Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

By Jim Tew

The weekly podcast exploring the joys, challenges, and curiosities of keeping honey bees. Hosted by Dr. Jim Tew and produced by Jeff Ott, Honey Bee Obscura delivers short, focused conversations that d... more

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How many episodes does Honey Bee Obscura Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 301 episodes available.

Best of Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: Easy Bee Plants with Anne Frey (297)
What can the average beekeeper realistically plant to help honey bees and other pollinators? Jim Tew is joined by Anne Frey of Betterbee for a practical and sometimes wandering—in the best possible way—conversation about bee forage. They begin with the idea of planting wildflowers and quickly confront the question of scale. If meaningful forage can require substantial acreage, what can a beekeeper with an ordinary backyard actually accomplish? Anne suggests thinking beyond wildflower plots. A single well-chosen tree, such as an American basswood or linden, can provide an impressive concentration of flowers when it blooms. Jim recalls basswood honey from his years in Maryland and shares the story of a nearby 250-acre farm planted entirely in sunflowers—a spectacular sight that attracted people as readily as it attracted pollinators. They also talk about soybeans, tulip poplar, bee-bee tree (Evodia), and the temptation beekeepers sometimes have to plant anything honey bees find attractive. That leads to an important caution: a plant being good forage doesn't necessarily mean it belongs in your landscape. Some highly attractive plants can also be invasive. Ultimately, Jim and Anne arrive at perhaps the easiest approach of all: when possible, leave some land wild. Locally adapted flowering plants—or what we often dismiss as weeds—may provide more benefit than an introduced wildflower mix. And a perfectly manicured lawn? From a bee's perspective, Anne suggests it might not be much better than a parking lot. You don't need to transform an acre. Plant a native tree, tolerate some untidiness, preserve existing forage, and pay attention to what the bees are already telling you they like. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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 We'd like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies. ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
August 20, 202620min
Number 2: Reflections on the 300th Episode
In this special 300th episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Dr. Jim Tew heads back to his bee yard for a thoughtful look at where the podcast began, where it has taken him, and why these weekly conversations have come to mean so much. Jim remembers how the late Kim Flottum repeatedly tried to persuade him to give podcasting a chance. Jim was committed to video and initially saw an audio-only program as a step backward. Kim, however, was persistent. What began as an experiment with short conversations eventually found its rhythm as the relaxed, 20-minute "plain talk" discussions listeners know today. Jim recalls the friendship—and occasional disagreements—that made his conversations with Kim memorable, from eight-frame equipment to queen introduction and the value of a beekeeper's time. But he also reflects on the difficult years that followed, including Kim's declining health and death and the loss of Jim's wife. During that period, returning to the bee yard and talking with listeners became an important source of normalcy, focus, and continuity. Now, 300 episodes later, Jim considers how his own approach to beekeeping continues to evolve. He may work his colonies differently than he once did, but his curiosity remains. And that, perhaps, is what Honey Bee Obscura has always been about: not having every answer, but continuing the conversation. Most of all, Jim has a simple message for listeners who have traveled this road with him: thank you. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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 We'd like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies. Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of Honey Bee Obscura. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
September 10, 202621min
Number 3: Small Late-Summer Colonies with Anne Frey (299)
Late summer can expose the colonies that simply haven't kept pace. Maybe they're late splits, small nucs, colonies recovering from swarming, or colonies that never developed the population you expected. What should you do with them before winter? In this episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Jim Tew welcomes Anne Frey of Betterbee for a practical conversation about managing small colonies as summer gives way to fall. Anne and Jim discuss how small a colony can be and still have a reasonable chance of overwintering, along with ways beekeepers can improve those odds. That includes making sure Varroa mites are under control, providing adequate honey and pollen, donating resources from stronger colonies, reducing environmental stresses, adding top insulation, and positioning small colonies so they can benefit from shared warmth. They also explore overwintering nucs above stronger colonies using double-screen boards, multi-compartment equipment, equalizing colonies with frames of capped brood, and when simply combining two weak colonies may be the better choice. And what about moving colonies indoors—or even hauling them hundreds of miles south? Jim has stories about both. The bottom line: small colonies require extra attention, realistic expectations, and sometimes a willingness to cut your losses while protecting valuable drawn comb for another season. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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 We'd like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies. Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of Honey Bee Obscura. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
September 03, 202622min
Number 4: Small-Scale Honey Extraction with Anne Frey (301)
Honey extraction can be rewarding, but for a small operation it can also be sticky, awkward, and surprisingly hard on the wrists. In this episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Jim Tew and Anne Frey compare practical ways to get a modest honey crop from the comb without pretending there is one perfect setup. Jim traces his own path from a two-frame extractor to larger equipment at Ohio State and, decades later, back to a small extractor for seven or eight colonies. Anne suggests that beginners first borrow an extractor and other processing equipment from a local beekeeping club, while Jim makes the case for keeping durable stainless-steel tools that may become useful again as an operation changes. They examine uncapping options ranging from cold and heated knives to uncapping planes, scratchers, and rollers. Anne explains why a pulling motion can be easier on the wrist and what happens to wax fragments after pierced cappings release their honey. The conversation also covers settling and straining honey, saving cappings, and the tradeoffs of crush-and-strain processing. Small extractors bring another challenge: vibration. Jim and Anne swap inventive approaches involving floor anchors, plywood bases, added weight, wheeled stands, and even a spring-mounted utility trailer. They also discuss running multiple small extractors instead of immediately buying a larger machine. Their conclusion is simple: match the equipment to the size of the operation, stay open to changing the process, and keep every surface and tool clean. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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 We'd like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies. Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of Honey Bee Obscura. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
September 17, 202621min
Number 5: Plain Talk: Other Stinging Insects (302)
Fall has arrived, and Dr. Jim Tew is taking listeners on another walk through his bee yard. But this week, the conversation wanders beyond honey bees. It begins at the county fair, where yellow jackets hovering around food and garbage cans are routinely called "bees." Jim reflects on how quickly a beekeeper becomes known as the neighborhood "bee person"—and how that inevitably leads to calls about insects that aren't honey bees at all. Along the way, Jim recalls helping a neighbor with a wasp nest in a mailbox and tells the memorable story of removing a large hornet nest from a tree while standing on a ladder, carefully holding the entire nest inside a garbage bag. The nest survived the adventure. Jim mostly did, too. He also looks back at growing up around paper wasps in Alabama and considers bumblebees, carpenter bees, yellow jackets, and the other stinging insects beekeepers are often expected to understand. The lesson isn't that every beekeeper needs to become an expert in wasps and hornets. But knowing enough to recognize what's actually causing a problem—and when simply leaving an insect alone may be the best choice—comes with being the person everyone knows keeps bees. ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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 We'd like to thank Vita Bee Health for supporting the podcast. Vita provides proven tools for controlling Varroa—from Apistan and Apiguard to the new VarroxSan extended-release oxalic acid strips—helping beekeepers keep stronger, healthier colonies. Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of Honey Bee Obscura. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Cartoons by: John Martin (Beezwax Comics) Copyright © 2026 by Growing Planet Media, LLC
September 24, 202618min