Bees With Ben
126 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago -For any of you that know me, I love a good yarn. One the of the best things about my job is getting out and about with local people, sharing the knowledge I have about bees, the environment, produce, gardening and healthy living.
And I have lots of experience getting on my soapbox! For years now, I have been a representative at local and international conferences. I have appeared on popular TV and radio programs (including The Project, ABC radio, Network Ten News, and Channel Nine’s reality show, Dream Job). I have launched educational programs and am excited to launch my new podcast!
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Episodes
PODCAST EPISODE 25: Steve Donohue, beekeeper and author of Interviews with Beekeepers
December 10, 2020 03:10 - 37 minutes - 29.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 25: Steve Donohue, beekeeper and author of Interviews with Beekeepers Times flies when your… a beekeeper! So, it’s been a MASSIVE two months since we last spoke (or I spoke with beekeepers, and you tuned in), but the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast is back! And I am so very happy about it – I have missed you all so much! As some of you know, I am becoming an author! My first book titled For the Love of Bees is about to become available as a very limited run (so get your or...
PODCAST EPISODE 24: Ben the Busy Bee says “hi” and “goodbye” – but only for six weeks!
October 12, 2020 20:12 - 22 minutes - 19.3 MBPODCAST EPISODE 24: Ben the Busy Bee says “hi” and “goodbye” – but only for six weeks! For beekeepers, the annual cycle of work and rest is a rollercoaster. As bees rug up and hibernate for the winter, beekeepers wait around, twiddling their thumbs, dreaming of bees, painting bee boxes, and drinking long cups of tea doused in their favourite honey. To be honest, the cooler months of the year can be quite excruciating! And then, FINALLY, the first blooms of spring peek out into the world, th...
PODCAST EPISODE 23: Sarah Hamilton, Native Beekeeper and founder of BeeYourself, Brisbane, Australia
October 04, 2020 10:17 - 31 minutes - 25.1 MBPODCAST EPISODE 23: Sarah Hamilton, Native Beekeeper and founder of BeeYourself, Brisbane, Australia These days the honeybee is well-known and well-loved. Of course, I completely understand why – these little darlings pollinate 70% of the world’s food crops, so what’s not to love! In comparison, native bees don’t get nearly as much press as they deserve. Hugely diverse across the globe and each with their characters and unique abilities, native bees are the unsung heroes of the bee world. W...
PODCAST EPISODE 22: Matthew Waltner-Toews, Unspun Honey, Mount Gambier, Australia
September 24, 2020 10:42 - 33 minutes - 26.3 MBPODCAST EPISODE 22: Matthew Waltner-Toews, Unspun Honey, Mount Gambier, Australia I love imperfections in nature, especially honey. As a natural beekeeper, I take my hat off to businesses that privilege the wellbeing of the bee over all else. That’s what makes Unspun Honey one of my favourite ventures. Located in the Mount Gambier region, Unspun Honey is owned and operated by Matthew Waltner-Toews and his family – a lovely pack of first-generation, self-taught beekeepers who started in 2014...
PODCAST EPISODE 21: Cedar Anderson, Flow Hive co-inventor, Byron Bay, Australia
September 16, 2020 09:19 - 34 minutes - 27.1 MBPODCAST EPISODE 21: Cedar Anderson, Flow Hive co-inventor, Byron Bay, Australia While the recording of this episode might be a little crackly in parts, I feel it represents something of the character of my next guest. Inventor, entrepreneur, bee lover, family man, paraglider, Flow Hive co-creator – Cedar Anderson is a truly down-to-earth bloke with truly down-to-earth (yet highly ambitious) passions. The chat we had – recorded, on his end, from underneath his house – crackles in parts, like...
PODCAST EPISODE 20: Ryan Moloney (AKA “Toadfish” from Neighbours), Beach Box Honey, Australia
September 13, 2020 08:08 - 33 minutes - 26.9 MBPODCAST EPISODE 20: Ryan Moloney (AKA “Toadfish” from Neighbours), Beach Box Honey, Australia If there is a piece of fine art that sums up the experience of the Aussie suburbs like no other, it’s Neighbours. And while the soap opera has a swag of lovable and hateable and completely relatable cast members, I feel very positive and assured in saying that there is one character that viewers, probably around the 30-to-40-years bracket, adore most of all. For this reason, I am beyond excited to ...
