WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.660 in a world brimming with complexity few creatures 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:12.839 embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.699 precision she dances from bloom to bloom each 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.420 motion guided by millennia upon millennia of 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:28.800 instinct each act in service to the whole and 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.560 then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.500 of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist, 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460 part poet, they move along their hives with the 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.560 efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.219 the bees' needs as best they can comprehend, 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.670 and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:05.569 Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:12.129 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.129 --> 00:01:23.950 journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping 00:01:23.950 --> 00:01:27.180 presented by Man Lake. Today, we're headed to 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:30.680 the US's Pacific Northwest to discuss what it's 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:33.900 like beekeeping in that area, in that climate. 00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:36.599 With those kinds of issues, it's not all that 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.180 easy, by the way. We'll discuss everything from 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:43.140 salmon derbies to yellow jackets, beekeeping 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.480 ethics, and a whole bunch more. But first, let's 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.480 take two minutes to go inside the hive. This 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.430 feature presented by Primal Bee. A colony that 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:57.129 came through winter with maybe 10 ,000 bees can 00:01:57.129 --> 00:02:00.989 hit 60 ,000 by early summer. That kind of growth 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:04.430 doesn't happen by accident. As days lengthen 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:07.409 and the first pollen starts coming in, the queen 00:02:07.409 --> 00:02:10.490 ramps up laying. She might go from a few hundred 00:02:10.490 --> 00:02:14.069 eggs a day to over a thousand, close to even 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:17.169 two thousand. The colony is betting everything 00:02:17.169 --> 00:02:19.810 on the spring nectar flow. Here's how the math 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:23.759 works. A worker bee takes about 21 days to develop 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:27.219 from egg to adult. So the eggs that the queen 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:30.780 lays in early spring won't become foragers until 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:33.919 at least three weeks later. The colony has to 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.159 build up its workforce before the big nectar 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.300 flow hits, not during. That's why timing matters 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:44.020 so much. Colonies that build up too slowly miss 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:47.659 the flow. Colonies that build up too fast run 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:50.849 out of space and swarm. taking half your bees 00:02:50.849 --> 00:02:54.050 with them. The trigger for all this is a combination 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:58.009 of day length, temperature, and incoming resources. 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:00.530 When the nurse bees have enough pollen to feed 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:04.150 larva, they signal the queen to lay more. The 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:07.009 whole colony responds to what's happening outside. 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:10.610 Experienced beekeepers learn to read their local 00:03:10.610 --> 00:03:13.530 conditions and anticipate when their colonies 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:16.550 will need more space. Get it right and you've 00:03:16.550 --> 00:03:19.860 got a strong workforce ready for the flow. Get 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:27.599 it wrong, and you're chasing swarms. I'd like 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.659 to welcome our very famous guest today. Are you 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:35.259 famous, Brian? No, not at all. Not even infamous. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:37.500 Hopefully, I'd rather be famous and infamous, 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.800 but I am not famous. Anyway... We're going to 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:43.560 have fun today. We're up in the Pacific Northwest 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.580 in the San Juan Islands having a conversation 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:49.219 with Brian Schmitz. And good morning, Brian. 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:52.680 Good morning, Eric. I know I put you on the spot 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:57.360 with that famous one. Well, I am a reigning salmon 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.900 derby winner at the local American Legion. So 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:05.500 yes. Yeah. I won it in 2019 and they haven't 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:07.780 had the derby since. So, you know, I am the reigning 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:11.490 champion. Okay. I promise listeners, we're not 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:13.430 going to get too far off track of beekeeping, 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:16.490 but how do you, what is a salmon tournament and 00:04:16.490 --> 00:04:20.069 how do you win it? Well, it was a pay entrance 00:04:20.069 --> 00:04:22.610 fee. You go out and try to catch the biggest 00:04:22.610 --> 00:04:24.889 fish over a period of a couple of days and I 00:04:24.889 --> 00:04:28.170 caught the biggest ones. So yeah, it's, uh, out 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:30.649 in a fishing boat, trolling that kind of thing. 00:04:30.769 --> 00:04:34.470 Yeah, exactly. King salmon or what kind? King 00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:37.810 salmon. They're the local, uh, King salmon that 00:04:37.810 --> 00:04:39.709 don't leave the area they're called black mouths 00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:42.709 and that's usually you catch them in the winter 00:04:42.709 --> 00:04:46.050 and uh, yeah Well, I love fishing. So that sounds 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:50.290 fun Yeah, it was it was a good time my buddy 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:54.350 co -worker. He uh, he took Third or fifth place. 