Do you want to know how to recognize Bees in your garden and neighborhood? Do you want to plant flowers that will invite more bees to your garden? I’m super excited because for Earth Week, it’s April 27,2019. I have the Assistant Professor Pollinator Health Extension from the Department of Horticulture | Oregon State University, Dr. Andony Melathopoulos from the Pollination Podcast!

Oh there’s more then one bee?! When I do master gardener training is I help people identify 5 bees that are in North America. When you garden for bees it gets kind of complicated. If you can identify these 5 bees then you can go visit a neighbor’s garden and say oh! I see that bee on this plant.

Identify 5 Bees |  10 tips to use in their garden tomorrow cheat sheet

Pollinator Habit

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m in beautiful Oregon

looking out the window in Oregon

• Horthornes are just starting to come into bloom
• Ceanothus the California Lilac

Tell me about your first natural or gardening experience? How did you fall in love with horticulture?

I was an urban kid, I remember I come from a Greek immigrant family. I remember my aunts and uncles having great tomatoes and going to Greece and the produce there that just  tastes wonderful.

I remember starting to do it myself in my late 20s in the most northern part of Canada

In the Peace River District where we would get a frost August first so we grew a lot of Kale!

Where is that? Nova Scotia or the Yukon?

It’s mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. It’s the most northern growing area in the US.

the one things that lovely when it hits solstice.

sun dips down around three and then just pops up again

You get this really long exceedingly quick and rapid growing season It’s amazing!

The downside is you’re always dodging the frost

One year I had the audacity to grow tomatoes and the ones that grew they were the size of a marble I was like  I’m learning! 

What could you grow? Could you grow potatoes?

potatoes

frost pocket

I was working at the aG Canada research stations

It started because it was so far from anywhere the idea was to make people self sufficient

• prairies
• Northern climate

fruit trees

• hapscas
• apple orchard

You have to adapt your gardening for it, it’s tricky, but there are ways to get around things. People were always pushing your envelope

For me as a beginning gardener I struck to the fundamentals

• great garlic
• tomatoes
• cherry tomatoes maybe but doing real tomatoes was beyond my pay grade at the time.

Me too, I stick to cherry tomatoes in Montana.

Tell us about the bees

This is how I start it off

the first thing we are confronted with these plant lists. You can go anywhere on the internet and type pollinators and plants and they spit out these lists

problem with the lists

they’re ok

There’s lots of good plants on them

But there are a lot of bees!

there are not just honey bees

yellow jackets

I get calls all the time

• yellow jackets
• hornets

different groups bees and wasps are closely related

thing with bees

You can always tell a bee

if it’s carrying pollen on it’s body

not all bees do

BUT IF YOU SEE a lump of pollen on an insect flying through the air it’s a bee!

Their protein comes from pollen! They’re vegetarians!

BEES! No other insect that relies on pollen and nectar and for it’s life!

radical turn towards the flowers

ok

yellow jackets and hornets are not bees

What’s a bee?

honeybees

bumble bees 

mason bees (you had a great episode on mason bees!)

There are 800 bees

Colletes Cellophane bees

If you go on your goldenrod

little specs with a white dot on their face you’d never think they were bees 

they’re so small!

You would never think they are bees

If you go to your golden rod in the late summer

you’ll see a spec with a dot

little critters going from flower to flower those are bees

It’s intimidating

They’re not going to be out at the same time of year

coming out at different times of year

just getting a plant list aint gonna cut it you are going to need to pay attention to the bees in your backyard!

I can five you today special

Once you see those five bees, then you can poke around your neighborhood and say this bee is on that flower and start to fill out your garden with plants that are really specific to your area

• don’t have pest problems
• available for nurseries
• local seed growers are growing them

come up with something that works!

Awesome! is that including the tiny one we can’t see? or five others?!

So I gave you six! Bonus just for you!

