creating this

00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:13.099
product. We want to be able to sell it. We want

00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.259
to ensure that that market's there. And, however,

00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:19.819
that way of doing business is really destroying

00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:23.140
our ecosystem and destroying our bees. Like,

00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.970
70 % loss last year, across the continent, that's

00:21:26.970 --> 00:21:30.829
not sustainable. It was crazy how high it was.

00:21:31.250 --> 00:21:34.829
The initial numbers were 62%. Nobody knows exactly

00:21:34.829 --> 00:21:38.509
what it was, but it was well over a million colonies,

00:21:38.549 --> 00:21:41.190
and it may have been 70%. And in some areas,

00:21:41.269 --> 00:21:44.470
it was even higher than that. And some people

00:21:44.470 --> 00:21:47.410
were saying, some people told me in the industry,

00:21:47.950 --> 00:21:51.309
the reason it was that way is because beekeepers

00:21:51.309 --> 00:21:54.609
didn't use enough chemicals enough treatment

00:21:54.609 --> 00:21:57.710
for varroa and you're saying it's the opposite

00:21:57.710 --> 00:22:01.849
and i'm not the judge here okay i love what you

00:22:01.849 --> 00:22:03.910
guys are doing i want to play devil's advocate

00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.890
for a second because i'm sure you hear it there

00:22:06.890 --> 00:22:10.390
are some areas depending on the climate and stuff

00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:15.269
like where i am hard winters if varroa levels

00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:18.250
are hardly anything they don't make it through

00:22:18.250 --> 00:22:21.220
winter period So that's that's thing number one

00:22:21.220 --> 00:22:24.579
is can everybody do it where they live what you're

00:22:24.579 --> 00:22:28.059
doing. And thing number two that i always hear.

00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:31.960
And i don't know what stock to put in this is

00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.640
oh well if you're doing that you're sending for

00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:37.279
all bombs over to my hives and so i'm getting

00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:40.059
for all bomb by you so thanks a lot you jerk.

00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:44.440
Yeah yeah. And there's everything in between

00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:48.039
i wish we could all do it how you do it. But

00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:50.380
we don't all, we either don't all know how or

00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:54.039
we just can't where we live. What is it? So it's

00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:57.059
both of those. Well, yes, you can everywhere.

00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:00.099
However, it's going to take time. It's not, we

00:23:00.099 --> 00:23:03.700
can't do it overnight because it's taken us years

00:23:03.700 --> 00:23:06.799
and lots of losses at the beginning. And now

00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.339
our losses, we keep around 50 colonies and maybe

00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:14.279
we'll lose two a year. Our losses are really

00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:18.170
low. And that's genetics, right? That's how that's

00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:20.509
what I attribute it to. That's genetic and that's

00:23:20.509 --> 00:23:23.329
what other treatment -free beekeepers tell me.

00:23:23.349 --> 00:23:26.589
The ones that can do it are like, hey, we have

00:23:26.589 --> 00:23:29.309
bred for this. The ones that can't deal with

00:23:29.309 --> 00:23:33.789
it, they die. That's okay to us. It's hard. It's

00:23:33.789 --> 00:23:36.809
still hard to lose a beehive. Sure it is because

00:23:36.809 --> 00:23:40.109
we feel responsible because we're the beekeepers

00:23:40.109 --> 00:23:44.059
even though out there, you know, in the forest,

00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:47.000
that's exactly what's going to happen. The survival

00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:50.500
of the fittest kind of thing. And I couldn't

00:23:50.500 --> 00:23:53.180
imagine how hard it would be being a larger beekeeper,

00:23:53.339 --> 00:23:55.680
having thousands, managing thousands of colonies

00:23:55.680 --> 00:24:00.140
and losing half of them. It's like so difficult.

00:24:00.619 --> 00:24:03.099
Sleepless nights, I imagine. So one of the things

00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:06.160
I think that not only the genetics, not only

00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:08.140
are we allowing them to build their own honeycomb,

00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:10.839
which shrinks, they start making a smaller cell

00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:13.529
size. shrinks the honeybee just a little bit,

00:24:13.529 --> 00:24:15.650
just a little bit smaller of a gestation period,

00:24:15.829 --> 00:24:18.549
smaller, a little feistier bee. That part is

00:24:18.549 --> 00:24:21.009
great, that part is what we have control over,

00:24:21.450 --> 00:24:23.589
and but we're on a tiny little quarter acre,

00:24:23.690 --> 00:24:25.849
but we're surrounded by thousands of acres of

00:24:25.849 --> 00:24:28.990
open space. That's not, it used to be old pasture

00:24:28.990 --> 00:24:31.950
land that's kind of been gone back to forest,

00:24:32.190 --> 00:24:34.450
and it's like Christmas berry, which is an introduced

00:24:34.450 --> 00:24:37.470
species, and as well as something they call hollycoa,