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:57.629 We we had a couple of we both got checks. That's 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:00.990 you know, which was all right Yeah All right. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:04.600 Let's switch gears Let's not talk about bee hunting, 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:07.740 but we're going to be talking about everything 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:10.240 beekeeping up in your neck of the woods. And 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.639 let's start with the climate for a second. I 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:15.639 know things can be very humid, very wet, a lot 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.939 of rain. Give us an idea of what your whole year 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:21.180 is like, and does it change much from summer 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:24.240 to winter, things like that? Yeah, you know, 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.379 we really don't have community like they have 00:05:26.379 --> 00:05:28.600 it, you know, on the American East or the South. 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:30.500 I remember the first time I stepped off a plane. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:33.459 Ronald Reagan Airport is like, whoa, this is 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:35.920 humidity. Yeah, we really don't have the humidity. 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:39.939 We are in a bit of a rain shadow in the San Juan's 00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:43.019 Olympic mountain range, which I can see out the 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:45.639 window. It blocks a lot of the weather from the 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:49.100 south. We recently got to Time Apple Express, 00:05:50.379 --> 00:05:53.199 that big Kona Lo that created a lot of havoc 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:55.959 there in the Hawaiian Islands. Kind of the jet 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.800 stream bent it right up and it blocked a good 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.490 bit of it, but there was still some local flooding. 00:06:02.930 --> 00:06:05.410 They had some this winter as well, washed out 00:06:05.410 --> 00:06:07.970 a road to one of our popular ski hills. It was 00:06:07.970 --> 00:06:10.490 a bit of a pain for the people who bought their 00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:12.569 season passes and couldn't get to the mountain 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:15.110 easily. It's been a warmer winter. We really 00:06:15.110 --> 00:06:18.189 haven't had much of an accumulation of the snow 00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:21.029 as we've had in the past. So we're thinking, 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:24.250 I'm thinking at least, that wildfire this summer 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:27.750 could be an issue. And in Vancouver and in Seattle, 00:06:28.149 --> 00:06:31.670 they get their drinking water. supply is from 00:06:31.670 --> 00:06:33.850 winter melt -top of, you know, the winter, or 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:36.790 summer melt -top of the winter snow. And, uh, 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.089 there's not a lot of snow to fill up the reservoirs 00:06:39.089 --> 00:06:42.389 for Vancouver or Seattle. We're like 40 minutes 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:46.509 or 40 miles from Vancouver and about, uh, 67 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:49.569 from downtown Seattle. We're kind of right in 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:52.129 between the two of those. The ocean is kind of 00:06:52.129 --> 00:06:54.870 a, an air conditioner. It's temperate, so we 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:58.230 don't have the... Generally don't have the really 00:06:58.230 --> 00:07:01.709 deep freeze or the real high temperatures though. 00:07:01.769 --> 00:07:05.250 It can get periods of it, but it does moderate 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:08.170 it a bit. There are some health flows from the 00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:10.810 Canadian interior that come down through the 00:07:10.810 --> 00:07:13.250 Fraysia River Valley, which could bring some 00:07:13.250 --> 00:07:15.990 really cold temperatures from us from interior 00:07:15.990 --> 00:07:19.250 Canada. Definitely a fixed frozen pikes more 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:23.649 than once in my house. So yeah, we're pretty 00:07:23.649 --> 00:07:26.660 moderate as far as temperatures go. Is it moderate 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.199 enough, warm enough that your bees are out flying 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.079 all winter? No, it definitely isn't. It gets 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:36.240 into the higher 40s, they'll start flying then. 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:40.339 I like a little darker bees, but they definitely 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:43.500 cluster up and go broodless. The bees I have 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:47.740 definitely do have a brood break during the winter. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.779 That helps. So you have a real live winter. You're 00:07:50.779 --> 00:07:53.899 just not under three feet of snow. I can be. 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:57.350 Oh, really? Yes. And we live on a hill about 00:07:57.350 --> 00:08:00.189 1200 feet elevation. And I have a land cruiser 00:08:00.189 --> 00:08:02.870 with lockers and the axles and stuff. I get up 00:08:02.870 --> 00:08:04.790 and down in the snow while the neighbors are 00:08:04.790 --> 00:08:08.610 parking. That makes a difference. It does. It 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:10.930 does. I love my old black dessert. So Brian, 00:08:10.970 --> 00:08:13.350 how long have you been beekeeping? I've been 00:08:13.350 --> 00:08:17.269 beekeeping since 2020. Started right during the 00:08:17.269 --> 00:08:19.769 pandemic. Started seeing if I could make my own 00:08:19.769 --> 00:08:21.449 bread. And it's like, oh, it's got pretty good 00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:24.000 at doing the old sourdough. It got bee - Taylor 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.180 Swift, that trend, but then it's like, no, I 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:28.959 wonder if I can make trigger. And that's why 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.019 I started keeping these. I thought about it for 00:08:32.019 --> 00:08:34.320 a while. I used to pick berries when I was a 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.179 kid, you know, raspberries and blueberries. And 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:39.120 you'd see colonies all that hadn't been picked 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.539 up yet. The school kids were picking berries 00:08:41.539 --> 00:08:43.500 in the summer type of thing. And I always kind 00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:46.200 of had an interest in it. Yeah. Well, congratulations, 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.200 because a lot of people picked up new hobbies, 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.100 as you know, during the pandemic, including beekeeping. 