PODCAST EPISODE 19: Cody Adams, beekeeper, founder of Bee Scientific and Bee Barrell Hive creator, Utah, USA
September 03, 2020 05:55 - 30 minutes - 23.5 MBPODCAST EPISODE 19: Cody Adams, beekeeper, founder of Bee Scientific and Bee Barrell Hive creator, Utah, USA Beehives: for beekeepers, these are not just boxes of different shapes and sizes, they are the residences of our best friends, the bees. And, as we love our bees dearly, we want to make homes for them that are functional, architecturally sound, ergonomic, suit their lifestyle, respond to the climate, fill them with joy, make them want to make honey and more honey, give them a perfect...
PODCAST EPISODE 18: Emily Forrest Mikschi from Embodybee, wandering the East Coast of Australia
August 28, 2020 10:53 - 31 minutes - 25.2 MBPODCAST EPISODE 18: Emily Forrest Mikschi from Embodybee, wandering the East Coast of Australia There is a quote from Eve Byers’ short documentary, BEEing Kept, where Emily Forrest Mikschi says “I don’t really think you could call me a beekeeper because I feel as though it’s the bees that are keeping me.” What a thought, one to stir over slowly, one that conjures the complexity of the relationship between humans and bees and begs us to think about the depths of that connection. Emily Forres...
PODCAST EPISODE 17: Jill and John Richards from Nature’s Gold, Brisbane, Australia
August 19, 2020 21:15 - 31 minutes - 24.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 17: Jill and John Richards from Nature’s Gold, Brisbane, Australia I love a good team. There is a very beautiful saying by Mother Theresa that reads, "None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." I have been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to work as a team, no matter how small that team might be. At Ben’s Bees, I do a lot of running around on my own, but each and eve...
PODCAST EPISODE 16: Richard Noel, beekeeper, business owner, and all-round interesting chap, Brittany, France
August 13, 2020 00:42 - 44 minutes - 35.1 MBPODCAST EPISODE 16: Richard Noel, beekeeper, business owner, and all-round interesting chap, Brittany, France For me, one of the best things about beekeeping is the way it connects to other things. Beekeeping isn’t just an activity in raising colonies and collecting honey – bees connect us to the environment, showing us how small we are and simultaneously how important it is that we change our ways to keep the planet healthy for all creatures great and small. The process of keeping bees is ...
PODCAST EPISODE 15: Gladstone Solomon, beekeeper and Bees for Development trustee, Tobago
August 06, 2020 11:28 - 41 minutes - 32.7 MBPODCAST EPISODE 15: Gladstone Solomon, beekeeper and Bees for Development trustee, Tobago Some people have wise and particularly beautiful souls. It is not something that can be quantified; it is just a feeling that you get when you meet them, a kind of radiance that exudes from their being. I have seen this in bee-people – as generally, humans that love bees are good sorts – they have a connection to the environment and an understanding of the necessity to be at one with nature. But every ...
PODCAST EPISODE 14: Michael Kiem from Denmar Apiaries, Cloyna, Queensland
August 01, 2020 03:05 - 37 minutes - 29.9 MBPODCAST EPISODE 14: Michael Kiem from Denmar Apiaries, Cloyna, Queensland Due to the vastness of Australia, much business happens via road and air. This extends to apiary and beekeeping, and in one great example, I source my queen bees from a wonderful keeper and breeder, Michael Kiem from Denmar Apiaries, way up in Cloyna, Queensland. Michael runs his apiary with his wife Crystal and is one of the biggest queen breeders in Australia, breeding around 30,000 queen bees per year! And that is ...