00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:40.299
which is another introduced species. But because

00:24:40.299 --> 00:24:44.039
we have all of this open space that's not treated

00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:47.240
by that many chemicals and we have an abundant

00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:49.839
amount of forage through many seasons throughout

00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:54.160
the year, our bees have the food stock that they

00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:57.759
need to thrive and they have the diversity. to

00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.839
enable themselves to get the different types

00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:02.940
of rosins, the propolis, and the different pollens

00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:07.559
to give them a good, healthy, diverse diet. It's

00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:09.940
like you think about the diet of a person. You

00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:12.319
want to have, you know, a healthy diet, well

00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:14.440
-balanced, all that stuff. We want the same thing

00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:18.160
for a bee. So when you have bees eating in monocultures,

00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:20.579
they're not getting a diverse diet. And then

00:25:20.579 --> 00:25:22.799
when you're feeding them on top of that, it's

00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.099
like eating you know popcorn is your main diet

00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:29.640
and then drinking soda and french fries and that's

00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:34.019
your that's what you got and that's big ag unfortunately

00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:36.740
and also in a lot of these different areas we

00:25:36.740 --> 00:25:40.660
have changed the ecosystem across the country

00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:44.700
by cutting down forests or raising prairies you

00:25:44.700 --> 00:25:47.099
know plowing all that stuff and not allowing

00:25:47.630 --> 00:25:52.109
for the natural cycles to balance and regulate

00:25:52.109 --> 00:25:55.769
and offer a diverse amount of forage for all

00:25:55.769 --> 00:25:58.809
throughout the year. And a lot of other regenerative

00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:00.309
beekeepers are starting to, I mean, not just

00:26:00.309 --> 00:26:04.450
beekeepers, sorry, land tenders, farmers, they're

00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:06.910
starting to not till the land. They're starting

00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:12.940
to allow the ecosystem to develop. and they're

00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:15.660
preventing soil erosion. And what that does for

00:26:15.660 --> 00:26:18.200
beekeepers is it creates all those wildflower

00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:21.180
habitat. So the bees are going to have the opportunity

00:26:21.180 --> 00:26:24.539
to have more diverse food. So you have those

00:26:24.539 --> 00:26:26.599
two things go hand in hand, allowing the bees

00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.380
to kind of do what they do best is them, be them.

00:26:30.970 --> 00:26:33.910
and then ensure that we have a diverse, healthy

00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:37.289
ecosystem for the bees to forage. Once you have

00:26:37.289 --> 00:26:39.630
both of those, and that's what we have here in

00:26:39.630 --> 00:26:43.329
Hawaii, then you can do the natural beekeeping,

00:26:43.450 --> 00:26:45.210
allow them to build their own honeycomb. And

00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:49.089
I did want to talk some transitional tips and

00:26:49.089 --> 00:26:53.660
ideas. When you just go like you want to okay,

00:26:53.660 --> 00:26:56.460
I'm gonna be tremendously foundational foundationless

00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:59.819
rather the bees because over multi -generations

00:26:59.819 --> 00:27:02.099
They've always been given this foundation. They

00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:05.660
kind of Forget how to build like parallel and

00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:08.559
all that stuff when you have a swarm though There's

00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.099
something unique and we don't collect swarms

00:27:11.099 --> 00:27:14.799
as a different story, but we used to when you

00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:18.099
have a swarm they for some reason are able they

00:27:18.099 --> 00:27:21.319
it's like when they swarm something resets when

00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:23.900
they come back you catch them or or you know

00:27:23.900 --> 00:27:26.720
you put them in a box and we do use Langstroth

00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.640
boxes with uh but we call it top bar methods

00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:32.279
sometimes we have the full frame sometimes just

00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:35.259
the top bar sometimes the top and just the sides

00:27:35.259 --> 00:27:39.579
deep boxes medium boxes both deeps and mediums

00:27:39.579 --> 00:27:42.259
uh deeps for the brood we try to do two deep

00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:44.980
brood uh chambers and then we'll build depending

00:27:44.980 --> 00:27:49.779
upon the year and the age and vigor of the colony

00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:53.079
will put, will build small boxes on them. And

00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:55.400
that too, like we allow the bees to take their

00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:58.440
own pace. Some bees will, and we do walk away

00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:01.079
splits, but I want to get back to the comb building.

