Bees With Ben

PODCAST EPISODE 24: Ben the Busy Bee says “hi” and “goodbye” – but only for six weeks!

For beekeepers, the annual cycle of work and rest is a rollercoaster. As bees rug up and hibernate for the winter, beekeepers wait around, twiddling their thumbs, dreaming of bees, painting bee boxes, and drinking long cups of tea doused in their favourite honey. To be honest, the cooler months of the year can be quite excruciating! And then, FINALLY, the first blooms of spring peek out into the world, the first rays of sunshine meander down between the branches of the trees above, and “bijingo”, there you have it, bees as far as the eye can see! That’s right, bee lovers, the bees are well and truly back in Melbourne and Victoria and (you guessed it) I’m happy as a bee could be! Being reunited with my colonies and those of others has me grinning ear to ear. However, it also has me well and truly run off my feet with work! That is why I bring you none other than myself to episode 24 of the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast to wish you a monetary goodbye from the airwaves.

“What?” you ask, “Not, the podcast? Don’t tell me there are no more chats with world-class beekeepers and lovers?!”

Fear not, the podcast is well and truly here to stay – in fact, it’s so popular that I am constantly receiving requests and queries about what’s up next, and how people can get involved. I absolutely love having a platform to introduce the Ben’s Bees community to bee-related professionals from near and far; it’s a true delight, and one I can’t wait to get back to! However, right now, I am flat out rehoming swarms around Melbourne; helping bees pollinate orchards like blueberries, raspberries and pears; mentoring beekeepers; stocking the online store; and getting bees ready for their new owners (believe me, the backyard in full of ‘nucs’ for people to collect when the time is right).

So, while I get to work keeping Victoria’s bees happy and healthy, my mind will be ticking away with new ideas and guests for the podcast when I return to your airwaves in six weeks’ time. So, who can you look forward to meeting when I return, you ask? Some special guests include Ian Steppler from A Canadian Beekeeper blog and YouTube channel and Trevor Monson who helps coordinate the biggest movement of bees in Australia! Also – in case I wasn’t busy enough – get set for me to launch my first ever book (!!!), just in time for Christmas (more on that soon). While I say ciao for now to the BEES WITH BEN podcast, check-in on my social media and blog for busy-Ben updates over the next six weeks! Love Ben x

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 23: Sarah Hamilton, Native Beekeeper and founder of BeeYourself, Brisbane, Australia

These days the honeybee is well-known and well-loved. Of course, I completely understand why – these little darlings pollinate 70% of the world’s food crops, so what’s not to love! In comparison, native bees don’t get nearly as much press as they deserve. Hugely diverse across the globe and each with their characters and unique abilities, native bees are the unsung heroes of the bee world. With smaller populations and less understood needs, their food supplies and homes can be threatened, with some species even facing extinction.

Australia is also home to a number of very special, unusual and useful native bees, that are an important part of the bushland. Before the introduction of honeybees in 1823, there were, and still are, some 1600 species of indigenous bee in Australia! They come in all shapes, sizes and colours, be that black, yellow, red, metallic green, blue polka dotted and striped! Some are fat and furry, while others are sleek and shiny. At their extremes, Australia’s tiniest native bee of just 2mm comes from Cape York and is known as the Quasihesma bee; on the other end of the spectrum, Australia's largest native bee, the 24mm long Great Carpenter Bee, can be found in the tropical north and northern NSW. Due to their general small size, some native bees can be confused for flies. To my knowledge, of the ten major groups of native bees in Australia, stingless bees prefer warm climates (and not residing in Victoria) and is the only bee currently available for sale in Australia.