PODCAST EPISODE 13: Adam Barassi, Tax Accountant from Barassi and Co. Chartered Accountants and Future Beekeeper
July 29, 2020 09:46 - 43 minutes - 35.3 MBPODCAST EPISODE 13: Adam Barassi, Tax Accountant from Barassi and Co. Chartered Accountants and Future Beekeeper As we are all starting to learn that we need to slow down and smell the roses … but THEN we learn that in order for flowers (like roses) and other plants to grow and be smelt, pollination has to occur. Which brings us to bees, of course! Bees are the world’s number one, most-loved pollinator. Part of the process of humans slowing down involves realising what is truly important, w...
PODCAST EPISODE 12: Stephen Heatley, owner of Kangaroo Island Ligurian Queen Bees, Kangaroo Island
July 23, 2020 03:21 - 35 minutes - 27.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 12: Stephen Heatley, owner of Kangaroo Island Ligurian Queen Bees, Kangaroo Island Artists are known to be eccentric people, but from my experience, some of the best and most interesting beekeepers are similarly colourful characters. To be so obsessed with one small, yet mighty, creature takes a certain personality, and a little wackiness and a lot of passion seem to be quite usual key ingredients in the recipe of a great beekeeper. That is why I am excited to introduce you ...
PODCAST EPISODE 11: Anita Long, Founder of the Tasmanian Junior Beekeeping Group, Tasmania
July 16, 2020 11:27 - 38 minutes - 29.5 MBPODCAST EPISODE 11: Anita Long, Founder of the Tasmanian Junior Beekeeping Group, Tasmania Dedicated, passionate, friendly, outgoing, patient, encouraging, warm, a wealth of knowledge – my praise for Tassie beekeeper and educator extraordinaire Anita Long is endless. I met Anita three years ago, and she has never ceased to amaze me with her vision and commitment. Anita is the founder of the Tasmanian Junior Beekeeping Group and program; she also runs in-school programs for kids about bees a...
PODCAST EPISODE 10: Lindsay Bourke of Australian Honey Products, Tasmania
July 12, 2020 21:08 - 31 minutes - 25.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 10: Lindsay Bourke of Australian Honey Products, Tasmania I love Tasmania. Over the past few years, I have been lucky to pop across Bass Strait relatively regularly to hang out with my bee-mates in Tassie – young and older, this beekeeping community has a great appreciation and understanding of the island’s unique and precious environment. It sure is a remarkable place, one of the most spectacular on Earth in my opinion, and that’s why I am so pleased to welcome fifth genera...
PODCAST EPISODE 9: Warm Greetings and Gratitude from Ben
July 05, 2020 06:48 - 21 minutes - 18.2 MBPODCAST EPISODE 9: Warm Greetings and Gratitude from Ben In this episode, I send out my warmest hellos and thank you’s to all the incredible people that make the BEES WITH BEN beekeeping podcast a reality. It’s one thing to have a podcast, but it’s a very different thing for that podcast to be a successful place for the sharing of information and stories; a very different reality and pleasure to make a podcast that builds community in a way that is enriching and pushes past geographical bou...
PODCAST EPISODE 8: John Edmonds from Edmonds Honey, Geelong, Victoria
July 02, 2020 09:07 - 43 minutes - 33.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 8: John Edmonds from Edmonds Honey, Geelong, Victoria John Edmonds is a chatty, enthusiastic, warm-hearted bee bloke and business owner. With a wealth of experience that goes back into his family history, John is noted for saying, "keeping bees is like a jigsaw, get all the little parts of the puzzle together and you will get the finished puzzle.” Owner of Edmonds Honey based in Geelong, John is the only commercial beekeeper I know of in Australia that uses jumbo-sized beehi...
PODCAST EPISODE 7: Neil Stuckey from Sticky Stuckey Honey, Gippsland, Victoria
June 25, 2020 10:49 - 35 minutes - 29.1 MBPODCAST EPISODE 7: Neil Stuckey from Sticky Stuckey Honey, Gippsland, Victoria I don’t get jealous much, but I am a tad envious of my dear friend Neil. With a name like Neil Stuckey– yes, like Sticky, Stuckey Honey– what’s not to turn a little green over; it’s the kind of last name keepers dream of, and it seems to me that the gods (or his parents at least) must have known that Neil would be a bee lover and a maker of delicious honey when they went about making and naming him. It’s a pleasu...