00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.119
If you're starting with a managed colony that's,

00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:06.119
that you already have the foundation in there,

00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:10.240
you can start in the super by doing like every

00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:14.470
other frame, one foundation. one empty that way

00:28:14.470 --> 00:28:17.630
they have that like straight like avenue to build

00:28:17.630 --> 00:28:20.470
in and if they start building in an arch which

00:28:20.470 --> 00:28:23.250
they they like to you can like turn them around

00:28:23.250 --> 00:28:25.509
so that they'll straighten it back out and you

00:28:25.509 --> 00:28:28.109
get a little snake in there and also they love

00:28:28.109 --> 00:28:31.369
facing southeast or south southeast and they

00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:35.009
need to be level because if you have it's it's

00:28:35.009 --> 00:28:38.130
crooked the bees build they festoon they hold

00:28:38.130 --> 00:28:42.339
from the top and they build And they use gravity,

00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.720
like law of chains or something, where they will

00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:48.059
build that comb. And if it's at an angle, that

00:28:48.059 --> 00:28:50.160
comb will come down at an angle, so that's important

00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:52.539
to be level. Also, just keep an eye if you do

00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:55.779
want parallel frames to flip them back and forth.

00:28:55.819 --> 00:28:58.579
And then you can get into the brew chamber. You

00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:01.799
can take the honey frames from the top that they

00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:04.259
built and put them on the sides. And you can

00:29:04.259 --> 00:29:06.519
take out maybe one or two frames in there and

00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:08.779
do the same thing, allow them to build. they're

00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:11.079
generally on a when they're on the nectar flow

00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:13.839
they'll build that out real quick with within

00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:16.039
a day or two and the bee and the queen will will

00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:18.380
be laying in there shortly and you can always

00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:22.140
do that when you're calling for pollen or or

00:29:22.140 --> 00:29:24.819
make sure that the the brew chamber is not honey

00:29:24.819 --> 00:29:29.160
bound and things like that okay so patients be

00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:32.579
willing to let some bees die guess what a lot

00:29:32.579 --> 00:29:34.779
of people's bees die even if they're not willing

00:29:34.779 --> 00:29:37.759
to let them die so is it really that different

00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:40.039
The fact that you're willing to let them swarm

00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:41.980
I think is a big deal too because you've got

00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:46.019
brute breaks. It's not like you guys are just

00:29:46.019 --> 00:29:48.359
lazy and doing nothing. You're actually doing

00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:50.900
a lot. It just doesn't happen to be chemical

00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:53.579
treatment. A lot of monitoring, a lot of just

00:29:53.579 --> 00:29:56.039
seeing where the bees are. you know, if they're

00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:00.359
starting to separate doing the queen cell building,

00:30:00.619 --> 00:30:02.640
we'll let them do that. And we let them, we stopped

00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.359
collecting swarms for two reasons. In Hawaii,

00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:07.000
when the small hive beetle and varroa mite got

00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:10.519
here, the county decided that they wanted to

00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:13.619
kill all of the feral colonies and the trees

00:30:13.619 --> 00:30:15.059
and the caves because they thought there would

00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:17.779
be vectors spreading varroa mite and small hive

00:30:17.779 --> 00:30:20.039
beetles. So they destroyed a lot of the feral.

00:30:20.170 --> 00:30:23.009
stock that the queen beaters were kind of depending

00:30:23.009 --> 00:30:25.309
upon that they didn't realize for their genetics

00:30:25.309 --> 00:30:27.650
because the the virgin queen will go out and

00:30:27.650 --> 00:30:30.170
then she'll mate with all the drones not just

00:30:30.170 --> 00:30:33.269
the managed drones but the feral drones as well

00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:35.250
and that brings some good and genetic integrity

00:30:35.250 --> 00:30:38.130
but when you have you know that that bottleneck

00:30:38.130 --> 00:30:41.509
it doesn't allow that so we're allowing the um

00:30:41.509 --> 00:30:45.529
the swarms to fly to repopulate the area again

00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:48.440
to create those feral colonies that are essential.

00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.160
And then another reason we don't collect swarms

00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:54.160
is because when we started collecting swarms,

00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:57.279
or we're collecting swarms, and then we noticed

00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:00.980
there was this tendency where they weren't swarms.

00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:04.339
They looked like swarms, but they were abscantions.

00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:08.859
And that's a colony because a small high beetle

00:31:08.859 --> 00:31:11.339
got in there, slimed them out, they flew away,

00:31:11.339 --> 00:31:14.059
and they were looking for a new home. but they're

00:31:14.059 --> 00:31:17.400
not swarms, so when you grab them, when you collect

00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:21.880
them and put them in a box, when you collect

00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:24.180
them and put them in a box, they weren't having

00:31:24.180 --> 00:31:26.440
that, there was just this chaos, they didn't

00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.039
have, they weren't building, they were in this

00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:30.140
like panic mode, and then they would fly away

00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:32.660
again. And so that's when we stopped collecting

00:31:32.660 --> 00:31:34.500
swarms, because we don't know, we would go through

00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:36.279
all this trouble, you know, put up the ladder,

00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:39.980
climb, and you know, collect and take a few hours

00:31:39.980 --> 00:31:42.099
and all this time, and then they continue to

00:31:42.099 --> 00:31:45.509
fly away. So we just decided to let them, let

00:31:45.509 --> 00:31:48.529
them be. And to do, we multiply our colonies

00:31:48.529 --> 00:31:51.309
through what we call walkaway splits. So we'll

00:31:51.309 --> 00:31:54.450
take three frames of the three stages of brood,

00:31:55.130 --> 00:31:57.890
egg, egg larva and cat brood, and then a couple

00:31:57.890 --> 00:32:01.029
frames of honey. And then we'll, sometimes the

00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:03.190
queen comes with them. Sometimes she doesn't.