And with that introduction, I would like to make a second introduction, and welcome the wonderful Sarah Hamilton to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for episode 23. Sarah is an Australian native beekeeper based in Brisbane, who sells her hives down the east coast of Australia and runs the website and venture BeeYourself. According to Sarah, “Australian native bees help pollinate your gardens and or crops, helping them bloom to their greatest potential, they produce a unique honey and they are stingless. The good news is that it is very simple to install and maintain a hive of your own”; with that in mind, I would highly recommend anyone interested in native bees gets in touch with Sarah to discuss how they can come to own and nurture some native colonies – a fantastic and worthwhile addition to the local fauna-scape. Listen in to hear Sarah and I chat about threats to native bees, the huge price tag attached to stingless bee honey ($250-$500 per kilo!), honey production levels, and the benefits of keeping stingless bees in schools, kindergartens and hospitals. Let’s learn about and from native bees in Australia, with the help of Sarah Hamilton. Tune in! 

 http://www.beeyourself.com.au/

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 22: Matthew Waltner-Toews, Unspun Honey, Mount Gambier, Australia

I love imperfections in nature, especially honey. As a natural beekeeper, I take my hat off to businesses that privilege the wellbeing of the bee over all else. That’s what makes Unspun Honey one of my favourite ventures. Located in the Mount Gambier region, Unspun Honey is owned and operated by Matthew Waltner-Toews and his family – a lovely pack of first-generation, self-taught beekeepers who started in 2014 and now have themselves an ethical business that honours bees, sustainability and the environment. I am inspired by people who don’t come from the world of beekeeping, yet take it on with such gusto and warm-hearted passion that everything they do touch seems to turn to gold (or honey, which is the same thing really): “No-one in our family has, to the best of our knowledge, ever kept bees before”. What gems. And it’s for these reasons I am so thrilled to welcome Matthew to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for episode

For anyone that isn’t certain, natural beekeeping aims to replicate, or mimic, the nest structure that would usually be found in the wild. By doing this, the colony is made to feel as comfortable as possible, and the intricate and sophisticated processes carried out by bees can continue. This encourages the superorganism to communicate as effectively as possible and adapt to external conditions as they arise, from a disease to an environmental shift. Therefore, we see that natural beekeeping allows the bees to do all their everyday tasks and activities as naturally as possible – be that reproduce, build honeycomb, make honey or source food. Anti-chemical and pro-nature, this approach knows that bee health and happiness is always central to a good beekeeping practice. As Matthew explains, “Our business is one of only a few at the forefront of natural beekeeping and true, local artisan honey production. We strongly believe that the high quality of our product is a direct result of our unconventional philosophy: compassion and ethical treatment of our bees.”

Listen in to episode 22 to hear Mathew and I speak about Unspun Honey, the remarkable Warre beehive, the characteristics and charm of raw honey, and the beauty of simple beekeeping method.

https://unspunhoney.com/

https://www.bensbees.com.au/

PODCAST EPISODE 21: Cedar Anderson, Flow Hive co-inventor, Byron Bay, Australia

While the recording of this episode might be a little crackly in parts, I feel it represents something of the character of my next guest. Inventor, entrepreneur, bee lover, family man, paraglider, Flow Hive co-creator – Cedar Anderson is a truly down-to-earth bloke with truly down-to-earth (yet highly ambitious) passions. The chat we had – recorded, on his end, from underneath his house – crackles in parts, like an earthy laugh, and seems indicative of Cedar’s grass-roots approach. However, this analogy doesn’t quite paint the picture of just how switched on and inspiring Cedar truly is. An ABC article by Vanessa Gorman perfectly summed up Cedar’s evolution in its title: ‘From humble hippie to multi-millionaire businessman — the man who revolutionised the beehive’.

Cedar and I first met when I went to visit him with Simon Mulvany (from Save the Bees) at his home in Broken Head, near Byron Bay, in the spectacular Northern Rivers area of New South Wales; however, I had heard of him long before that trip and was excited to meet him in person. What you take from meeting this lovely man is that he is dedicated to his family, he loves and appreciates nature, he is an inspiring businessperson, and that his connection to bees has allowed him to create a system for extracting honey that is both unique and effective. This third-generation beekeeper has been inspiring the beekeeping community in Australia and abroad with his new ideas and environmental ethos – check out his TEDxBrisbane Talk, ‘Why the World Needs Backyard Inventors’ if you haven’t already.