00:08:52.549 --> 00:08:56.289 Yeah, and some of them still are a lot aren't 00:08:56.289 --> 00:08:59.230 so yeah good job keeping it up You've obviously 00:08:59.230 --> 00:09:01.690 learned a lot figured it out. You were telling 00:09:01.690 --> 00:09:06.230 me you run 30 colonies roughly Yeah, yeah, I 00:09:06.230 --> 00:09:08.669 the end of last summer going to the fall. I had 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:12.710 33 Yeah, I'd like to get back up there, you know, 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:16.809 if had some some losses and uh, Langstroth Nile 00:09:16.809 --> 00:09:20.629 hives links drop deeps for now but in different 00:09:20.629 --> 00:09:24.850 size boxes, a nuke box, five or six spring. Michael 00:09:24.850 --> 00:09:27.110 Palmer, you know, brew factory type of deals, 00:09:27.549 --> 00:09:30.230 those, about five of those. And you use smaller 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:34.309 honey supers as well? Oh yeah, I, everything's 00:09:34.309 --> 00:09:38.090 10 frame medium and I probably have close to 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:42.090 30 drawn out supers when I harvest. You know, 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:44.129 we have such short season, I don't want to have 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:47.370 my bees to have to drop home to be able to harvest. 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.299 honey every year to draw a new comb. It just 00:09:50.299 --> 00:09:53.259 takes so much of their resources and whatnot 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:55.679 to do that. So I just, I'll cut off the cappings 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:58.240 and spin them out and make sure they get cleaned 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.059 up and store them away nice and safe and never 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:03.240 have root in them. So. And about when do you 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:08.460 harvest every year? The county fair is in early 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:11.720 August. I'll do a couple of harvest. I'll do 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:14.539 stuff for the fair right away. As soon as I see 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:17.190 some cap brains, I'll just steal those out. and 00:10:17.190 --> 00:10:20.889 do a quick extraction of that. And then I'll 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:23.370 put those back in the colony and then harvest 00:10:23.370 --> 00:10:27.149 in August for first part of September. And by 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:29.070 the way, thanks for sending the picture with 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:32.570 your blue ribbon and congratulations. Oh, thank 00:10:32.570 --> 00:10:35.429 you. Yeah, it was a blue ribbon and a Bespin 00:10:35.429 --> 00:10:39.750 class. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, not just to say 00:10:39.750 --> 00:10:42.190 I'm a Derby winner. Well, congrats. Yeah, you're 00:10:42.190 --> 00:10:44.350 the winner on everything. Things work out for 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:47.620 me, it seems. As we were chatting the other day, 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.179 you had mentioned that you've got some pests 00:10:50.179 --> 00:10:52.100 that are part of the reason why all your bees 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:54.840 don't make it through winter. Can we jump into 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:59.139 that? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I live in the woods, 00:10:59.139 --> 00:11:01.139 you know, right next to this huge state park, 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.840 probably one of the nicest state parks in the 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.000 state, Moran State Park, named after the former 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:10.080 mayor of Seattle. The battleship USS Nebraska, 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:12.500 and it was killing them. And the doctor said, 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:15.259 you've got a few months to live, bud. He's sighting 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:18.299 all school. I'm just gonna go up to Orcas and 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:20.299 live the rest of my days up there. And he ended 00:11:20.299 --> 00:11:23.460 up living for another 40 years. Violins are just 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:25.360 kind of a magical place. I don't know if it's 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:29.200 officially a blue zone. There's some evidence 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.179 that it might be a blue zone where people tend 00:11:32.179 --> 00:11:35.340 to live a longer life. Yeah, we live next to 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:37.879 this forest. And the forest, there's a lot of 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.690 native bees, including yellow jackets. They could 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:45.149 be rather pesky and I've lost strong highs and 00:11:45.149 --> 00:11:48.690 not just weak highs too. I've lost a couple of 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:52.389 big booming double deep colonies with really 00:11:52.389 --> 00:11:55.909 reduced entrances and they're still having a 00:11:55.909 --> 00:11:58.490 heck of a time fighting off yellow jackets. It's 00:11:58.490 --> 00:12:01.529 a little crazy. Let's talk yellow jackets for 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:04.090 a few minutes because it's our number one pest 00:12:04.090 --> 00:12:07.470 here as well. Yeah. When I was fairly new at 00:12:07.470 --> 00:12:10.970 beekeeping and lost my first hive to yellow jackets 00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:15.889 I was told well if it was a strong healthy hive 00:12:15.889 --> 00:12:19.250 yellow jackets wouldn't be able to kill it well 00:12:19.250 --> 00:12:21.950 you and I have both witnessed that is not always 00:12:21.950 --> 00:12:25.710 the case and it is oh man it's a horrible horrible 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:30.730 thing to watch because you can go out there and 00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:33.549 it looks kind of like robbing and you look closer 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:36.250 and you just see these yellow jackets taking 00:12:36.250 --> 00:12:39.509 the bees apart and and the guard bees come out 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:42.549 and they try to do their deal and it's not a 00:12:42.549 --> 00:12:45.710 fair fight. Yellow Jacket can just take them 00:12:45.710 --> 00:12:48.990 out. Now everybody is going to find something 00:12:48.990 --> 00:12:51.950 different that works for them. I'm going to tell 00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:54.110 you what works for me and then I want to hear 