I would start first of all there’s some confusing things because lots of people want to trade on the bee brand

• wasps sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart
• flies

You have these beneficial flies join your garden

number of genera that look like bees

look at their heads and legs

Bees have chunky back legs. Usually it’s where they carry their pollen

females do, some carry on their bellies

If you look at their heads they have branched antenna sort of elbowed and it sticks out a way

Flies have a nubby antenna

• head is almost entirely eye balls
• fly that looks bee like usually their abdomen is thin like a ribbon
• a lot of flies hover

hover flies

great bio control for aphids every organic gardener should be watching for these 

real sign that maybe aphid potion

they will hover

Bees don’t hover they dart around

flies and wasps look like them

There’s a couple of things that look like them

flies and wasps

First is a honey bee everyone knows, kind of iconic

• not yellow and back like a wasp
• striped on the back
• light part is leathery brown to kind of gray

real like the bumble bees

pull out

They carry polling a little basket

The females have a spoon on their back leg so they pack the pollen, so it looks like a little lentil

Only bumble bees and honeybees do this

Everyone knows the bumble bees they’re really fuzzy!

Only thing you can get confused with in the southern US are carpenter bees that looks a little similar

look a little

clear difference 

bumble bees are gonna carry pollen in their back legs.

Bumble bees big and furry in a few places carpenter bees look like them

got it

lentil shaped pellets

• honeybees

• bumblebees

In Oregon we have close to 30 different species all have different color patterns. Carrying pollen in their back legs.

I just have a quick question about the flies? You want the flies, or if you see the flies you should be concerned because you’re getting aphids or it’s a good thing because if you have aphids they are eating them?

The adult flies are not the aphid controllers. It’s the larve

A lot of the same flowers that attract the bees are going to feed those adults so to find those aphids they are going to run off nectar. They go to your flowers looking for nectar and poppin off aphids!

If you start to see them pop up in density, check your plants out 

There’s a lot of good aphid controlling insects. It’s one of the 

(I’m not a pest management expert)

one of the easiest things to control organically with natural predators if you wait a bit they are going to find them

• lay eggs
• hoover them up like PacMan
• eat aphids like nuts!

They’re good and any of the garden tips are really generalists will go to shallow flower to nectar

When you see them and check the plants out if they are hovering around something if you see them you may say omgosh the aphids!  they are going to take care of your aphids.

The next bee you talked about a group you talked about in a previous episode

It’s a big group. 

I keep picturing Bee Movie and the Pollen Jocks

I love it that Jerry Seinfeld had one thing, after he finished Seinfeld there was one project he wanted to do,  which was make the BEE Movie.

Because of Bee MOVIE when I’m down there watching our bees I notice the pollen jocks. We have had a hard time with keeping honeybees alive. I think it’s because my neighbors spray pesticides but we’re not sure.

Honey bees are tricky.

So many things you can do. bees do

• cut comb honey
• queens
• divide them

There are all sorts of tools

We had a great episode with Kim Flottom from 

bee culture

He just talked about the history of bee keeping, there is an amazing long history of people keeping bees! It’s amazing!

tricky business

pesticide use

we have a survey where we don’t ask beginning bee keepers why they are not successful. Most often they don’t feed them enough

80% of the situations the colonies run out of food

He started a magazine called

beekeeping in your first three years

often times

If you think your gonna watch some youtube

It really does require mentorship, it’s tricky to get up and running. You can have these problems like a neighbor who sprays pesticide

any gardening

You need a strong skill set to pull it off

I always worry there’s a lot of people getting into bees because of conservation purposes.

I am not going to convince you

• rich habitat
• more

Don’t want to persuade anyone from beekeeping.

We were talking about bumble bees

moest bees are solitary

There’s no queen. A little nest not very big

no nest mates one female doing all the work

different

When you’re doing honeybees you’re like I know about bees

no, no, no

All the rest of the bees are so different in the ways! They’re all collecting bees.

That interview I did with Olivia from Mason bees? Do you think we will have more success with the honeybees.

Out there in Montana.