So, what is this revolutionary invention Cedar co-invented, you might ask? The Flow Hive presents a new way of extracting honey from Langstroth-style European honeybee hives. While understanding that the most important aspect of any honey production process is respect for the animal and looking after a colony as best as humanly possible, a system like the Flow Hive changes the honey extraction process completely through “an artificial foundation made from BPA- and BPS-free food grade plastic, manufactured right here in Australia, on which the bees build their comb”. The bees fill the artificial cells with honey and cap them off. Then, a “Flow Key” is inserted to split the cells, and gravity helps the honey flow into the trough, through tubes and straight into your honey jars! With an incredible 48,000+ customers in over 139 countries, the Flow Hive is building even stronger connections between keepers and bees. Tune in to hear Cedar and I talk about the Flow Hive, inventing, family, eco-business and stumbling upon a 30-year-old bee box mid-podcast!

https://www.honeyflow.com.au

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 20: Ryan Moloney (AKA “Toadfish” from Neighbours), Beach Box Honey, Australia

If there is a piece of fine art that sums up the experience of the Aussie suburbs like no other, it’s Neighbours. And while the soap opera has a swag of lovable and hateable and completely relatable cast members, I feel very positive and assured in saying that there is one character that viewers, probably around the 30-to-40-years bracket, adore most of all. For this reason, I am beyond excited to introduce the one and only Ryan Moloney – or (no kidding) Jarrod “Toadfish” Rebecchi as he’s known on the show – to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for a whopping episode 20!

You see, I get quite a few emails and messages asking for more Australian-based beekeepers on the podcast, and when I found out that Ryan is a keen beekeeper, with a couple of years’ experience under his belt, and a new beekeeping business on the horizon, I thought – WOW! Toadie just went to a whole new level in my big Aussie heart! For any of you that are too young, or perhaps live overseas and were not privy to Neighbours episodes of the 1990s, Toadfish is an iconic character, loved for his cheekiness, in strife for his bad behaviour, relatable for his vulnerability. He was that guy that was always the class clown, and often the butt of jokes; who, when finishing school, surprised the whole of Australia by blossoming into a respectable and warm-hearted member of the community. With a law degree under his belt, a newfound sense of motivation, a love life, and a neighbourhood of great friends, Toadie inspired many young kids out there (including myself) to make the most of their lives (while keeping that glimmer in their eye and that skip in their step and that joke up their sleeve). And he’s still on the show today, 22 years on, indispensable and loveable as ever!

And while I understand I have just described a TV character to you, there is a definite warmth and authenticity that both Toadie and Ryan share, which filters through into this new episode. Tune in as we chat about Neighbours, beekeeping, family, flying planes, and Beach Box Honey – a wonderful new beekeeping business run by Ryan and his wife Alison which will surely be a huge success! Be sure to check out Beach Box Honey (not Beach House Honey as mentioned in the podcast) on Instagram! 

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 19: Cody Adams, beekeeper, founder of Bee Scientific and Bee Barrell Hive creator, Utah, USA

Beehives: for beekeepers, these are not just boxes of different shapes and sizes, they are the residences of our best friends, the bees. And, as we love our bees dearly, we want to make homes for them that are functional, architecturally sound, ergonomic, suit their lifestyle, respond to the climate, fill them with joy, make them want to make honey and more honey, give them a perfect place to rest, provide a sanctuary for their young, and the list goes on! We want our bees’ hive to be nothing less than a palace, with an interior that belongs in the bee-version of Vogue magazine, with access to a bee-friendly garden and the kind of climate control that allows our friends to live in all corners of the globe, no matter the weather. If there is one person that knows all about making the perfect hive for bees it is Cody Adams of Bee Scientific, Utah, USA, and I am thrilled to welcome him to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for episode 19!

Utah is a place of extremes. With summers that reach 40°C and winters that plummet to -28°C, the bees need homes that can cope with huge highs and lows. Cody is the creator of the Bee Barrell hive: a unique design that focuses on climate control and keeps the bees of Utah happy year-round. The Bee Barrel has a characteristic barrel shape that protects bees from the elements, eliminates stress and minimizes damage to cells and comb, and increases productivity.

