Bee Love Beekeeping... presented by Mann Lake

What happens when a surfer, a swarm of honey bees, and a wildfire-prone corner of Southern California collide? You get one heck of a beekeeping story!

Eric Bennett sits down with Eli Lichter-Mark, a small commercial beekeeper managing hundreds of hives around Topanga and Malibu. Eli shares how he went from catching swarms and repeatedly killing off his colonies to building a real bee business—complete with forklifts, flatbeds, almond pollination, a honey kitchen, and plenty of opportunities to get stung.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

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Oh, and there’s Buckwheat, the bee-yard dog who apparently considers anything that buzzes—including motorcycles—a personal emergency.

But this episode gets seriously interesting when the conversation turns to keeping honey bees in a place where the weather can swing wildly and wildfires can turn an apiary into a pile of staples.

It’s a story about risk, resilience, sticky equipment, epic failures, and why anyone would voluntarily spend their days surrounded by thousands of flying insects. In other words… classic beekeeping.

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Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

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Eli: https://www.elisbees.com/

It’s episode 100!! And we’re celebrating with a whole lot of beekeeping, a whole lot of bees, and a guest who knows that being a beekeeper is basically a full-time workout—with honey supers instead of dumbbells!

Ryan Griffeth returns to the show to talk winter bee prep, managing hives across Connecticut’s wildly different microclimates, and what it really takes to keep colonies healthy when the temperatures drop.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

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• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Ryan also gets into the business side of beekeeping, including hive management, working with clients, and turning a passion for bees into a sustainable business.

Add some laughs, a little humility, and the occasional “oh crap, I forgot to check my mites” moment, and episode 100 is a fun—and seriously useful—celebration of beekeeping, and the people crazy enough to do it. It's all about the love!

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

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Ryan: https://www.neckersfarm.com/

How To: Best way to find lost hive tools (she has 30 and they're all missing)!

What do you do when you love beekeeping, make your living with bees, and your body has decided it would really rather you not get stung? You apparently keep going!

This week we head to Scotland to meet full-time beekeeper Gael Wilkinson, who manages hives across the Kingdom of Fife while navigating unpredictable weather, Scottish seasons, and the occasional bee that apparently has a personal grudge.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Gail pulls back the curtain on the business side of beekeeping—selling honey directly to loyal customers, managing and sponsoring hives, rescuing swarms, and turning leftover beeswax into candles, balms, soap, and other goodies.

We also get a wild bee sting story (that includes projectile vomiting and pee), some questionable decisions involving hive tools, and a reminder that working with honey bees is never quite as calm and peaceful as the pictures make it look.

It’s Scotland, it’s bees, it’s business—and yes, there’s an EpiPen involved.

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Gael: https://kinbees.com/

What happens when a teenager thinks Beekeeping is going to be an easy way to make some money?

In this episode, Jeremy Jensen shares the hilarious—and ultimately inspiring—story of how a fascination with bees turned into a full-blown career.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

From free hive removals and stashing colonies in the bushes to working for an experienced beekeeper and eventually buying the business, Jeremy’s journey proves that sometimes the best plans are the ones you never planned!

Jeremy also takes us behind the scenes of commercial Beekeeping in Southern California, where honey bees can keep you busy every day of the year. We talk pollination, farmers markets, honey production, queens, Varroa, and the unique challenges of keeping honey bees in a climate without much of a brood break.

Add a little ancient honey history and a warning about yellowjackets, and you've got an episode packed with bees, business, and plenty of bee-worthy laughs. Remember, it's all about the love of the bees!

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

____________________

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Jeremy: https://www.billsbees.com/

Grab your bee suit and get ready to meet royalty! In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we sit down with Delanie Craighead, the American Honey Queen, to find out what it’s really like to wear the crown, travel the country, and talk nonstop about honey bees.

Delanie shares how she became Queen, what goes into the competition, and some of the fun adventures that come with representing Beekeeping and Beekeepers across America.

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But this isn’t just about crowns and honey jars! We get into the serious side of Beekeeping, from Varroa mites and pesticides to the threat of fake honey—and why honey bees are so important to agriculture.

Delanie brings plenty of enthusiasm (and maybe a little honey-powered energy) to the conversation, showing why educating people about honey bees can be both important AND a whole lot of fun.

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

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Delanie:

American Honey Queen

https://www.instagram.com/americanhoneyqueenprogram/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanHoneyQueenProgram/

What do Picasso paintings, bee dance-offs, and a swarm living on a greasy crane have in common? They’re all part of the wonderfully weird world of honey bees and beekeeping!