00:32:03.190 --> 00:32:07.069
We're not always that good at making sure we

00:32:07.069 --> 00:32:09.190
know where the queen is when we do this, which

00:32:09.190 --> 00:32:12.369
in which case. if we do bring the queen with

00:32:12.369 --> 00:32:14.210
us, then it gives a brood break for the larger

00:32:14.210 --> 00:32:18.650
colony, and then it creates a very vigorous new,

00:32:18.650 --> 00:32:21.069
what do you call it? New nuke, new colony. Yeah,

00:32:21.109 --> 00:32:24.490
new colony. I mean, a walk away split, it could

00:32:24.490 --> 00:32:27.269
be either side. Yeah. Right? It could be either

00:32:27.269 --> 00:32:29.529
the side you left or the side that you took and

00:32:29.529 --> 00:32:33.849
moved. In fact, in a regular swarm, the queen

00:32:33.849 --> 00:32:37.920
is going to leave. Yeah. So, I think it's funny

00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:41.039
that people think a walk -away split should never

00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:44.059
have a queen in it or any kind of split for that

00:32:44.059 --> 00:32:45.859
matter should never have the original queen.

00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:49.920
I'm like okay once again we're not working how

00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:52.359
the beans work for some reason because we know

00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:54.759
better. Anyway let's shift gears for a minute

00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:57.680
before we run out of time here. Tell me about

00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:00.279
farmers markets and a little bit about your business

00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:02.839
because I think there are a lot of beekeepers

00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:06.160
that are Sideliners or hobbyists that maybe want

00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.799
to move up to sideline or want to learn how to

00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:11.980
make a few bucks doing what they love and They

00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:14.579
know about farmers markets, but what advice do

00:33:14.579 --> 00:33:17.259
you have for them? How did what work good? Yeah

00:33:17.259 --> 00:33:19.440
before I answer that question. I do wanted to

00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:23.119
touch base real quick on the the mite bomb, small

00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.599
hive beetle bomb that you mentioned about treatment

00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:27.859
-free beekeepers, because that was really a big

00:33:27.859 --> 00:33:29.240
thing. We were getting a lot of that feedback

00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:31.039
when we started telling other beekeepers, oh,

00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:32.859
we're going to be doing this treatment -free.

00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:35.460
And they were telling us that exact thing. Oh,

00:33:35.500 --> 00:33:38.119
you're going to be reeling our bees and all that.

00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:41.799
And cut to eight years later in Hawaii Island,

00:33:42.059 --> 00:33:43.680
all the queen breeders, they've kind of tried

00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:45.720
to move down here. And even though it's not working

00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:47.500
out for them, it's really windy, hard to breed

00:33:47.500 --> 00:33:50.549
queens down here. they're asking us for our genetics.

00:33:50.690 --> 00:33:54.730
They're like, can we have a few drones? So the

00:33:54.730 --> 00:33:57.630
opposite has happened over time. Well, and you're

00:33:57.630 --> 00:34:00.650
also in an area where there's not a lot of other

00:34:00.650 --> 00:34:03.430
beekeepers right around you that you're going

00:34:03.430 --> 00:34:06.529
to be mite bombing if that indeed is a thing.

00:34:07.329 --> 00:34:09.750
So the opposite has happened. Actually, we find

00:34:09.750 --> 00:34:12.349
that when the migratory beekeepers move in, the

00:34:12.349 --> 00:34:15.650
mite count and the small high beetle count skyrockets.

00:34:15.750 --> 00:34:18.409
And that's kind of like the washing time, like

00:34:18.409 --> 00:34:22.309
when that happens, the strong genetics really

00:34:22.309 --> 00:34:25.429
shows and the weak genetics falls away. So, but

00:34:25.429 --> 00:34:28.150
luckily our bees aren't having much fall away

00:34:28.150 --> 00:34:31.269
anymore. And then, so yeah, to speak to farmers

00:34:31.269 --> 00:34:34.989
markets, it's such a great way to connect with

00:34:34.989 --> 00:34:37.710
your community. It's a great way to let people

00:34:37.710 --> 00:34:41.489
know. that you're there, that you want a healthy

00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:44.969
ecosystem, and that it's all of our responsibility

00:34:44.969 --> 00:34:47.969
to ensure that we have a healthy ecosystem. And

00:34:47.969 --> 00:34:51.489
the nicer that you keep your property, the cleaner

00:34:51.489 --> 00:34:53.449
and purer your beeswax and honey is going to

00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:55.550
be for our skincare products and what have you.