With a business motto that states "Anyone can be a keeper and we are going to help them become one ", Cody Adams is my kind of human. Listen in to Cody and I chat about Utah, his journey to beekeeping, a time when he lived in Melbourne, his love of Australians, the Bee Barrel, specialty hives and his business, Bee Scientific. Tune in

PODCAST EPISODE 18: Emily Forrest Mikschi from Embodybee, wandering the East Coast of Australia

There is a quote from Eve Byers’ short documentary, BEEing Kept, where Emily Forrest Mikschi says “I don’t really think you could call me a beekeeper because I feel as though it’s the bees that are keeping me.” What a thought, one to stir over slowly, one that conjures the complexity of the relationship between humans and bees and begs us to think about the depths of that connection. Emily Forrest Mikschi is an enigma. On paper, she is the genius behind her business Embodybee – she educates children and adults alike, keeps bees, sells bee products, safely rehomes, and runs creative bee-oriented workshops. However, she is much more. A sensual soul, a sexual being, with a spiritual connection to bees unlike anyone I have met in the past. Indeed, I am always thrilled to introduce you to each and every one of the guests on the BEES WITH BEN podcast, but this week I am especially excited, as Emily brings a perspective to the table that is raw, ancient, loving, bodily and simultaneously of this world and not – her relationship to bees is one that stimulates all the senses and dips into a kind of consciousness that requires a special kind of intuitive connection to the natural world.

Emily told me of an erotic dream she once had, with bees and a snake. As some of you may know, symbolic meaning has been attributed to natural objects and beings since ancient times, and bees too have their own connection to the spiritual realm. Accessing the depths of consciousness often requires a strong understanding of the body, and how it relates to the earth, time and space. With these things in mind (and they are not small ideas), we might be able to shed some light on Emily’s unique perspective. For Emily, beekeeping is much more than a way to procure honey, or even a way to help the planet; for her, bees are sacred beings, connected intrinsically to love and worship. With this in mind, Emily has made it her life’s mission to “re-sacralise the bee”, or, make it a scared being once again. Invested in a kind of mutual relationship with bees – a sort of sensual and spiritual love affair – Emily approaches bees from a position of love and respect, and hopes that this approach is adopted more widely, so that all forms of apiary centre on symbiosis – a mutual and beneficial relationship between humans and, as Emily calls them, “sun beings”.

Make sure you tune in to listen to Emily and I wander through the depths of her sacred, spiritual and sensual practice that is far more than just beekeeping. We chat about Emily’s vision, her business Embodybee, spirituality, and getting naked and honey-dipped with the bees themselves. Tempted? I bet! 

www.embodybee.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/596879457439100

PODCAST EPISODE 17: Jill and John Richards from Nature’s Gold, Brisbane, Australia

I love a good team. There is a very beautiful saying by Mother Theresa that reads, "None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." I have been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to work as a team, no matter how small that team might be. At Ben’s Bees, I do a lot of running around on my own, but each and every day I rely on the help of my employees, colleagues, clients, friends and family to help make my business a success. These small and large collaborations keep me inspired, spark new ideas and help the daily running of my business.

Despite the deep respect I have for individuals that go out there and turn their dreams into reality, there is a different respect that goes out to those who find a way to join their passion with someone else’s, creating a symbiotic relationship where work is infused with the connection between those people – what is achieved has great heart and soul. I have also noticed that ventures where people join together in a partnership or larger group tend to create products and services that naturally connect with more people and encourage further collaboration – each small act of love (as described by Mother Theresa) joining to the next to make something that moves, brightens, warms and changes the world. For that reason, I am thrilled to introduce the first beekeeping couple to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast, Jill and John Richards from Nature’s Gold!