PODCAST EPISODE 6: Kirsten Traynor from 2 Million Blossoms
June 18, 2020 09:36 - 33 minutes - 26.8 MBPODCAST EPISODE 6: Kirsten Traynor from 2 Million Blossoms I recently declared my love for podcasting. Despite it being an activity that many people told me I would lap up, I had no clue just how good spreading my love of bees, the environment, cooking and healthy living would feel. Having a podcast has meant that I have been able to share some of my dearest bee-related friends with the world, but this week, I am super excited to share the story of an amazing individual who I have not had t...
PODCAST EPISODE 5: Milan Wiercx van Rhijn, Bees for Development, France
June 11, 2020 08:46 - 34 minutes - 27.3 MBPODCAST EPISODE 5: Milan Wiercx van Rhijn, Bees for Development, France A few years ago, I visited one of my favourite countries in the whole world, France. During my stay, I was lucky enough to be well looked after by my now dear friend, Milan Wiercx van Rhijn, and his lovely partner, Kim. Spoilt with handmade ice-cream (thanks Kim!) and wonderful conversation about how bees are doing the most incredible job to take care of the planet (in more ways than just pollination), my stay with Mila...
PODCAST EPISODE 4: Manuel Hempel of Vindfløy Bybigård in Bergen, Norway
June 04, 2020 07:58 - 32 minutes - 25.6 MBPODCAST EPISODE 4: Manuel Hempel of Vindfløy Bybigård in Bergen, Norway As you will find out, the last time I saw Manuel Hempel was in a karaoke bar In Canada. Obviously, my stellar singing voice made a great impression on the young, 34-year-old beekeeper from Norway, as we have stayed in touch ever since. To be serious, I met this incredibly passionate fellow when we were both at the APIMONDIA beekeeping and honey production conference in Montreal, Canada, and was struck by his story. Pass...
PODCAST EPISODE 3: Nicholas Bishop from the London Honey Company
May 28, 2020 06:09 - 34 minutes - 27.4 MBPODCAST EPISODE 3: Nicholas Bishop from the London Honey Company I love to travel. And with lockdown restrictions meaning many of us have very itchy feet right now, I have been thinking that the perfect antidote to cabin fever is the BEES WITH BEN podcast! What a better way to keep meeting beekeepers, honey slurpers, nature lovers, and apiarists from all over the world than a virtual hang out with yours truly! And episode three is a real cracker! As many of you know, I spent a month or two...
PODCAST EPISODE 2: Manuka King Rob Waddell from Grand Ridge Nursery
May 21, 2020 06:55 - 33 minutes - 25.9 MBPODCAST EPISODE 2: Manuka King Rob Waddell from Grand Ridge Nursery It was three years ago that I met nursey owner, bee lover and plant genius Rob Waddell at the Coonara Beekeeping Club in Ferntree Gully, Victoria. As plants are the key to making bees happy, I was struck with Rob’s incredible wealth of knowledge, especially when it came to Australian natives and the magical Manuka tree responsible for the medicinal variety of honey that we should all be tucking into as wintertime hits. For ...
PODCAST EPISODE 1: Simeon Valkenburg from Valkenburg Apiaries
May 12, 2020 10:15 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBPODCAST EPISODE 1: Simeon Valkenburg from Valkenburg Apiaries It doesn’t happen every day, so when you meet someone that you know will be both a friend and mentor, it’s a glorious moment. That was the exact feeling I had when I first met Simeon Valkenburgback in 2016, making Episode One of the BEES WITH BEN podcast super special. It was early springtime in Townsville, and Simeon and his brother Paul were part of a group of us – six beekeepers in total – who got together and volunteered to ...
Bees With Ben - Episode Zero
May 09, 2020 06:22 - 33 minutes - 29 MBFor any of you that know me, I love a good yarn. One the of the best things about my job is getting out and about with local people, sharing the knowledge I have about bees, the environment, produce, gardening and healthy living. And I have lots of experience getting on my soapbox! For years now, I have been a representative at local and international conferences. I have appeared on popular TV and radio programs (including The Project, ABC radio, Network Ten News, and Channel Nine’s reality...