Beekeeper Confidential | Bees & Beekeeping

Today’s guest has dedicated his life to rewilding the honeybee population. He touches on aspects of our lives with bees that are too frequently overlooked by the industry: heart & soul, birth-rights, ethical and moral standards that place the needs of bees above the commodity of honey. Because of his efforts, there is now a movement to reintroduce honeybees into wild nest cavities, a rehabilitation to bring bees back to nature. Through this gesture in honoring the identity of apis mellifera, he hopes to refocus how the global community looks at our lives with honey bees. In this episode, we are taken on a journey that Mandy hopes will bring you as much joy as it has brought her, and a new lens to look through. Meet Michael Thiele!

For More on Michael's work and notes from today’s show, visit Mandy's blog at waggleworkspdx.com

Today’s guest is a beekeeper who caught Mandy's eye on social media because of her delight in swarm catching, queen rearing, and sharing educational bee info with a sense of humor. She is just as funny and smart on the phone as she is online! They talk about Mandy's favorite obsession - drumming bees - swarms and bait hives, skep hives, the 24/7 hustle of the life of a queen breeder, natural beekeeping, bloopers, and how amphibians can mess you up.

For More on Tucka's work and notes from today’s show, visit Mandy's blog at waggleworkspdx.com

Today’s guest is a passionate educator, bee removal expert, and bee priestess. Since 2012, Beelieve Hawaii’s founder Jasmine Joy has been sharing her love and compassion for bees and pollinators through saving bee colonies from extermination, developing habitat restoration, and creating a sacred space for children to come and learn and explore the world of bees. Her contributions to the bee community are profoundly beautiful and significant and it was such a delight for Mandy to spend an evening cozied up in her studio with a glass of prosecco listening to Jasmine's wisdom and enjoying the surprise thunderstorm that moved over during their conversation. 

For More on Jasmine's work and notes from today’s show, visit Mandy's blog at waggleworkspdx.com

Mandy has been sitting on this recording since September 2018. She was worried about the quality of the audio, so she locked it away in the vault… Until now. This was the 3rd interview that she ever recorded for the show and needless to say it was (and still is) a very very big deal. Mandy had the opportunity to spend some time with our guest in her backyard apiary so you’ll hear cars and crows and airplanes in the background. But more importantly, you’ll get to hear a candid conversation with the author of Honeybee Ecology, Wisdom of the Hive, Following the Wild Bees, Honeybee Democracy, and his latest book The Lives of Bees. It is an absolute privilege to share highlights of her conversation with Dr. Thomas Seeley!

For More on Dr. Seeley’s and notes from today’s show, visit Mandy's blog at waggleworkspdx.com

Mandy met today’s guest last September at a seminar taught by Tom Seeley. He had built a bee catching box, much like the one described in Dr. Seeley’s book, Following the Wild Bees. They got to talking and she ended up inviting him to come and speak to Portland Urban Beekeepers about his experience using Seeley’s methods for finding wild (and kept colonies), and while he was in town they got together in a pancake house parking lot to talk about bee hunting, topo maps, turn tables, and rebellious bees. Meet the president of the North Olympic Peninsula Beekeepers Association, Rex Roberton!

To learn more about Rex and the art of bee hunting subscribe to his YouTube channel called WildProject. It is loaded with videos that demonstrate the processes that we talked about today.  

This episode is a 30 minute recording taken from inside of one of Mandy's hives. It can be used during meditation, as white noise, or to listen to as you fall asleep... Or to scare your friends who aren't so keen on bees. Your choice!

This interview was months in the making. Mandy made her first request for an interview via Instagram while at a cocktail party… let’s just say she was feeling courageous. She officially booked it in February and then recorded it from her apiary on May 6th. On the day of the interview, she was minutes away from receiving the guests phone call when a swarm call came in. She didn’t answer it, obviously, but they also sent a text with photos that she received during the interview and it was a PRIME swarm right in her neighborhood, right near a patch of known bee trees, hanging from a tree at eye level. Holy smokes. SO, not only did she get to have an EPIC conversation with today's guest, she also got to go and collect and EPIC swarm right afterwards. It was an amazing day! He’s a scientist who shocked the bee world when he tested and proved what Varroa mites are really pigging out on. Meet the talented, the brilliant singing scientist Dr. Samuel Ramsey!

In this mini episode, Mandy shares the latest stories of her beekeeping adventures. 

This interview was recorded just a couple weeks ago, right before swarm season kicked off. Mandy was sitting in her studio anxiously staring out the window at her beehives while she waited for Sam's phone call. Once the phone rang, Mandy completely forgot about feeling sorry for her swarmless self and fell deep into a conversation about drumming hives, queen genetics, and how to grow your apiary without buying nucs or packages. 

In this mini episode, Mandy shares the latest stories of her beekeeping adventures.