Bees & Veterans: A Remarkable Story of Hives, Honey and Duty

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In this episode we discover how veterans and beekeeping is a win-win combination! 3 Bee Veterans Program instructors, Ben, Jessica and Joshua talk about all things bees; from hive life, foraging, transpersonal beekeeping to Colony Collapse Disorder.

For veterans who miss a sense of community and shared purpose of military life,  the Bee Veterans Program offers beekeeping training, shared camaraderie in this hands-on world of honeybees!  

Ben Ziegler, former USAF,  works with the U of MN Spivak Honeybee Lab, the Bee Squad, and Bee Veterans Program.  Jessica Helgen manages colonies and collects hive data for the U of MN Bee Squad Bee Network Program. She is coordinator and primary instructor for the Mentoring Apiary workshops. Joshua Munoz, former USMC, is an Agricultural Teacher at Como Park Senior High School, instructor for U of MN Bee Veterans Program and ambassador for the Minnesota Honey Producers Assoc.

QUOTES

JESSICA: “I still remember the first time they opened a hive for me and there were bees flying all around and I could smell the honey and the wax coming out of the colony. And it was just really magical.”

JOSHUA: “...there's this rhythm into beekeeping. And I think having an open mind... and being willing to learn about something that people have been working with for so long... Be humble when you work with... honeybees.”

BEN:  “....a honeybee colony...have like a two mile radius around their hive that they'll forage from... If you have a, say a suburban hive, that's a lot of blacktop, that's a lot of roofs, that's a lot of just Kentucky bluegrass lawn that they can't use. If we are wanting to make a difference on a personal level here, I think a lot of people would really need to add... flowering plants to their yard.”

LINKS

University of Minnesota Bee Lab

University of Minnesota Bee Veterans Program

University of Minnesota Spivak Lab

Rebecca Masterman, University of Minnesota, 2018 President's Award for Outstanding Service

Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota, Dept. of Entomology

Heroes To Hives Program (Heroes to Hives’ National Director Dr. Adam Ingrao)

Bee Wise farms, LLC (lacey Ann Ingrao, M.A. Transpersonal Psychology

Transpersonal Psychology

 

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