I’m an albertan

run out of state

Montana and Alberta honey is some of the nicest on the planet

It’s so mild it smells like cinnamon

I totally get it

getting fresh honey and be able to put it on toast

It’s super healthy for you, it’s good for your immune system and if you want natural sugar and I think there are people who say a teaspoon of sugar a day is good for you.

especially for baking too

easier for digestion

• moisture
• flavor
• aroma

there’s something I eat sugar I admit

there’s something

honey

you get walloped with these

• smells
• textures

it’s like one of the most 

no processing

They take the wax off

heat to separate out the wax

pretty simple stuff

You make it simple. The first year we had them we just used our last pint of it last year it was a few years ago we had . I think we got the bees in 2014? They all just swarmed and then last year a swarm came back and I thought we were gonna get a new hive and move into one of the boxes but they didn’t.

the trick to bee keeping

has multiple ways to do it

maximum population

When the clovers in full bloom you want the maximum population

150 lbs per colony

kind of average they get on the great plains

You have to do a lot of work on the front end.

• That colony can’t swarm
• manage the populations

just like growing anything

If you want to get a really good potato crop

all these things before your tubers even set

don’t do those things

still gonna get hit

from the start of the season until that flow you want to be keeping the colony in motion and moving

queen goes

if you do that you’ll get 150 lbs

 so many things can go wrong and if things go wrong they don’t

It’s tricky and it’s expensive we’ve spent a small fortune already on what we’ve gotten!

I’m excited to learn more.

You had Olivia from Rent Mason Bees on the Show

Olivia told you about this next groups

make wax

don’t make wax

the big lipped bees

the Megachilidae

you don’t have to say that

in Oregon we have about 100 species in this group all distinctive becasue the females don’t carry the pollen they carry it on the belly

look under her belly full of pollen

dense hairs on her belly sticks the pollen to it!

that gives this distinctive

only family that has polling on it’s belly

includes their mason bees

make their nest out of mud

• resin bees – make their nest out of resin
• leaf cutting bees – cut pieces of leaf to make their nest
• wool carder bees – see them on lambs-ear

in the Pacific NW for sure in California.

You’ll see the males patrolling the lambs ear and they’ll head butt any bee that 

female he’ll let in

shave the hairs nest

little tubes

looking for twigs with a little hollow putting their mud, leaf, wool, resin

wealthier reason

don’t make honey at all. 

They take the pollen

• rollout up on a little ball
• lay an egg on it
• wrap it up on a leave

No child care!

never see their offspring!

raspberry cane

house you can bulled out of wood go through the winter

next spring pop out again

In your garden they’re nesting somewhere all around

suddenly when their flowers they are going to come out.

next group of bees

solitary

nest above grond

pollen on their bee

Cool bee #3 Big lipped bees?

truck and trade

lip means their mandibles

The equivalent of a tooth in an insect

• cutting a bit of leaf
• dig up mud
• scrape up resin

They look mean but they are not mean!

They’re really gentle

mason bee

put them in places where the kids rare

The only way they are gonna get stung is if they pick it up and put it in their nostril and smash it. 

they are really gentle

mandibles

craft tools

this is my little hatchet

shaving off

lambs ear leaves

big lipped big jawed bees

pollen belly bees

you now have 3 bees flying through your garden!

This is fascinating. This is one of the tips I took away from Olivia was that these are pollinator bees you are going to get more flowers and blooms in your garden! Such better pollinators, I think we are going to get the leaf cutters because it’s later in the season.

That’s not entirely true but is true at the same time

bumblebees are the only thing that will pollinate your tomatoes and blueberries it’s in a tube it’s like a salt shaker you have to shake it up  to get pollen out

tomato

hold onto the flower and buzz it

bumblebees are really good at it will set your tomatoes or eggplant or whatever

anything can pollinate them just need a broad range of insects

strawberries

some bees don’t like to go to strawberries is an example of a fruit that will set on it’s own

wind

look at a strawberry plant

move pollen from edge to center sometimes a little knocking will do it so if bees visit it will set a strawberry

zucchinis

squash bees

listeners will have them

there are these bees that just set the squash pollinators ever

Let me back up a little, the impression I got from Olivia, having the mason bees, I was going to have more flowers blooming and by having more flowers blooming was going to attract other bees.

I’d have to go back an listen.

