Robo’s World

June’s Wildlife Pro Network Beekeeping podcast will be a discussion on Native Wildflowers and Bee Friendly Plants with our special guests master gardener Grace Mathews.

After retirement from a long career of Public Service, in Dade County, Florida, Grace moved to North Florida where she farms a small citrus grove, where she grows tangerines and red navel oranges. She also maintains a small garden of Native plants, Florida friendly plants and also Wild Flowers. Through the extension office where she volunteers as a Master Gardener, she met Santiago Wallace of Wallace Family Apiary, now in addition to her chickens and wild turkeys, she also host some of Wallace’s Apiary Bees. In order to maintain a safe environment the use of chemicals is very minimum in her grove. In the garden adjacent to her home, she has no turf, thus saving precious water and totally eliminating the need for chemicals and/or fertilizers. She believes that with some planning, it’s possible to maintain an attractive landscape without the use of harmful chemicals and fertilizers.
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A few years ago, I read a statistic that said the average age of a beekeeper was 60. I must say I wasn’t at all surprised, yet I fully understood the consequence of such a statistic. I know CCD is not good for the bees, but could it be the savior of beekeeping? Because of the national coverage of CCD, there has been a tremendous influx of beginners and hobbyist who have been bitten by the beekeeping bug. Yes, all puns are intended It is great to see so many hobbyist getting back into beekeeping after varroa pushed a vast majority of them to leave in the early 90s. BUT…… Although the number of beekeepers may be up, and the average age may be more in the high 40s, the future is still not bright. We need more youth involvement.

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April’s Wildlife Pro Network Beekeeping podcast will be a discussion on Screened Bottom Boards & Paraffin Dipping Equipment with our special guests Janet Brisson from Country Rubes’ Farms, maker of the popular Combo Screened Bottom Board.

Janet Brisson and her husband Mike have been a self-sufficient family and organic farmers for over 30 years. In 1995 they were forced to become hobbyist beekeepers due to lack of pollination as bees were loosing their fight against the insidious Varroa mites. Horrified to discover that even the most organic-minded beekeepers were driven to use some type of chemical to save their bees, the Brisson’ researched and started building and using screened bottom boards along with intensive drone brood management to reduce their chemical use. After 10 years and various adaptations of SBB’s, they re-discovered using powdered sugar as an effective way of detaching Varroa mites and have been chemical free since the beginning of 2005. One final modification of their screened bottom board to make using powdered sugar easy, the Brisson’ developed their product, the Country Rubes Combo Screened Bottom Board, that has become nationally available to beekeepers. Janet’s program “Healthy Bees & Environmentally Friendly Varroa Control” discusses how to monitor and manage your hives, bees and varroa mites using screened bottom boards, powdered sugar, and drone brood manipulations has been given at Conferences and clubs throughout the United States

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Recordings of other beekeeping podcasts can be found here.

January’s Wildlife Pro Network Beekeeping podcast will be a discussion on Sustainable Beekeeping, Queen Rearing & Overwintering with our special guests David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms.

David and Sheri began keeping bees in 1994 in Ohio and the hobby went wild in 2004, 10 years later. For the last 5 years, they have ventured into every aspect of beekeeping. First, it was honey, then beekeeping equipment, then packages and queens, then classes and the list keeps growing. They have 6 children and 4 are involved in their bee business.

They maintain around 100 colonies a year and produce and sell hundreds of queens each year. They also sell 500 packages a year along with nucs. David is currently serving as president of our 70 member bee club, Central Eastern Illinois Beekeepers Assoc., and Central Director of the Illinois State Beekeeper’s Assoc. Presently they are the only large scale queen producer in Illinois. David is also serving as a lead member in the Illinois Queen Initiative, an effort underwritten by a SARE grant to produce a better queen for beekeepers.

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Recordings of other beekeeping podcasts can be found here.

March’s Wildlife Pro Network Beekeeping podcast will be a discussion on Bee Acupunture with our special guest Dr. Amber Rose, author of BEE IN BALANCE, A Guide to Healing the Whole Person with Honeybees, Oriental Medicine, & Common Sense.

Amber Rose has been a healer all her life. After graduating form the Universities of Chicago and Iowa with special honors, she went on to study at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland. Amber is a licensed acupuncturist in three states and the District of Columbia. Amber also became an ordained interfaith minister through the New Seminary in New York City and finally got her Ph.D. in Theology at Columbia State University in Louisiana.

After stumbling on the amazing healing power of honeybees, Amber opened her home in Bethesda, Maryland and created a free clinic to sting people with bees. Inspired by the remarkable recovery of her patients, Amber wrote the award winning book, BEE IN BALANCE. Considered by many to be “The Bible” on Bee-Acupuncture, this book is bound to be a classic.
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