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:56.870 some of the things that work for you. Now I know 00:12:56.870 --> 00:12:59.049 there's all kinds of great robber screens that 00:12:59.049 --> 00:13:03.750 you can buy that make it harder for any kinds 00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:07.659 of flying predators to get inside a hive. With 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:11.500 where I particularly am, the Yellow Jackets hit 00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:14.580 right around the first of September. So I know 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:18.139 just before then is the time to prepare. And 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:22.580 I use an entrance reducer, but it's not a regular 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:26.759 wooden one. I take hardware cloth that's fine 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:30.000 enough that bees and Yellow Jackets can't get 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.899 through it. I run that. across the front of the 00:13:33.899 --> 00:13:36.840 entrance and I leave an opening that's only about 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:40.700 an inch and that's it. Now the reason I use hardware 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:44.779 cloth is because it's still really hot and so 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:47.179 whether it's that or some other kind of screen 00:13:47.179 --> 00:13:50.480 the bees definitely need the airflow. I can't 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.519 just put a wooden entrance reducer in. Now with 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:59.620 a strong hive in my experience they can win that 00:13:59.620 --> 00:14:02.919 battle with that small of an entrance. How about 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:05.960 you? You mentioned entrance reducer wasn't even 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.659 enough. So tell me what happened. They, uh, just 00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:13.200 over overwhelmed the colonies. And I do have 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.320 a bunch of the, the white, uh, robber screens. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:19.460 I won't mention the product names. So I've had 00:14:19.460 --> 00:14:21.740 some success with that, but sometimes it's just, 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.460 it doesn't, it doesn't matter. They just, I don't 00:14:25.460 --> 00:14:28.240 know if there's a pheromone that, uh, is given 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:32.419 off or maybe a bread. the aggressiveness out 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:35.379 of the bees where they're just more susceptible 00:14:35.379 --> 00:14:38.440 to that because there's some bees that are right 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.080 next to the ones that are having problems that 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:44.980 may not even be as strong and they don't have 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:48.039 any issues. Did you notice that those other bees 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:50.860 were a little bit hotter and the ones that were 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:53.460 killed were maybe a little friendlier to people, 00:14:53.460 --> 00:14:56.899 that is? That's right. It's the fortel, the highest 00:14:56.899 --> 00:14:59.929 in my colony. I'll make a video. diary type of 00:14:59.929 --> 00:15:02.389 thing so I can look at it later. I'm not a very 00:15:02.389 --> 00:15:05.409 good note taker by just fine using my video camera 00:15:05.409 --> 00:15:07.269 on my phone. It's great and I'll mention that 00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:10.929 this colony is hot and that colony was hot at, 00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:13.570 you know, a certain time. I admit a pet peeve 00:15:13.570 --> 00:15:16.769 of mine is that it seems all beehives are white. 00:15:16.990 --> 00:15:20.389 Yeah, boring old white. 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So I, it's anecdotal, but I think I'm 00:17:14.309 --> 00:17:16.690 going to be be running some hotter bees here 00:17:16.690 --> 00:17:20.289 in the future and maybe use those queens for 00:17:20.289 --> 00:17:23.230 grafting here. Makes sense. And then the other 00:17:23.230 --> 00:17:26.559 thing that a lot of us do And you may be too 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.400 close to the woods, but we try to control all 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:33.640 of the Yellow Jackets that we can. I mean, I 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.599 just barely put some traps out to try to get 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:39.599 the Queens. We're in the spring right now of 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:44.319 2026. So I do that. And then in the summer, I 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.160 just, I've got Yellow Jacket traps up all over 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:51.390 the place. including around the beehives. Some 00:17:51.390 --> 00:17:53.750 people says maybe it attracts them closer to 00:17:53.750 --> 00:17:57.410 the hives. I'll put them like 10 feet away from 00:17:57.410 --> 00:18:00.430 a handful of hives. And, you know, I'm going 00:18:00.430 --> 00:18:02.109 to mention a whole bunch of things and I don't 00:18:02.109 --> 00:18:05.410 know which ones work the best. I think a combination 00:18:05.410 --> 00:18:09.769 of things help. I have also put up those paper 00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:13.890 things that look like a paper wasp hive. Have 00:18:13.890 --> 00:18:17.140 you seen those? No, I have not. You can just 00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:19.559 get them on Amazon for a couple of bucks. They're 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.279 really cheap and they look almost like a paper 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:27.599 lantern or something. And so they're maybe, I 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:30.819 don't know, maybe 10 inches high and six inches 00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:34.559 wide or something. And they look like a paper 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:38.799 wasp nest. I'm told that hornets don't like paper 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:43.319 wasps. So I will also put those out in the apiary 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:47.230 by beehives. Maybe hanging from a tree 10 feet 00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:50.690 away or something. Again, I have no idea how 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.970 much that is helping, but I'm doing all the things. 00:18:54.650 --> 00:18:59.450 Yeah. Yeah. I definitely see some things online 00:18:59.450 --> 00:19:01.950 with different traps and the commercially available 00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:04.089 ones. I have some of those and definitely going 00:19:04.089 --> 00:19:06.869 to try the, uh, was it chicken suspended over 00:19:06.869 --> 00:19:10.940 a pool of soapy water upside down. There's a 00:19:10.940 --> 00:19:13.220 bunch of things like that on YouTube that people 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:17.019 can look up. I just figure the more hornets I'm 00:19:17.019 --> 00:19:19.400 taking out of the atmosphere, the better. Yeah. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:24.000 And it's just so hard to find their nest because 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.980 yellow jackets nest in the ground. And if you're 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:29.319 in an area like me, I mean, I'm around acres 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:33.880 and acres of nothing. And so it's just really, 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:36.630 really hard to find them. I do every once in 00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:38.710 a blue moon. Once every couple of years, I'll 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:42.710 find one and take it out. Yeah. I found one last 00:19:42.710 --> 00:19:44.829 year right by my house, right by my foundation 00:19:44.829 --> 00:19:48.150 and gave him a little dawn and water and took 00:19:48.150 --> 00:19:50.509 that one out. Still had a plague around the highs. 00:19:50.789 --> 00:19:55.690 It was crazy. Well, and you can get 5 ,000 plus, 00:19:55.690 --> 00:19:58.890 right, of yellow jackets in a little underground 00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:01.549 hive like that or nest, whatever they call them. 00:20:02.089 --> 00:20:05.079 Anyway, the chicken thing. If nobody has seen 00:20:05.079 --> 00:20:07.579 this before, let's try to describe it. I haven't 00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:09.759 done it yet, it looks like you've seen it, I've 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:14.880 seen it. And you take a bin, a big plastic bin 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.220 or bucket or whatever, that's nearly full of 00:20:19.220 --> 00:20:23.799 water. You take a piece of wood, hang it over 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:28.859 that, and you staple, tie, whatever, some raw 00:20:28.859 --> 00:20:32.910 chicken on the bottom side of that wood. just 00:20:32.910 --> 00:20:37.950 a little bit above the water so that the hornets 00:20:37.950 --> 00:20:42.150 fly in. They munch, munch, take some big chunks 00:20:42.150 --> 00:20:46.049 out of the chicken. They drop slightly before 00:20:46.049 --> 00:20:49.190 they can start flying out. That's when they hit 00:20:49.190 --> 00:20:52.130 the water. And of course you've put a little 00:20:52.130 --> 00:20:57.200 dish soap in the water, right, so that They can't 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.000 easily get back off of it. They drown quickly 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.019 because you've broken the tension in the water. 00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:06.019 And I've seen people catch thousands of yellow 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:09.700 jackets that way. Yeah. It looked like a good 00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:13.039 way to go, to be honest. Pick your favorite way. 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:16.259 Hey, this is just me. We love all pollinators, 00:21:16.539 --> 00:21:19.819 but there's some that are hurting our favorite 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:22.460 pollinators. And so I don't mind getting rid 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:25.789 of some of those. Yeah, my wife loves hiking 00:21:25.789 --> 00:21:28.109 in the woods and every once in a while comes 00:21:28.109 --> 00:21:30.569 a little too close to a ground nesting yellow 00:21:30.569 --> 00:21:33.950 jacket and Well, we'll find you know, I hear 00:21:33.950 --> 00:21:37.230 about it. So yeah, I don't mind doing something 00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:39.789 with those for sure Yeah, yeah, they don't belong 00:21:39.789 --> 00:21:41.769 on this planet in my opinion. Okay, you didn't 00:21:41.769 --> 00:21:44.569 hear that from me Well, we have some gooseberries 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:48.569 that are really like that that they're a little 00:21:48.569 --> 00:21:51.319 too early for the honeybees usually Well, and 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:53.700 by the way, those yellow jackets, some people 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.380 call bees that don't know the difference. They're 00:21:56.380 --> 00:22:00.140 the ones ruining your picnic as well. Yeah. Yep. 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.160 Yeah. I definitely got a swarm call for some 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:05.579 honeybees in a wood pile last year. It's like, 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:08.500 can you send me a picture before I go to another 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:11.619 island to pick up these three honeybees? Yeah. 00:22:11.819 --> 00:22:13.859 So speaking of islands, so you're on an island. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.559 Do you take a ferry to get everywhere? Yeah. 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:20.240 Yeah. We don't have, there's no stoplights. Uh, 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:22.460 on any of the islands, when we go to the mainland 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:24.960 Anacortes, it feels like we call it going to 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:29.940 America. Just because our little kind of peaceful 00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:33.640 bubble out here. And when you started with bees, 00:22:34.420 --> 00:22:37.940 did you buy your bees from somewhere on the mainland 00:22:37.940 --> 00:22:40.619 and then ship them over with you? Or are there 00:22:40.619 --> 00:22:42.759 beekeepers on your island you were able to buy 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:46.279 them from? Getting started, I just found a a 00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:48.720 person who was bringing packages up from California 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.279 and I went down to the Seattle area and picked 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.700 them up. And of course it was during COVID, so 00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:55.980 they'd bring them out to your car, put them in 00:22:55.980 --> 00:22:59.220 the back and you'd go off. There wasn't much, 00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:01.400 you know, getting out and talking and whatever. 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:04.960 It was just, here you be, see ya. But yeah, and 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:07.500 I've also gone down and picked up packages from 00:23:07.500 --> 00:23:10.480 people too in my earlier days. So the thing with 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:13.480 the packages, we don't have small high beetles 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:15.750 on our end. I know they're in the neighboring 00:23:15.750 --> 00:23:19.309 county. Brie Price is our local extension person 00:23:19.309 --> 00:23:21.329 there. Washington State mentions that. Yeah, 00:23:21.329 --> 00:23:23.890 they are in Saskatchewan County. I have sold 00:23:23.890 --> 00:23:27.390 some newts to people on the island just so that 00:23:27.390 --> 00:23:30.849 we don't accidentally get small hot beetles on 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:34.289 the island or for now, and probably triple elapsed 00:23:34.289 --> 00:23:37.029 in the future would be something to... Good reason 00:23:37.029 --> 00:23:39.410 not to head for the east of the island. You're 00:23:39.410 --> 00:23:42.369 not allowed to say the T word on this show. No, 00:23:42.529 --> 00:23:45.000 geez. Okay. Put me in timeout. No, we're, we're 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.440 just avoiding that topic as long as we can. Yeah. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:51.700 Well, yeah. Yeah. But, uh, forewarned is. Oh, 00:23:52.059 --> 00:23:54.240 I forget the saying. Anyway, if you know about 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.559 it, you can do, do things to try to prevent it. 00:23:56.700 --> 00:23:59.880 Yes. I'm being facetious, obviously, but there's 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:03.079 so much hard stuff to talk about already with 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:05.940 Varroa and other pests. Glad you don't also have 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:09.259 small hypias. That's one less. Yeah. It's another 00:24:09.259 --> 00:24:11.759 layer of the onion to peel back with, but you 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:14.049 don't be keeping it as it seems like. you learn 00:24:14.049 --> 00:24:16.150 something new and you feel a layer of it, and 00:24:16.150 --> 00:24:17.730 you think you're getting closer to the center 00:24:17.730 --> 00:24:20.509 of it, but now there's more layers there. That's 00:24:20.509 --> 00:24:23.089 why it's so interesting. Again, as we were chatting 00:24:23.089 --> 00:24:26.210 the other day, you mentioned something you called 00:24:26.210 --> 00:24:29.529 beekeeping ethics. Would you explain what that 00:24:29.529 --> 00:24:32.789 is? Beekeeping is local, right? The way you keep 00:24:32.789 --> 00:24:35.910 your bees is the way you feel, you know, because 00:24:35.910 --> 00:24:39.940 you have certain beliefs and whatever. I like 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:42.720 to treat my bees. So I want to protect our local 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:45.440 native pollinators. We have lots of bubbles and 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.160 mining bees and even yellow jackets. But, you 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:50.960 know, I don't want to create a mite bomb for 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.900 these other bees or whatever, or hurt the environment. 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:58.720 I definitely want to actively manage my bees. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:02.480 So in a responsible manner, of which to me, I 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:05.980 feel is responsible. It's personal, right? I 00:25:05.980 --> 00:25:08.740 feel like I need to be a... beekeeper instead 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:12.519 of behabber. And to paraphrase Greek philosophers, 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.759 an unexamined hive is not worth keeping. Let's 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.079 have Plato or Socrates. I think they both may 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:19.799 have said it in different times, but anyway, 00:25:20.299 --> 00:25:24.279 yeah, I, uh, it's just important to me. I see 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:27.980 some people use, uh, well, actually that sounds 00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:30.140 like a tap, this might sound like a tap, but 00:25:30.140 --> 00:25:33.559 the, uh, the double bubble is like in place of 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.579 an intercovers and it's that plastic with the 00:25:36.569 --> 00:25:39.390 the bubble insulation and used to be some of 00:25:39.390 --> 00:25:41.109 their videos and they peel off and said, oh, 00:25:41.230 --> 00:25:44.309 there's a flake of plastic. I think I just saw 00:25:44.309 --> 00:25:47.690 a fall down in their eye and microplastics. That's 00:25:47.690 --> 00:25:50.329 something you hear quite a bit about being in 00:25:50.329 --> 00:25:52.990 our bloodstream and whatever. And I don't know. 00:25:53.049 --> 00:25:55.710 It's just something that I am not going to do. 00:25:55.930 --> 00:25:58.529 And that's just one of the ethical choices that 00:25:58.529 --> 00:26:02.029 is important to me, not necessarily important 00:26:02.029 --> 00:26:04.390 to other people. And I like the term that you 00:26:04.390 --> 00:26:07.390 used a minute ago which was responsibility or 00:26:07.390 --> 00:26:12.369 responsible beekeeping because let's talk swarming 00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:16.490 for a second. Sure. I know lots of people that 00:26:16.490 --> 00:26:20.549 are into beekeeping just as naturally as possible 00:26:20.549 --> 00:26:25.549 and they let their bees swarm and that's great 00:26:25.549 --> 00:26:29.769 until it shows up at your neighbor's house and 00:26:29.769 --> 00:26:33.089 they're not so happy about it. Yeah. It takes 00:26:33.089 --> 00:26:35.890 common sense. If you want to let them swarm, 00:26:35.990 --> 00:26:38.470 great, but let's somehow make sure they're not 00:26:38.470 --> 00:26:41.569 bothering your neighbors. Yeah. And the same 00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:45.849 with Varroa and the same with spraying all kinds 00:26:45.849 --> 00:26:49.410 of pesticides and herbicides all over everything. 00:26:50.130 --> 00:26:52.490 What we're doing affects other people too. So 00:26:52.490 --> 00:26:54.509 I'm glad you're looking at that and trying to 00:26:54.509 --> 00:26:57.640 be responsible. Yeah. And, you know, making sure 00:26:57.640 --> 00:26:59.299 they have a water source that they like better 00:26:59.299 --> 00:27:02.400 than the neighbor's dog's water bowl. Whenever 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.880 I had one of those issues here a few years ago. 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:08.000 Yeah. You don't want to upset the apple cart. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:10.819 Part of what's fun with this show is just meeting 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:13.220 beekeepers from all over the place, all over 00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:16.779 the world. And you're in a unique area. What 00:27:16.779 --> 00:27:19.359 other kinds of things have you learned that you 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:21.839 might be able to share with other people in a 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:24.559 situation similar to yours? I don't know. I feel 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.339 like our situation is pretty unique from our 00:27:27.339 --> 00:27:30.380 isolation and the fact that there are some beekeepers 00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:32.480 on our island, but there aren't a ton of them. 00:27:32.900 --> 00:27:35.180 It's fairly unique. We don't have traditional 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:37.680 row crops and we don't have to worry about the 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:40.980 spring things. We do have some, I do have actually 00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:44.140 organic apple orchard very close to me. A few 00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:46.779 hundred trees. I don't know how big your island 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:51.220 is, but if I were moving to your island, maybe 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:54.440 three or four miles away from you. And I was 00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:56.839 already a beekeeper, but I'm like, I'm used to 00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:58.980 keeping bees in the mountains and in the desert. 