Me too now that I say that, she did say something about.

honeybees

bee that you’ll see

males are all distinctive

In Oregon we have I think 8 species of these

US in Canada

emerald green bee

looks like

front is green but the back end is striped

see that bee it’s a metallic sweat bee

males in this group

• striped
• green
• females are mostly all green
• carry the polling on back legs

don’t have a little spoon on their back leg, but not a little pellet looks like pollen stuck all the way up their leg, in their armpit

Michael mass daisies

you’ll see them, they’re already out here all year long they’re great they are a 

beautiful bee

thing about them

life cycle of most bees

most bees live like this

dig a hole int heg  orange like a gopher

pollen chamber

lay an egg and they’re done

barely see them very unconspicuous

burry in the ground

oh wasps?!

coming in out of it

one female goes in the hole then she pops out gone for 10 minutes they are all over the garden

100s of species of bees that do that

So do you think people are seeing them and don’t know what they are?

after this episode

I challenge everyone to look for these five bees and spot them

they were here all along

so complete

focusing on things

miss stuff

see my there;s al to of activity in here

do they all pollinate

some are not that great of pollinators

rob the nectar

think about the things

If you look and think about it’s life cycle

Get an appreciation for it

People garden for butterflies but they don’t pollinate butterflies are amazing

of course I am going to put some plants out because I love them

• so fascinating
• do a few things

mason bees are really good pollinators super pollinators they just go to work

native

who cares? Tehy’re just so cool!

may not do that much without

I love that!

Last bee!

If you have sunflowers at the end of the year for sure

long horn bees

love sunflowers

what’s noticeable about them is the antenna

front part

long horn beetles with the long antenna

length

these guys are the same way with this ridiculously long

The females don’t have the antenna but they have velcro on your back legs

long horns and chaps! Totally Montana! 

I’ve learned a lot about rodeo here, you could make a cute little Bee Movie about the Texas longhorns. I’ve always wanted to make an animated movie.

the one thing about the Seinfeld that’s a little misleading is that all the bees who do work in a colony are females. Certainly if you wanted to make that movie just a little bit more interesting it would be with a whole female cast.

had to bite my tongue

I don’t care

I totally get it

make that movie

We had a podcast by a guy name Al Shay

amazing landscape instructor

get a piece of advice

When people want to do pollinator gardens the problem is people want to do this huge project and it fails and what you need to do is a square foot

small and modest

watch it

you can pick out these five bees

search image

next thing

10 principles how to refurbish your garden to get more of these bees coming

what bees need more then anything is they need place to make a nest

unlike butterflies what got all across the landscape

• nest
• twig
• hole in the grond
• food in reach
• bumblebee forms a colony
• lifespan of that colony

If the flowers disappear for a couple of weeks it’s gonna hit them!

It has to be the right kind of flower!

You need a wide array of flowering plants

so that

not all flowers are the same

some have bell shaped flower

penstamen

any bee can get into it!

a lot of different flower shapes

When you are planting across different planting 

bell shaped flowers

variety to different lower shapes

a lot of different flowers shapes in your garden you are going to get the broadest range of bees

one thing

ornamental gardens

People will put black eyed Susan’s next to Russian sage

look at it closely

honeybees

will be entirely on the Russian sage it’s a more complex flower a longer carolla. 

exclusively

black-eyed Susan

short tongued bees

will be on the black-eyed Susan if you only had one or the other you would exclude one of the bees

Wow that’s so interesting if someone’s said that I don’t remember. I planted black eyed susan’s last year next to my lavender and they are next to my echinacea and they are kind of different shapes.

lavender will be exclusively

echinacea

different bees on these flowers

lavender is really just 2 bee species

what about irises do any bees go to them they are kind of big!

irises aren’t a great bee plant

talked about daffodils

not pollinator plants

back in holland and Europe

fly pollinator

long tube is kind of like a greenhouse they bloom really early

warms up

pollinates

you’ll notice

• crocus
• grape hyacinth

I love both of those and they come up early right?

principal 2

bloom over time

first bees

active all winter long

Honeybees are the only bees you’ll see on a warm day in January the rest are asleep or in some kind of dormancy

great big bumble bee queens

on her own

no nests

She’s wintered in the ground and popped out and is looking for any resources she can

early bulbs

valuable

willows only things around 

It’s important that after that you have other plants and flwoers that come on

• drought tolerant plants
• still blooming in august

Having flowers that continuously across the seasons is the 2nd principal.