00:34:55.849 --> 00:34:58.489
So that's one way, a great way to interact with

00:34:58.489 --> 00:35:01.510
the community. And different products we do,

00:35:01.590 --> 00:35:03.710
you know, the beeswax, we make a lot of skincare

00:35:03.710 --> 00:35:07.429
products with it. We find that skincare, we get

00:35:07.429 --> 00:35:10.460
better bang for the buck for making our own salves

00:35:10.460 --> 00:35:13.320
and balms. And we use all organic ingredients,

00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:16.519
our beeswax. And because every time we're harvesting

00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:19.619
our honey, we're cutting out the honeycomb. And

00:35:19.619 --> 00:35:22.400
we're literally crushing it, straining it, letting

00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:27.280
the gravity pull it out. And then... Pressing

00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:30.039
it a little bit and then we wash that wax with

00:35:30.039 --> 00:35:32.639
that water We make June for ourselves to drink

00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:35.340
and and share with our friends We don't sell

00:35:35.340 --> 00:35:38.579
that just yet And we also make vinegar honey

00:35:38.579 --> 00:35:42.280
vinegars from that and then we with the beeswax

00:35:42.280 --> 00:35:44.639
We make the skincare products and we do you know

00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:48.119
cold infusions and or heat infusions of different

00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:51.809
herbs and botanicals We grow a lot and we basically

00:35:51.809 --> 00:35:54.929
replaced our medicine cabinet with all of the

00:35:54.929 --> 00:35:57.769
different salves and balms that we make from

00:35:57.769 --> 00:36:00.489
bath body beauty care, you know, age -defying

00:36:00.489 --> 00:36:03.369
salves, long -lasting deodorants, pain relievers,

00:36:03.489 --> 00:36:06.650
and that's all from different flowers, botanicals,

00:36:06.929 --> 00:36:10.190
and some minerals like zinc and stuff like that.

00:36:10.670 --> 00:36:13.550
Basically, you start small. We started with two

00:36:13.550 --> 00:36:15.809
salves and we were doing candles. You know, we

00:36:15.809 --> 00:36:18.429
were pouring our own foundation and rolling them.

00:36:18.570 --> 00:36:21.690
That's very time -consuming, but you know you

00:36:21.690 --> 00:36:25.510
put your Value yourself value your time and the

00:36:25.510 --> 00:36:28.010
community values you your time and your products

00:36:28.010 --> 00:36:31.610
too, and they actually work. It's the same We're

00:36:31.610 --> 00:36:34.610
you know working with arnica and cayenne and

00:36:34.610 --> 00:36:38.230
calendula Come free these are herbs chamomile

00:36:38.230 --> 00:36:40.429
that we've been people have been using and are

00:36:40.429 --> 00:36:43.869
relatively familiar with and they work Instead

00:36:43.869 --> 00:36:47.449
of using things that are synthesized from the

00:36:47.449 --> 00:36:50.849
drugstore we can use the herbs and botanicals

00:36:50.849 --> 00:36:53.730
that, you know, have stood the test of time.

00:36:54.090 --> 00:36:55.750
This is what our great -grandparents were using.

00:36:56.150 --> 00:36:59.230
And people, there's like an attractiveness to

00:36:59.230 --> 00:37:01.329
that again. Because there's this big, you know,

00:37:01.530 --> 00:37:05.469
AI and data center and all this smart technology.

00:37:05.889 --> 00:37:08.429
It's creating this big disconnect that we have.

00:37:08.750 --> 00:37:10.670
You know, right now we're actually having this

00:37:10.670 --> 00:37:13.050
conversation on a smarty -phone, you know, visi

00:37:13.050 --> 00:37:17.170
-phone instead of in person. And that's where

00:37:17.170 --> 00:37:20.659
I think Farmer's Markets kind of puts that personal

00:37:20.659 --> 00:37:23.900
touch back onto it. And it gives so much more

00:37:23.900 --> 00:37:26.000
value when you actually know the person that's

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:28.679
making your products and keeping your bees and

00:37:28.679 --> 00:37:30.380
where they're keeping them and what they're doing.

00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:32.960
And it's just exciting. You know what I mean?

00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:35.039
People like you who are also really interested

00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:38.500
in honey bees. That's awesome. And I just want

00:37:38.500 --> 00:37:40.840
to add one thing about the Farmer's Markets.

00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:43.900
And that is if someone listening is not a beekeeper

00:37:43.900 --> 00:37:48.019
yet, please Don't don't go get your honey at

00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:51.320
the grocery store. Go to the local farmers market

00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:54.019
where you can talk to the beekeeper. You can

00:37:54.019 --> 00:37:57.280
ask questions. What kinds of what kinds of chemicals

00:37:57.280 --> 00:38:00.719
are you using? What are the bees feeding on?