00:27:59.319 --> 00:28:01.819 What advice would you have for me there? Well, 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:04.259 there's the universal stuff. It's like, when 00:28:04.259 --> 00:28:06.779 was your last mic count? How many, how many you 00:28:06.779 --> 00:28:10.140 find, you know, that kind of thing. I, I, uh, 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:13.220 I like to do the tenet singhai, which basically 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:16.740 insulate a roof. I do wrap the outside. Get a 00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:19.539 lot of lens here. Galeforce lens, small craft 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:22.759 advisories, that kind of thing. A lens over 50. 00:28:22.910 --> 00:28:25.730 50 knots. I do like, I feel like the slatted 00:28:25.730 --> 00:28:28.329 racks help a little bit with the wind hitting, 00:28:28.529 --> 00:28:31.170 getting up into the brood cones a lot. It was 00:28:31.170 --> 00:28:34.309 something I adopted earlier on in my beginning 00:28:34.309 --> 00:28:38.869 career. Oxalic acid vaporization is a real popular 00:28:38.869 --> 00:28:41.509 treatment. The first one everybody gets is the... 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:43.700 the one you plug into the deep cycle battery 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:46.680 and it has a tray. And I felt like I burned some 00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:49.119 cones at one point, so it's like maybe I'll put 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.559 a little slider rack on there. And there's definitely 00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:54.500 other benefits too, besides a little protection 00:28:54.500 --> 00:28:58.779 from rudimentary OAV applicators. There's more 00:28:58.779 --> 00:29:01.359 room that the cones get drawn out better. If 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:03.460 you don't have a slider rack on there and I have 00:29:03.460 --> 00:29:06.380 some, my five frame equipment or whatever, the 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:08.339 bottom of the cones by near the entrance doesn't 00:29:08.339 --> 00:29:10.940 get drawn out so well and you have to... pull 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:13.799 them up and flip them and whenever you do that, 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.640 disturb the brood nests, it sets the bees back 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:19.740 a bit. So I do like them for that reason as well. 00:29:19.779 --> 00:29:21.579 It gives them a whole more room, a little more 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:24.140 time to catch them before they fly off into a 00:29:24.140 --> 00:29:27.359 tree as well. Do you have a chance to catch many 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:32.140 swarms where you are? Yeah. Yeah. Last year I 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:35.940 caught four. None from my own colonies. Three 00:29:35.940 --> 00:29:37.920 of those was from somebody who overfed their 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:40.630 bees and just they backfilled the brood nest 00:29:40.630 --> 00:29:42.910 and they just went to the trees and there's like 00:29:42.910 --> 00:29:45.130 three after swarms and then another one was a 00:29:45.130 --> 00:29:47.490 colony over on a different island. Just started 00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:50.250 drawing comb outside in this apple tree. I do 00:29:50.250 --> 00:29:53.509 catch a good bit of swarms. Yeah, I always put 00:29:53.509 --> 00:29:56.950 the swarm traps in and wherever I have my an 00:29:56.950 --> 00:29:58.890 apiary set up. I feel like it's a responsible 00:29:58.890 --> 00:30:01.109 thing to do. You know, landing in the neighbor's 00:30:01.109 --> 00:30:04.869 bush, an elderberry bush is much nicer for the 00:30:04.869 --> 00:30:07.630 person whose bush it is then versus, oh I found 00:30:07.630 --> 00:30:10.420 a Dead spots in the house where there is any 00:30:10.420 --> 00:30:14.339 insulation and how you're doing a cut out and 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:16.680 cutting down there their house to retrieve some 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.319 bees But yeah, I think swarm crafts are very 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:23.099 important for that You seem like somebody that 00:30:23.099 --> 00:30:26.039 would have a really fun wild and crazy beekeeping 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.880 story Were you sure one was this? Yeah, I could 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:31.920 do that. I could do that. Oh, are you familiar 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:34.839 with movie Greyhound there with Tom Hanks World 00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:38.950 War two? Sorry, I have not seen it Okay. All 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:41.869 right. So Tom Hanks is the captain of a destroyer 00:30:41.869 --> 00:30:44.470 protecting a convoy in World War two when there's 00:30:44.470 --> 00:30:48.170 a German wolf pack that are Set out to destroy 00:30:48.170 --> 00:30:50.410 the protection of the convoy and the convoy itself 00:30:50.410 --> 00:30:53.589 So it's a very intense movie at the end of it 00:30:53.589 --> 00:30:56.430 but they let the convoy other ships from the 00:30:56.430 --> 00:30:58.769 English mainland have come and took took over 00:30:58.769 --> 00:31:01.849 for them and They're going into port to get patched 00:31:01.849 --> 00:31:03.849 up because you know, they suffered some damage 00:31:03.849 --> 00:31:06.950 or whatever Tom Hanks goes to his second -in 00:31:06.950 --> 00:31:09.569 -command. It's like, you have the con. That deck 00:31:09.569 --> 00:31:12.069 hostler takes over and commands the ship and 00:31:12.069 --> 00:31:13.809 brings them into harbor, and whatnot, and goes 00:31:13.809 --> 00:31:16.930 off. And that's the end of the victory. My job 00:31:16.930 --> 00:31:20.829 is similar. I'm the second command of a captain. 00:31:21.069 --> 00:31:23.970 I'm Richard Merrier. I'm in charge of a navigational 00:31:23.970 --> 00:31:27.150 watch. And we listen to different things, like 00:31:27.150 --> 00:31:29.150 air traffic control. We have vessel traffic control. 