Maybe that’s what it is because Mike says they have died in November before they should be hungry or starving

setting up for butterflies and winter is important

migratory monarchs

the last stop before getting to California the last generation

lots of nectar on to get that strength

those butterflies have to spend the winter and rear the first generation of offspring

Honeybee colonies need good nutrition in august

bees that are born in august early sept are the ones that are going to take you through the winter

colonies

good nectar and polling resources later in the year

important element for sure.

3rd principal = include natives

dandelions – the plant is a really good for pollinators and is not from here

never go wrong with native plants

don’t have the aesthetics

native plants have greater odds of attracting bees

buckwheats

scorpion weed phsylia

deep blue flower attracts broadest range of bees

non native plants

fruit trees

native bees are not entirely specialists

they don’t go to one flower but use a bunch of different flowers but if you can include native plants

I just did an interview with Neil Diboll, I haven’t released it yet, for listenesr to know that will be coming out soon!

won’t go to one

number 4

if you do plant exotic plants ~ don’t do double petaled ones

theres far the flowers

rose

There’s a real difference between a wild rose and a bread rose

also makes it really hard for a bee to get down to the nectar

really beautiful but if you are planting for pollinators 

don’t have all the flowers

Awesome! I love wild roses. We haven’t ever planted a rose bush here, but we have a wild rose outside my bedroom and by my car.

roses are always on the cusp 

transition

between early spring and early summer flower

in the horticulture department I love the red roses I wouldn’t get rid of them!

I’m so fascinated by people who go to school and study horticulture. I am also fascinated there is a whole department devoted to landscaping

I didn’t know

I’m a bee person

Two doors down from me is the turf specialist

Alex knows a lot about

how to grow

• lawns without fungicides or pesticides
• golfcourses
• superintendents interested in putting pollintaor corridors in

Al a door down

Gail

master gardener coordinator

horticulture department is the best

everyone who manages land I feel like I am with the cool kids now.

What were you studying? How did you end up there?

I was a bee guy

only one of it’s kind

National Pollinator Week June 17-23, 2019

pesticide

big box store

Someone applied an insecticide to these shade trees and the next day there were all of these dead bumble bees all over the pavement.

State of Oregon struck a task force we have to get around it

First they restricted that pesticide, you can’t use it on those trees anymore

Built this comprehensive education program

• forestors
• golf course superintendents
• mosquito control experts
• gardeners
• land managers

Oregon bee project

I love it! Best job ever!

we are out

talk to people

forestors

talk to everyone

programing for them

make Oregon

Only one with a position in this place other states are working on it

person who is native bee

apiculture extension

not one who’s main purview is giving them the tools! I feel like a unicorn, the only one of my kind!

My listeners are green future growers so maybe someone’s thinking I’m gonna find out how I can get this going in my state?

it was started by concerned citizens talking to their legislators

lowest hanging fruits

why states should have

great initiatives

We’ve had a couple of people from Montana

great initiatives in Montana where they’re 

Casey Delphia from MSU

lots of stuff going on

dedicate to doing this one role. I love this job! It’s amazing!

Tip # 5 Don’t Forget Trees

can’t get more flowers per unit area

• maple
• cherry
• fruit tree

don’t forget them

Tip # 6 plant in big blocks

like big block stores

not just a plant here

plant there

shown to do that

Tip # 7 Deadhead

When you have plants taht start to fade deadhead

more bloom

start

last 8 & 9 are related

don’t create a nesting habitat

sedum

remember a lot are ground nesting

create those

• pithy stems
• mulch

Mulch a lot but don’t much the planet!

leave some areas

rock pathway

bees will nest will there

last thing Tip #10 and I don’t have to say that on this show

very careful

don’t leave pesticides

any

key to that is just when you start your garden

don’t plant plants that are going to be pest prone

talk to your master gardener or plant clinic

don’t plant that thing you are going to be xyz for a long time

first line of defense don’t plant problem plants.

What about water?

they find water

honeybee colony

honeybees need to cool down need water, once they go to your neighbors pool they don’t want to stop

getting water out when it gets really hot it helps to cool things down

It doesn’t take a lot of water

We don’t have a lot of water here in Montana, you’re in moist Oregon! Mike built this really sweet little bee creek and the moss grows and the bees really love that.

 I guess the last thing I would say, it gets dry here in August

Waterwise Plants

lots of places in the US we have water issues. It bears to say there’s lots of plants that grow on high moisture conditions so another reason to pick native plants if you want to want to cut back ion your water choose waterwise plants is really responsible

don’t need to use it in your garden

You need to tell everyone about your podcast!

Getting close to episoe 100 what did you do for your episode 100?

I went to Paris! I interviewed Bill McDorman from Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance

why do you listen to podcasts

I’m

• doing my dishes
• out gardening
• 3 hour drive

You do a good job knowing that people want a conversation

Somebody said you laugh way too much!

TELL US ABOUT YoUr PODCAST!!! and what they’ll learn and what kind of guests you have on!

there’s so much going on in the pollinator world

I started the show even if noone was listening talking to as many people as I could but not just researchers

great research going on

on the ground

one

I love

David Cantlin city manger for the city of fife in Washington

favorite for years battling clover on city lands

now he’s single handedly

great experiments

city of fife property

how he got there

his experiments were fascinating to me

somebody from protein seed

ecolawn

bunch of years to develop

setting up an eco law

I’m mostly interested in learning from someone who stuck their neck out

weren’t astounding success

trying these things out for themselves

who better to

what are some of your favorite podcasts?

all sorts of other things

I listen to

all the Canadian in the US

CBC

debators

funny podcast

pitch a bee idea

one they had

toronto maple leafs

best worst tv

listen to podcast just to see how people do things, why am I drawn to a certain podcast?

how do people put info across?

I think podcasts are a great way to hear different things you wouldn’t hear normally

allows you to experiment with the pressures of the magazine we were talking about gardening magazines

we had an episode

beekeeping magazines

risk takes some financial investment

explore different guests in a way without the constraints

I agree I listen to such a variety of podcasts.

I started with Michael Hyatt taking a leadership class I found This is Your Life he’s big on leadership and productivity. I did just hear him on Amy Porterfield who I listen to about how to create an online course. I’ve listened to Serial like a dozen times. Everything from International law from the Human Rights at the UN, the Hoop House about animal rights. Lewis Howes, I was a big fan for a long time. Today I was listening to Tony Robbins talking about the number one equalizer is time. 

two that I really like

Beekeeper Confidential

What I love about that episode is Mandy has a quirky way of putting the podcast together

frequently but they are way better produced then my show

Thinks carefully, she had one where she interviewed NYC has a police person, a staff member who is in charge of the bees!

cool when it comes to bee stuff

mainstream beekeeping show

buzz bee keeping podcast

New Zealand

They’re really hardcore beekeepers

last one

Kim Flottom from 

I did do an episode with bee culture has it’s own podcast 

honeybee

A favorite reading material-book, mag, blog/website etc you can recommend?

4 Xerces society

Farming with Native Beneficial Insects: Ecological Pest Control Solutions

Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects 

most requested book on our show

well done

don’t know the Xerces Society out of Portland, OR

national invertebrate Society

farming with native beneficial insects

most requested book on our show

other book I really love

California bees and blooms guides for

comprehensive book

well written

good bee books

really put this off

based on a lot of

I loved Lynn Byczynski

The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us about Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business!

by Liz Carlisle

The Song of Increase by Jacqueline Freeman

Andrew Mefferd just wrote a book about No-Till Farming

I’ll just say no-till is great for bees too, for example squash bees

not just moisture retention

Final question- if there was one change you would like to see to create a greener world what would it be? For example is there a charity or organization your passionate about or a project you would like to see put into action. What do you feel is the most crucial issue facing our planet in regards to the environment either in your local area or on a national or global scale?

I do think, in a round about way, I feel strongly about it. I do think one of the problems is when it comes to pollinators

create some bridges

its going to have to involve a lot of land managed in a specific way which all gets bond up in things like farm income and all the kind of problem that are there in land management

When I first got here there were a lot of land managers who were not just enthusiastic about bees and it was hard to talk to them

where the people managing the land

their businesses were surviving

Need to build a bridge

a lot of uncertainty

I can give you some rough ideas of what a garden ought to be but there’s a lot to know

land managers who are skeptical you are going to wreck their businesses

passionate

people see those things come together

one of the most stunning moments I had was out in Eastern Wasthington being at a potato meeting

growers din’t need bees for pollination and they were suspicious of us being a bunch of environmentalists 

We brought a bunch of bees

various places in the state

saw them

diversity of colors

saw the

appeal that can be made

We could get people on board without going after them

start maybe something along the lines of 

this is an endowment we have

A right across the US

up in Canada

a lot of them do pollination

maybe aren’t

Aren’t they amazing!

can we all get behind that? Maybe some modest give and take

opening up  dialogue

don’t make assumptions about what people think

if my job has shown me anything I’m always being surprised by people!

I love getting along with people and building a conversation I think that’s encouraging if we keep an open mind. 

How do we connect with you?

pollination

anywhere

we have a

blanket initiative here in Oregon

The Oregon bee project we have lots of tools and resources

I can send you a link

How did you start your podcast?

It’s ind of a funny story! I thought I was going to Webinar on Fire and learn how to make webinars and mike would teach people how to garden via youtube and webinars and IDK I just fell in love with podcasting I love my shows and my guests. We’re all dedicated to the  creating a green future and environment.

I am the organic eater, not as much the gardener. This year my goal is to plant more raspberries and blueberries and then strawberries in 2020, I talk a lot about starting small and make it convenient. I talk a lot about the compost pile outside my kitchen window, I also talk a lot about clean garden jobs, it’s very forgiving. I struggle with watering. There will be days in the summer where I don’t even see the garden for 5 days. 

I interviewed David Schemterrling in Missoula, ou would never believe there in the middle of a city, but they have this native yard they grow the only water is for the specialty peppers and thai basil that they like to cook with.

My husband is always laughing at me because I’m like I want to start planting these native plants and my husband’s like just go outside the fence because he’s been building a fire break around the show.

What are some of your favorite bee episodes?

Treatment Free Bees

One of my favorities’ was with Jacqueline Freeman from Washington, a lot of beekeepers on my show have talked about different ways to deal with mites. She said it’s like setting off an explosion when you dust for the mites she talks a lot about getting  a healthy hive naturally. 

I also talked to Olivia Shangrow from Rent Mason Bees.

I love when my listeners come on they make great guests. Care Bellamy down in Florida started this program the Sustainability Project 

And then GloryBee

and I feel like I’d be remiss not to mention Patti Armbrister who basically has her own fan club on my show and she has just talked about so much she’s an amazing teacher. I want to say she’s middle school and high school, FFA person and just a wealth of knowledge. I met her because of my podcast.

I think the coolest thing about my podcast, I’ve met neighbors that live a mile from me, and then there are people in the Facebook group from Kenya and Russia and Australia. The number one theme on my show is it all comes back to soil health.

I think about one element the pollinators. It’s all got to work together.

Bringing in beneficial insects, a lot of the same thing for bringing in bees is how to bring in beneficial insects which will help reduce your pests. The number one question I got last year was what do I spray on my organic lawn and I talked to AJ Olson down in Texas he says mix molasses with water.

What would you say

The 3 biggest questions I get are:

How to get things to be more productive – how to get more things to grow. My most looked at page according to google analytics is what crops to grow in NW Montana.

the big one is how do you pollinate the crop to get more out of them.

How do I attract pollinators so I’ll get more fruit on their trees. Like Mike struggled for a long time with eggplants, he would get these giant purple flowers but no fruit so how to get that work.

• How to attract beneficial insects to reduce pests
• How to use cover crops compost and manure to improve your soil health
• How to grow 20% more with less labor

Yeah you can get more production

• Soil health bees living in that soil, good health is important
• pest management without having impacts on pollinators
• sounds like we have similar concerns.

You’re podcast runs how frequently.

I try to put out a new episode on Mondays, and I was trying to put a replay out on Thursdays. I get picked up on PRN on Monday nights, that’s been helpful for me, having to have a new show to them every week has helped. Pretty much consistently. 

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