Teach Me Bees

This week, Dave Wescott is remote and Scott Calentine is in studio while we interview Randy Oliver. Randy Oliver is a commercial beekeeper from California, whose management decisions are based upon the understanding of bee biology. He performs applied research for the benefit of beekeepers worldwide, and shares information at his website ScientificBeekeeping.com. Randy has a lot to say on varroa m...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about their latest favorite tv shows and types of bee hives. If you are considering getting a new hive or just starting out and are not sure what to get, this is for you! Should you get a langstroth hive? A Flow Hive? A top bar hive? Something else? Take a listen! We are available to help you pick what is best for you, email us at scott@honey4hope.o...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about how to order bees. Do you need a nuc or a package? Do you know what those terms mean? Take a listen and find out! Along the way, Scott and Dave share how they met their wives- you'll get to know them a bit more in this episode! If you're interested in ordering bees or the process email scott@honey4hope.org to learn more. As always, thank you f...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine interview David Lundquist. David spent 3 decades pastoring in Edmonds, Washington. During that time he found a deep appreciation and love for bees and became a backyard beekeeper. During that time, David discovered the rich history bewteen beekeepers and the Christian faith. In this episode, David shares some of that history and his personal experience w...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine were able to talk with the wonderful Charlotte Wiggins. Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is an award-winning author, blogger, Certified Master Beekeeper and Master Gardener Emeritus. She has been keeping honey bees for 15 years and gardening ever since she can remember. Her one-acre Missouri limestone hillside garden, where her neighbors said nothing would grow,...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine had the joy of interviewing Peter Notle of Rainy Day Bees, a Seattle based beekeeping company. In this episode we tap into Peter's wealth of knowledge and experiece in beekeeping and starting a beekeeping company. Peter Nolte has been keeping bees in the Greater Seattle area since 2011, working in urban and rural areas as the owner and head beekeeper of...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about the forbidden topic.... reproduction! Honey bee reproduction is quite different to human reproduction. From egg to larvae to pupua and emerging as a worker bee... it's quite the interesting process! There's a lot of fun had and Dave shares a midnight horror story that happened to him. As always, thank you for listening. We hope you had fun wit...

This week is Christmas with New's right around the corner! With the season, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine have some fun with it being a joyous time! The main focus of the episode is food! Dave and Scott are both foodies, so naturally they loved this episode! We hope you find some of our recommendations to be worthwhile! Links will be down below. As always, thank you for listening. We hope you h...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine address the topic of swarming. Swarming is when bees leave their colony with the orignal queen to start a new hive. Typically, swarming happens in sping or early summer (May-June), but can happen other times. Swarming is the natural way honey bee hives reproduce, as a beekeeper it is a stressful event! We talk about ways to avoid swarming and what to do...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about what is needed to start beekeeping. What things would you need to start? We dive into the basics needed to get started and go in some interseting directions with movies and bee suits! We like to joke around and have fun, but also give you real infomation to help you learn about bees! Below are some links to bee gear! https://www.mannlakeltd.co...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine interviewed to Dr. Timothy Lawrence, emeritus of Washington State University. Dr. Lawrence wrote an interesting article that got our attention, "2023 is looking like one of the worst years for honey bees in nearly two decades" (link below). Dr. Timothy Lawrence has an extensive history in the bee world from raising bees and beekeeping at a young age to c...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine interview Les Scott, a beekeeper in Bellingham, Washington. Les started beekeeping with his first nuc in April of 2019. Now he has 35 mature hives and 3 nucs going into the winter. He owns a beekeeping supply store and sells nucs and queens. In his words, "I think I like beekeeping!" To stay connect to Les or learn more follow him on Facebook: [ https://...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about pollination. In light of Thanksgiving, Dave and Scott wanted to discuss the importance of pollinaiton to our food supply. Some of your favorite Thanksgiving food (pumpkin pie!) might be direclty impacted by pollination. We also get into a great Star Wars debate! Who's top 3 Star Wars movies are best? What are your favorites? We like to have so...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine discuss the topic of winterization. Winter is an important season for beekeeping. Spring and summer and full of honey and bees flying around, but winter is very different. In winter hives beocme semi-dormant. Dave and Scott discuss some important things to know about winter beekeeping and dive into their favorite movies growing up, can you guess what the...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine share about the honey market. When it comes to buying honey, do you know the difference between organic, raw, or processed honey? We dive into these variations of honey that are sold. Plus, we talk about the lifespan of honey bees, which is 45 days. Dave proposes the idea of a bee year. Does one day equal 1 bee year? And of course, Dave has some great li...

This week, Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine share about their first experiences being stung by bees or wasps and talk about what it is like to get into the bee hives. Plus, Dave has to talk about the craziness of the Africanized Honey Bee. All of this and a lot of fun is had! As always, thank you for listening. We hope you had fun with us and learned something new about bees or the bee world, whic...

In the second episode of Teach Me Bees , Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine talk about the experience of doing the first Honey 4 Hope honey extraction. It was a small thing, but a big experience! Have you ever wondered what honey extraction is like? This episode is for you! Have you given much thought to your perfect last meal? Drone bees get kicked out of the hive, which inspired a conversation abo...

In this inaugural episode of "Teach Me Bees," we are introduced to the enthusiastic voices that will guide us through the fascinating world of beekeeping—Dave Wescott and Scott Calentine. Though they are relatively new to the industry, their thirst for knowledge and understanding is anything but novice. Join us as we uncover their passion for beekeeping, what inspired their journey, and what liste...