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we head to San Diego to meet Hilary Kearney of Girl Next Door Honey, who has turned 16 years of beekeeping experience into a creative, full-time business.

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We also explore the unique challenges of keeping bees in San Diego, where year-round brood means year-round Varroa and some colonies can have seriously spicy personalities.

Add in bee news from Texas and Virginia, and you’ve got an episode packed with fascinating facts, laughs, business inspiration, and plenty of reasons to appreciate the incredible little creatures at the heart of beekeeping.

YouTube VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

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[email protected]

Hillary Kearney: https://girlnextdoorhoney.com/

Get ready to meet your match for Africanized bee expertise: third-generation beekeeper Monica King joins Bee Love Beekeeping host, Eric Bennett, to talk about wrangling "killer bees" in the 110-degree heat of southern Arizona.

Monica shares her beekeeping secrets for night-time hive removals under red lanterns (bees hate white light and love drama). She explains why "hangry" honey bees get meaner during droughts, and reveals her go-to trick for spotting varroa mite infestations by popping open drone brood cells.

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• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Bonus points for the chicken-and-bee symbiosis system she's engineered on her 14-acre off-grid homestead.

Things get truly wild when Monica breaks out her craziest beekeeping stories — including the time she pulled 18 virgin queens out of a single swarm, and a bizarre cutout where four mated queens were living together in one melted, catacomb-like hive... until the bees ruthlessly picked a winner overnight.

Between water-hauling homestead hacks and gutsy mite-testing tips, this episode is equal parts survival guide and beekeeping soap opera.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

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[email protected]

Monica King: https://www.monicamking.com/#/

Forget everything you thought you knew about swarm removal!

This episode is a full-on myth-busting session with SoCal's own Bee Man Dan, a rescuer who's handled over 21,000 colonies and trained in Beekeeping the unconventional way: through his Kung Fu school, under Daoist and Buddhist monks.

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The internet gospel says "find the queen, box her, and the rest will follow." Dan says nope. After years of hands-on Swarm Removal, he discovered bees actually chase the brood ("the babies"), not the queen — she just wanders in eventually, sometimes last.

No bee vacuums, no frantic queen-hunting, just capped brood, patience, and a little pheromone magic doing the real work.

The conversation rolls into Africanized bee hybrids, sketchy 50-foot ladder rescues, and the messy legal reality of bee ordinances across SoCal cities.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

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Bee Man Dan: https://wesavebees.com/

What is "RNA Interference" and why are beekeepers calling it birth control for Varroa?

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we're buzzing into two topics that every beekeeper should know about. First, we tackle the sticky subject of glyphosate (Roundup®) and what the latest research says about its surprising effects on honey bees—from disrupting their gut health to changing the way they forage.

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Then we welcome Adam Pachl of GreenLight Biosciences to talk all things Varroa mites and introduce Narroa, an innovative treatment that doesn't kill mites—it simply stops them from starting the next generation. Think of it as birth control for Varroa!

Along the way, we dive into when (and when not) to use Narroa, how it fits into a smart mite management plan, and why testing your colonies always beats guessing.

Adam also shares hilarious stories from his days as a state bee inspector, including the heart-stopping moment he found a queen bee taking a stroll across his beekeeping suit.

Whether you're a first-year beekeeper or you've been keeping bees for decades, you'll come away with practical tips, a few laughs, and maybe even a new favorite tool for keeping your colonies healthy.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

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https://norroa.com/

This week's beekeeping adventure takes us to Byron Bay, Australia, where Flow Hive co-inventor Cedar Anderson gives us the buzz on life after Varroa mites invaded the continent.

After a failed containment effort that saw thousands of hives burned, Australian beekeepers battled a brutal one-two punch of Varroa weakening colonies and small hive beetles finishing the job — sound familiar, fellow beekeepers?

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The good news: things are stabilizing. But Australian beekeeping comes with its own wild twist: bee-eating cane toads that camp out at hive entrances all night, gobbling up bees like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

We also get into rainbow bee-eater birds, Africanized bees creeping into the southern U.S., and a hilarious near-miss where Cedar got chased by angry bees while a New York Times reporter had his back turned — talk about a close call.

Toss in some jaw-dropping bee-communication stories (turns out their waggle dance is way more precise than science gives them credit for) and a peek at Cedar's new book, and this episode is a must-listen for anyone who loves bees, beekeeping, and the delightfully chaotic world of managing them.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Cedar Anderson: https://www.honeyflow.com/