00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:02.980
You can ask them any kinds of questions that

00:38:02.980 --> 00:38:05.820
you want. Feel very comfortable about what you're

00:38:05.820 --> 00:38:09.139
doing and you're going to learn something. Beekeepers

00:38:09.139 --> 00:38:12.639
are so good at sharing information. You know,

00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:16.039
I could probably say, hey, Kevin, why do you

00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:18.719
put propolis in this one salve? And I'll bet

00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:21.300
you could go on for 20 minutes telling me why

00:38:21.300 --> 00:38:24.940
and it would be good stuff. Yeah. So that's an

00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:28.199
encouragement as well. And hey, you know, I mean,

00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:32.300
I don't want this to sound. to sound too capitalistic,

00:38:32.300 --> 00:38:35.039
but you're also making top dollar at those farmers

00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:38.199
markets because there's no middleman. It's just

00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:42.179
you straight there at hopefully a good full retail

00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:46.519
fair price. And that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And

00:38:46.519 --> 00:38:49.059
people appreciate that. They'd rather pay good

00:38:49.059 --> 00:38:51.880
money to somebody in their community than pay

00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:55.239
it to a big company that's, you know, brought

00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:57.900
it in from China. You know, no offense to China,

00:38:57.900 --> 00:38:59.800
but I mean, like they're getting beat up, right?

00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:05.400
Well, but that's a generic. A lot of the honey

00:39:05.400 --> 00:39:09.219
that you're buying in the supermarket comes from

00:39:09.219 --> 00:39:13.139
out of the country. And frankly, the technology

00:39:13.139 --> 00:39:17.760
is not there yet to know what all is in it. They're

00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.739
finding a lot of stuff is cut with high fructose

00:39:22.739 --> 00:39:26.199
corn syrup with, you know, additives like that

00:39:26.199 --> 00:39:29.500
that are super, super cheap. And so it's really

00:39:29.500 --> 00:39:33.800
cheap. And that's the other reason why for beekeepers,

00:39:33.820 --> 00:39:36.920
it's so hard to make money selling honey. Well,

00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.219
that's why we charge top dollar, you know, completely

00:39:40.219 --> 00:39:43.719
honest, $45 for a pint of honey is what we charge

00:39:43.719 --> 00:39:47.579
and $50 if we put the comb in there. And that's

00:39:47.579 --> 00:39:50.159
a reflection of the time and energy that it's

00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:53.000
taken over a couple decades to figure this out.

00:39:53.260 --> 00:39:56.039
and also that creates that higher quality product

00:39:56.039 --> 00:39:58.699
and you can taste the difference and also speaking

00:39:58.699 --> 00:40:01.360
to like if you are conventional or if you're

00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:04.599
in transition or even organic standards which

00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:07.780
can use plastic foundation and use some treatments

00:40:07.780 --> 00:40:11.739
even if you are those beekeepers it's still awesome

00:40:11.739 --> 00:40:14.639
to offer that honey i'm not saying it's it's

00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:17.219
it's not worth offering to the community. It's

00:40:17.219 --> 00:40:20.019
excellent. It's better honey than what you're

00:40:20.019 --> 00:40:22.219
just saying. It's better honey than what you

00:40:22.219 --> 00:40:25.000
can get at the grocery store. And you can talk

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:26.920
to the people about their seasonal allergies,

00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:29.260
what time of season do they have it, and then

00:40:29.260 --> 00:40:31.940
you have the honey. You have the cure for them,

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:34.619
the medicine for them. And also, honey's been

00:40:34.619 --> 00:40:38.300
shown to kill staph, you know, the MRSA. Like,

00:40:38.340 --> 00:40:41.920
it's better than some antibiotics. And propolis

00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:45.119
kills COVID. You know, it's like, it's been proven.

00:40:45.460 --> 00:40:47.260
There's scientists, there's studies out there

00:40:47.260 --> 00:40:50.460
that show these things. And this is, instead

00:40:50.460 --> 00:40:53.280
of using these crazy chemicals on us too, we

00:40:53.280 --> 00:40:55.139
can use the medicine that the bees are using,

00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:57.980
and the bees are collecting. It's excellent,

00:40:57.980 --> 00:41:00.639
it's amazing. We've done a couple episodes on

00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:05.079
everything apotherapy. From bee stings, to propolis,

00:41:05.579 --> 00:41:09.659
to a lot of this other stuff, and I'm all for

00:41:09.659 --> 00:41:12.000
experimenting on myself with all this, and I

00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:16.579
do. and I'll tell you what I had a bad burn on