Based in Brisbane, Queensland, there is a personal reason why Nature’s Gold specialises in manuka honey varieties, and why Jill and John are “The Manuka Honey People.” Jill Richards started the company 15 years ago now, when a bad case of eczema saw her turn to manuka honey to aid her troubled skin. Now, having built a dream venture with her husband John, the duo sells their incredible and potent manuka products to the public for therapeutic benefits. Nature’s Gold also supplies hospitals with manuka products, where it is achieving great results healing burns and ulcers where antibiotics are unsuccessful. Last but not least, Nature’s Gold is now making manuka products to help out animals with their own skin ailments! Tune in to hear Jill, John and myself chat about the potency of the duo’s manuka honey, the “war” between Aussies and Kiwis for the manuka label, the benefits of beekeeping cooperatives, and investing in particular plant species for the creation of high-grade medicinal honey varieties

https://naturesgold.com.au

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 16: Richard Noel, beekeeper, business owner, and all-round interesting chap, Brittany, France

For me, one of the best things about beekeeping is the way it connects to other things. Beekeeping isn’t just an activity in raising colonies and collecting honey – bees connect us to the environment, showing us how small we are and simultaneously how important it is that we change our ways to keep the planet healthy for all creatures great and small. The process of keeping bees is not just a practical one that has evolved over centuries since ancient times (although this is endlessly fascinating); it is also an art form – a slow practice that involves the love of a certain hive and the way it works. Similarly, the people who keep bees are often not just regular, straight-down-the-line beekeepers. From my experience, more often than not, those who are drawn to beekeeping, especially those attracted to it later in life, have lived through many experiences and often various jobs and careers until they come to beekeeping. Where am I going with all of this? I want to introduce you to a lovely English chap. A dear friend. A (once) paramedic. A landscape gardener. And now, a passionate beekeeper with a full-time bee-oriented business that focuses on queen production and a special strain of varroa-resistant bee. I am thrilled to welcome the one-and-only Richard Noel from Brittany in the north-west of France to the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast for episode 16!

When I was galivanting around Europe a couple of years back, I was lucky enough to stay with Richard and help him out on his property in Brittany in north-west France. For a week I became chief lawn mower, with my primary job to keep the grass down in front of his hives! And you know what, I LOVED IT! I felt that youthful rush of being a new, apprentice beekeeper again. All those basic but important jobs still fill me with joy, and as I pushed away at that lawn mower, I saw just how hard-working Richard really is. Since then, we have stayed in constant contact – he is passionate and chatty and fascinating, and I am so pleased to introduce him to you all. Tune in and hear Richard and I chat about his business, how we met, his path to beekeeping, and the difference in beekeeping cycles between Brittany and Melbourne.

http://beesinbrittany.blogspot.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClFlG4yfKhR2-w9VN_r8M3w

http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk

https://www.bensbees.com.au

PODCAST EPISODE 15: Gladstone Solomon, beekeeper and Bees for Development trustee, Tobago

Some people have wise and particularly beautiful souls. It is not something that can be quantified; it is just a feeling that you get when you meet them, a kind of radiance that exudes from their being. I have seen this in bee-people – as generally, humans that love bees are good sorts – they have a connection to the environment and an understanding of the necessity to be at one with nature. But every now and then a keeper, a bee-lover, comes along and I just feel calm and like I am speaking to someone with important knowledge, which is why I am so excited to introduce you to the lovely Gladstone Solomon for episode 15 of the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast!

I met Gladstone last year at the Apimondia beekeeping conference in Montreal and was struck by his life story and understanding of bees from places I had only dreamed of going to (and hopefully get to visit one day in the not-too-distant future!). Gladstone is a beekeeper who was born in Trinidad but has lived in Tobago most of his life – a place where honey is more sought after than sugar! He is also a trustee for Bees for Development – a wonderful charity that helps alleviate poverty across the world through beekeeping activities. This didn’t surprise me at all, as Gladstone’s caring demeanour fit perfectly with his connection to aid and social justice organisations. In Canada, we celebrated Gladstone’s 70th birthday, and it was a real treat! I knew that I had to see him again one day soon, but as my plans for travel have been halted, I thought what better way to stay in touch than to invite him to share his story and knowledge on the podcast!

Tune in to hear more about Gladstone’s personal story as well some really fascinating information on the bees of Trinidad – a notoriously aggressive variety that landed there in 1979 – compared to the more peaceful bee-souls that can be found in Tobago. We also chat about the effect of the weather (wet and dry seasons) on beekeeping in the Caribbean, as well as the devastating impact that varroa destructor had when it landed there in August 2000, wiping out half the colonies on the island!

https://www.bensbees.com.au