Seven years ago, father and son set out to redesign the way honey is harvested from bee hives. There must be a way, they reasoned, to get the honey from the comb without disturbing the bees and then bottling the honey directly from the hive. They placed their idea on Indiegogo and early orders exceeded all expectations when they topped over $12.5 million US dollars! Today, after over 50 iterations of the product, Flow Hive has established itself as a solid name in honey production for the small scale beekeeper.

In this episode, we talk with Cedar Anderson, who alongside his father, invented the concept of the Flow frame, super and hive. We talked with Cedar’s father and co-inventor in the spring of 2021. Today, Cedar talks about the origins of the Flow Hive, the changes they’ve made and how as a company, they are now giving back to the planet through their multiple pollinator programs and research support.

One program they are working to expand is Billions of Blossoms. It’s a project dedicated to planting trees that bees can use. Not just honey bees, but all kinds of bees. So far this year they have planted a half million trees and another half million are planned across the United State, Australia and other countries

For the Flow Hive itself, they’ve expanded community support by ramping up their instructions, added to their YouTube sits and now have a regular call in program so you can talk to the folks who actually make and use these hives, in person, and ask them the questions you have with your equipment. 

Listen to our talk with Cedar and hear for yourself all the projects they’ve developed to make the world a better place, one bee at a time. You might even consider a Flow Hive! 

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

• The Flow Hive Homepage - https://www.honeyflow.com 
• Billions of Blossoms - https://www.honeyflow.com/pages/blossoms
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC