Education Episodes

Oct. 10, 2024

Plain Talk: Looking Back 200th Episodes (200)

In this special episode, Jim reflects on reaching the 200th episode milestone. He shares insights from the podcast's journey, from its humble beginnings with Kim Flottum to the challenges faced along the way. Jim highlights the evolving nature of the...

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June 6, 2024

Plain Talk: Not My Bees (182)

In this episode, Jim Tew dives into the humorous and often frustrating situations beekeepers face when neighbors expect them to handle all sorts of "bee" problems. Jim shares personal stories of dealing with carpenter bees, yellowjackets, and...

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Feb. 29, 2024

Talking With Kids About Bees (168)

In this enlightening episode, Jim invites American Bee Journal editor, Eugene Makovec, to the podcast to chat about their experiences and insights on how to engage young minds with the fascinating world of beekeeping. They delve into the joys and...

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Jan. 18, 2024

Mentoring Young Beekeepers (162)

In today's episode, Jim and Becky Masterman (co-host of Beekeeping Today Podcast) delve into the challenges and joys of mentoring young beekeepers, with a special focus on family dynamics. Jim shares his recent experience of being asked to mentor his...

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Nov. 16, 2023

Browsing Bee Books (153)

As the leaves fall and the bees nestle in for winter, many beekeepers find themselves next to a warm fire, a cup of tea in hand, flipping through the pages of their cherished bee books. Have you ever looked at …

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Aug. 17, 2023

The Evolution of Beekeeping (141)

What’s changed in the past 150 years or so? For some of us who have been around awhile, it seems like a lot. Most honey is still produced in the boxes Langstroth put together. Size and shape maybe different now, …

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April 13, 2023

Lessons Learned: Memorable Meetings (121)

Are you a club president or in charge of planning meetings for your beekeeping organization? They always go well, don't they? No... of course not. They don't. What do you do when they don't? In this episode, Kim and Jim …

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Dec. 22, 2022

Our Genesis Stories in Beekeeping (105)

Not a lot of people start keeping bees without some outside influence. A relative, neighbor, college class, or getting a job in bees. Jim started out with a college class, to fill electives. Kim got a job working for the …

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Nov. 17, 2022

5000 Years of Beekeeping in 24 Minutes (100)

Honey Bee Obscura celebrates its 100th episode with this release! Jim Tew and Kim Flottum invite, Beekeeping Today Podcast’s Jeff Ott to join them to take a look at 5,000 years of beekeeping history, sorting out some of the highlights, …

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Nov. 10, 2022

Winter Reading: What's On The List? (099)

Winter tends to have a bit more time inside than outside and one way to spend that time inside is to catch up on your reading. Jim and Kim talk a bit about the books they read, the authors and …

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July 7, 2022

The Importance of Mentors (081)

On today’s episode, Kim and Jim talks about what it takes to be a mentor to another beekeeper, and therefore what you can look for in a good mentor. As a mentor, you have to develop good communication between you …

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Jan. 20, 2022

Bee Beards - Part 2 (057)

In today’s episode, Kim and Jim continue their exploration of Bee Beards… though this time… they go big… really big bee beards you see in the movies, where they use 20 maybe 30 pounds of bees, and the person is …

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Jan. 13, 2022

Bee Beards - Part 1 (056)

Really? You want to do a bee beard? OK, let’s think this through. How much do you know about bees and bee beards, and why do you want to make a bee beard anyway? Some people will think you are …

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Dec. 16, 2021

Considering the Bee Culture December Issue (052)

The December, 2021 issue of Bee Culture magazine arrived this month. In this episode, Kim and Jim look at this special issue and discuss why it’s special every December. Starting right off, it’s the Interview issue, where the regular writers, …

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