00:41:16.579 --> 00:41:18.639
my arm a couple of months ago just from hitting

00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.340
the side of the oven you know because I'm really

00:41:21.340 --> 00:41:26.059
good at that kind of stuff and and oddly it just

00:41:26.059 --> 00:41:29.059
wasn't healing it just was was deep and kind

00:41:29.059 --> 00:41:33.679
of bad and after a few days I'm like I'm just

00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:37.179
gonna put some of our good raw honey right on

00:41:37.179 --> 00:41:40.909
this and I was thinking maybe i should do propolis

00:41:40.909 --> 00:41:42.929
i don't happen to have any around here i'm going

00:41:42.929 --> 00:41:45.309
to just throw honey right on it put a big band

00:41:45.309 --> 00:41:48.150
-aid over it so it's not getting everything sticky

00:41:48.150 --> 00:41:53.929
yeah two days later unbelievable recovery this

00:41:53.929 --> 00:41:57.650
whole thing had closed off and was almost completely

00:41:57.650 --> 00:42:01.010
healed and this is not us legally not giving

00:42:01.010 --> 00:42:04.550
any medical advice of course these are our experiences

00:42:04.550 --> 00:42:06.869
we're not telling you no these are our personal

00:42:06.869 --> 00:42:10.650
experiences but it's amazing and and i do do

00:42:10.650 --> 00:42:13.769
some bee stings for some things too and love

00:42:13.769 --> 00:42:19.010
it and um i would encourage people to to if you

00:42:19.010 --> 00:42:21.690
feel like experimenting with some of that beekeepers

00:42:21.690 --> 00:42:24.489
out there go for it everything in the hive is

00:42:24.489 --> 00:42:28.110
good for you except maybe small hive beetles

00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:31.880
but that's not from the bees I haven't heard

00:42:31.880 --> 00:42:34.059
of any tincture for that yet. Hey, we're running

00:42:34.059 --> 00:42:38.000
out of time. Kevin, I have to give you a chance

00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:41.099
to tell us one of your favorite wild and crazy

00:42:41.099 --> 00:42:43.260
beekeeping stories. Have you thought of anything?

00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.760
Well, fascinating, the kind of a highlight of

00:42:47.760 --> 00:42:51.300
my beekeeping career was, so we go to Molokai

00:42:51.300 --> 00:42:54.519
as well. It's a beautiful small island, a couple

00:42:54.519 --> 00:42:57.639
islands north of us. And Novoroamite's there.

00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:00.440
No, exactly. There's no beekeeping industry.

00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:03.559
It's very small, like home backyard type stuff,

00:43:03.599 --> 00:43:06.039
as well as a massive amount of feral colonies.

00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:09.019
There was, and a lot of, you know, because of

00:43:09.019 --> 00:43:11.079
that, you're going to get a lot of extractions

00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:14.179
from structures and what have you. And so we

00:43:14.179 --> 00:43:16.320
were called, we were asked, and this is, you

00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:18.320
know, we normally don't do this, but they asked

00:43:18.320 --> 00:43:22.280
us to help them remove a colony from a church,

00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:25.679
a small wooden church that was built by St. Damien.

00:43:28.029 --> 00:43:30.309
Exactly. Well, the church was not there. The

00:43:30.309 --> 00:43:32.630
church was up on the top side, they call it.

00:43:32.929 --> 00:43:34.710
But he had built the church there. But yeah,

00:43:34.829 --> 00:43:39.150
he'd ministered to the lepers in, or sorry, the

00:43:39.150 --> 00:43:43.630
afflicted in Kalapapa. And he had come up and

00:43:43.630 --> 00:43:46.750
he built this wooden church in like the 1800s.

00:43:46.869 --> 00:43:49.070
It was a double wall construction. So the bees

00:43:49.070 --> 00:43:52.829
had built a colony in there and we worked with

00:43:52.829 --> 00:43:57.030
some carpenters who removed the wood and and

00:43:57.030 --> 00:44:00.489
we extracted the colony from there and re you

00:44:00.489 --> 00:44:05.210
know put it into boxes and and relocated it and

00:44:05.210 --> 00:44:07.989
then sealed it up and that was amazing that was

00:44:07.989 --> 00:44:10.750
like an ethereal experience with the bees and

00:44:10.750 --> 00:44:13.329
in the church with the history of this ancient

00:44:13.329 --> 00:44:16.530
structure yeah that was that was just fascinating

00:44:16.530 --> 00:44:19.530
and then otherwise kind of more of a funny story

00:44:19.530 --> 00:44:24.280
I I still am afraid of getting stung Right, honeybees?