00:31:29.170 --> 00:31:31.029 We have a radio for that. We have a different 00:31:31.029 --> 00:31:34.660 radio for making pi -dows, passing... arrangement 00:31:34.660 --> 00:31:38.240 and also in the corner sometimes we'll have a 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.779 radio on we'll listen to classic rock or whatever 00:31:40.779 --> 00:31:44.420 and every once in a while it'll be during a beat 00:31:44.420 --> 00:31:48.740 club zoom meeting and i'll have that going on 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:50.859 you know on a level where we could hear all of 00:31:50.859 --> 00:31:52.940 our other radios but we can still pay attention 00:31:52.940 --> 00:31:56.420 to that anyway so this one beat club meeting 00:31:56.420 --> 00:32:00.619 just listen to it the guest came on very respectable 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:03.609 randy elever It's good stuff for the beekeeping 00:32:03.609 --> 00:32:05.950 community. I think that's indisputable. He came 00:32:05.950 --> 00:32:09.849 on and lit the zoom meeting and he wanted everybody 00:32:09.849 --> 00:32:13.450 in the meeting to see their face. And, you know, 00:32:13.549 --> 00:32:15.910 I've been a darkened pilot since that night. 00:32:16.490 --> 00:32:19.089 Brian, I want you to turn on your camera so I 00:32:19.089 --> 00:32:23.029 can see your face. No, I can't do that. It's 00:32:23.029 --> 00:32:26.390 like, Brian, and he wouldn't let it go. And I 00:32:26.390 --> 00:32:29.230 just, you know, obviously couldn't destroy my 00:32:29.230 --> 00:32:31.900 light. night vision by looking at the thing and 00:32:31.900 --> 00:32:33.779 turning on the light so he could see my face. 00:32:33.779 --> 00:32:36.660 So I just had to reach over and just turn off 00:32:36.660 --> 00:32:39.460 the volume. And I don't know, I hopefully he, 00:32:39.460 --> 00:32:41.920 he, he, he did it safer, you know, asked for 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:44.460 me to keep doing that for a long time, but I 00:32:44.460 --> 00:32:46.799 don't know. I just turned the volume down because 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:49.240 that's kind of what I had to do. And I just felt 00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:52.000 so, I still feel embarrassed about it. It just 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.059 like getting caught out by Andy Oliver. It's 00:32:55.059 --> 00:32:58.220 just not something you want to do as a Vkeeper, 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:02.660 right? Oh my gosh. But that was my embarrassing 00:33:02.660 --> 00:33:06.019 moment. Your embarrassing moment didn't even 00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:08.819 have any honeybees in it. It wasn't getting stung 00:33:08.819 --> 00:33:12.480 in a weird place or anything else. No, no, but 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:14.720 it was just getting called out by Randy Oliver 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:19.200 and disappointing. I just felt so small, but 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:22.420 it's what I had to do. Someone like Randy Oliver 00:33:22.420 --> 00:33:25.099 probably has the authority to take your beekeeper 00:33:25.099 --> 00:33:28.970 merit badge away. I'm a boy scout. I guess I'm 00:33:28.970 --> 00:33:32.109 a bad boy scout. I don't know. Probably not the 00:33:32.109 --> 00:33:35.309 first one. All right. Last question and you're 00:33:35.309 --> 00:33:37.349 welcome to think about it for a minute. And that 00:33:37.349 --> 00:33:40.430 is, you know, I can tell that you just really 00:33:40.430 --> 00:33:42.849 love the bees and really enjoy spending time 00:33:42.849 --> 00:33:45.430 with them. What is it about it that you love? 00:33:46.150 --> 00:33:49.710 It just, um, it forces you to be present, to, 00:33:49.750 --> 00:33:52.670 you know, take a deep breath and be calm when 00:33:52.670 --> 00:33:54.589 you're working your bees. You don't want to squish 00:33:54.589 --> 00:33:57.650 them, see what's going on. and react. It's kind 00:33:57.650 --> 00:34:00.349 of similar to my job. Not all the things you 00:34:00.349 --> 00:34:03.009 see out the window you need to react to immediately. 00:34:03.470 --> 00:34:05.210 Some you could just monitor, right, and see what 00:34:05.210 --> 00:34:07.890 happens. But other times there's things where 00:34:07.890 --> 00:34:11.409 you just got to act and make a change. I find 00:34:11.409 --> 00:34:13.550 it really peaceful. I guess that's one of the 00:34:13.550 --> 00:34:15.570 pitches for the Heist for Heroes thing, to help 00:34:15.570 --> 00:34:18.289 people who've faced some adversity and whatever, 00:34:18.929 --> 00:34:21.929 and just kind of help manage your mental health 00:34:21.929 --> 00:34:26.659 a bit, you know? And I find that it... It does 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:30.420 makes me calm. I like that calm is a good thing 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:33.619 and you're in a beautiful beautiful place I'm 00:34:33.619 --> 00:34:35.480 gonna have to get up there one of these days 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:40.019 if you do feel free to Look me up anybody actually 00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:42.079 anybody who comes up to work is right in the 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:44.159 middle of two World Cup venues in Vancouver and 00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:46.400 Seattle gonna have lots of people in the area 00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:48.219 if there's me beekeepers who want to go through 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:52.400 a hive drop me an email at I wouldn't be supply 00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:57.150 at gmail .com and to go poke around. All right. 00:34:57.329 --> 00:35:00.449 I want to go salmon fishing too. Okay. All right. 00:35:00.849 --> 00:35:03.389 July. It's a short season these days. They haven't 00:35:03.389 --> 00:35:05.510 been running too many tournaments, but I've seen 00:35:05.510 --> 00:35:08.309 orca whales out there feeding. The southern residents 00:35:08.309 --> 00:35:11.190 were out here just last week and saw those. I 00:35:11.190 --> 00:35:12.869 actually saw a gray whale last week too. That's 00:35:12.869 --> 00:35:15.570 pretty crazy. Nice. Yeah. All right. Take care, 00:35:15.590 --> 00:35:18.429 Brian. All right. Take care. Thank you for having 00:35:18.429 --> 00:35:23.730 me. Thanks again for joining us on Be Love, Be 00:35:23.730 --> 00:35:26.929 Keeping presented by Man Lake. Another big thank 00:35:26.929 --> 00:35:30.199 you goes to V2B Health for their support. Vita's 00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:33.360 Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, 00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:37.820 Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release Oxalic 00:35:37.820 --> 00:35:40.760 Acids Trips. Hey, thanks a lot guys. And if you 00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:43.239 haven't yet, please subscribe to and follow the 00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:45.440 show, tell your friends about it, and click on 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:48.800 over to BeLoveBeKeeping .com to sign up for our 00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:51.760 free newsletter. If you have a guest suggestion 00:35:51.760 --> 00:35:54.880 or topic you'd like discussed on the show, shoot 00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:58.400 me an email, eric at BeLoveBeKeeping .com and 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.860 remember If you're not just in it for the honey 00:36:00.860 --> 00:36:04.059 or the money you're in it for the love. See you 00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:04.639 next week