The Minnesota Honey Producers Association has a whole bunch of good things going for them and in this episode we learn about their new Honey Ambassador Program (notice we didn’t say Honey Queen Program), plus the state wide habitat program.

First off, we talk with Becky Masterman, who’ve we had as a guest on the podcast in the past. Rebecca is with the University of Minnesota Bee lab and is part of the Bee Squad which has been very involved in both of these programs, working to get people together to work together to work better at producing habitat. 

We also talk with Josh Munoz, a Marine veteran and is the first MHPA Honey Bee Ambassador promoting honey and beekeeping in the state. Josh also runs the Minnesota Veterans Bee Program. He teaches agriculture in a St. Paul high school focusing a lot on habitat and honey bees and is working to shape high school ag curriculum.

Also on today’s episode, we talk with Dan Whitney, past Minnesota Honey Producers President and a commercial honey producer, who spends a good amount of time in Texas running over 2000 colonies, and produces nucs and queens each spring. Dan was instrumental in getting the Ambassador program going and in very active in the new Minnesota Habitat Program. 

All told, 3 very active people getting a lot of good work done to better Minnesota for bees, beekeepers and beekeeping. Listen today!

Also in today’s episode, Ed Colby returns with a story from his book, “A Beekeeper’s Life: Tales of a Beekeeper." In previous readings, Ed has talked about keeping bees on Granny's property. In this episode, Ed shares with us a remembrance of her upon her passing.

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: 

• Minnesota Honey Producers Assn Website - https://minnesotahoneyproducers.com
• Minnesota Honey Producers Assn Facebook Page -  https://www.facebook.com/minnesotahoneyproducers/
• Ed Colby's Book, "A Beekeeper's Life. Tales From The Bottom Board - https://smile.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Life-Tales-Bottom-Board/dp/1912271885/
• Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

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

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.

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; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

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