00:44:25.219 --> 00:44:27.400
It's like, I think, I don't know if it's just

00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:31.400
me, but it's still, it hurts a lot. You know,

00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:33.400
it's like a burn. It's like a hot needle and

00:44:33.400 --> 00:44:35.719
it radiates for me. So it's like, I don't know

00:44:35.719 --> 00:44:38.199
if I'm just working it up. So anytime I do get

00:44:38.199 --> 00:44:40.719
stung, I, you know, kind of, I don't cry like

00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:44.199
a little baby, but I quickly move away. But you

00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:50.079
scream like a little girl. Yes. So it's yeah,

00:44:50.119 --> 00:44:52.739
I do not like getting stung between the pain

00:44:52.739 --> 00:44:56.139
and then also the loss of you know, the B hits

00:44:56.139 --> 00:44:59.480
Yeah, it's all only cuz the loss of the B. Hey,

00:44:59.679 --> 00:45:03.460
you're human and And this is built into our DNA

00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:06.900
and that's why the first time that you do a sting

00:45:06.900 --> 00:45:10.639
on purpose to treat something I've never done

00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:13.260
that. It must be a different experience. I'm

00:45:13.260 --> 00:45:16.309
gonna come to your place and show you how It's

00:45:16.309 --> 00:45:19.650
a different experience. It is so hard to do the

00:45:19.650 --> 00:45:22.650
first time because everything in your DNA is

00:45:22.650 --> 00:45:25.969
saying no, no, no, no, no, no. And you have to

00:45:25.969 --> 00:45:30.590
overcome that. It's crazy hard. It gets easier,

00:45:31.329 --> 00:45:35.019
but it's really hard the first time. to do a

00:45:35.019 --> 00:45:37.820
self inflicted. Hey, Kevin, we could talk for

00:45:37.820 --> 00:45:40.619
hours. I'm going to put your website down in

00:45:40.619 --> 00:45:42.860
the show notes in case people want to find you

00:45:42.860 --> 00:45:46.139
or reach out to you or order anything from you,

00:45:46.260 --> 00:45:48.679
which I would highly encourage the area that

00:45:48.679 --> 00:45:50.579
your bees are in. I've been down to that area.

00:45:51.139 --> 00:45:54.539
It's absolutely beautiful. It is so green. It's

00:45:54.539 --> 00:45:57.599
kind of what you picture of Hawaii. It's just

00:45:57.599 --> 00:46:00.420
green. It's not like this green desert behind

00:46:00.420 --> 00:46:04.480
me, which Has no bees by the way because who

00:46:04.480 --> 00:46:07.420
knows what all chemicals they use out there But

00:46:07.420 --> 00:46:10.400
I'm gonna give you the last word just one last

00:46:10.400 --> 00:46:13.360
piece of advice or why you just love beekeeping

00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:16.659
I love beekeeping because you never know what

00:46:16.659 --> 00:46:18.840
you're gonna get each seasons different each

00:46:18.840 --> 00:46:21.760
harvest is different and also have faith in the

00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:24.840
miraculous You know the honeybees they have been

00:46:24.840 --> 00:46:27.460
here for tens of millions of years They're gonna

00:46:27.460 --> 00:46:31.119
work it through this this little blip on there

00:46:31.070 --> 00:46:34.030
genetic radar, the quicker that we come together

00:46:34.030 --> 00:46:37.989
as a community to overcome this, you know, kind

00:46:37.989 --> 00:46:39.909
of self -inflicted wound because we're creating

00:46:39.909 --> 00:46:43.670
the problem that we can solve. And we can solve

00:46:43.670 --> 00:46:46.429
it through beekeeping and coming together and

00:46:46.429 --> 00:46:49.230
appreciating the natural flow and ebb and flow

00:46:49.230 --> 00:46:52.289
of nature and the beautiful world that we're

00:46:52.289 --> 00:46:55.869
so lucky to be part of. Beautiful. Mahalo, my

00:46:55.869 --> 00:47:02.059
friend. Thank you. Aloha. Thanks for joining

00:47:02.059 --> 00:47:05.119
us on Be Love Beekeeping presented by Man Lake.

00:47:05.599 --> 00:47:07.659
If you like this content I hope you'll share

00:47:07.659 --> 00:47:10.519
it with a friend, follow and subscribe to this

00:47:10.519 --> 00:47:13.880
podcast and even sign up for our newsletter at

00:47:13.880 --> 00:47:16.949
BeLoveBeekeeping .com Also, just a shout out

00:47:16.949 --> 00:47:19.510
to Vita B Health for their support, we appreciate

00:47:19.510 --> 00:47:22.530
them. Vita's Varroa control range of products

00:47:22.530 --> 00:47:26.750
includes Apistan, Apigard, and now Veroxen, extended

00:47:26.750 --> 00:47:30.690
release oxalic acid strips. Thanks guys, and

00:47:30.690 --> 00:47:33.150
remember, if you're not just in it for the honey

00:47:33.150 --> 00:47:36.150
or the money, you're in it for the love. See

00:47:36.150 --> 00:47:36.889
you next week.