How Bees are Interconnected and Help the Environment with Beekeeper Jimmy Trujillo [Episode #711]

This week’s topic is: How Bees are Interconnected and Help the Environment with Beekeeper Jimmy Trujillo

I am so excited for this very special podcast conducted in Hawaii, right on our sacred, amazing land with a very special guest, our incredible wise beekeeper, Jimmy Trujillo, who I’ve learned so much from. He knows so much about the universe of bees and their connection to source and their integration in the environment, how they help everything hold together, their pollination, their activity. He is so brilliant at managing our hives and understanding beekeeping. He’s also a teacher in many respects. He’s just an incredible soul, a beautiful, very special individual that I’m so excited to share with you today.

[BULLETS]

• We discuss how the idea of producing honey from our land came about…
• The process of collecting honey and the impact on the environment…
• Jimmy shares more about the queen and its successive line…
• Frequency and vibration of the bees…
• Integrating the wild hive into a box is explained…
• How bee pollen is produced…

[FEATURED GUESTS]

About Jimmy Trujillo

Jimmy has been beekeeping on Kaua’i since 2007 and is a founding member of the Kaua’i Beekeeper’s Association (KBEE). He has served as Secretary, Treasurer and President on the KBEE Executive Council and has taught apiary classes through Kaua’i Community College’s Office of Continuing Education & Training.

Mr Trujillo works with apiarists, farmers, homeowners, property managers as well as new bees and wanna-bees providing guidance, instructions and consultation on managing apiaries, removing feral colonies and preventing future reinfestation of unwanted beehives.

The youngest of four children, Jimmy was born and raised in California
by his parents, former migrant farmworkers, who settled in the Santa Clara valley prior to silicon, shopping malls and expressways. He migrated to the Garden Isle with his wife, Maria in 1999 and manages BeeKindApiaries and helps with turning the compost at Makaleha Farms in Kapahi.

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Jimmy’s Interview

• Jimmy’s Website

Other Podcasts you may enjoy!:

• Simple and Healthy Wellness Rituals
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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Kimberly: Hi loves and welcome back to our Monday interview podcast. I am so excited for this very special podcast conducted in Hawaii, right on our sacred, amazing land with a very special guest, our incredible wise beekeeper, Jimmy Trujillo, who I’ve learned so much from, he knows so much about the universe of bees and their connection to source and their integration in the environment, how they help everything hold together, their pollination, their activity. He is so brilliant at managing our hives and understanding beekeeping. He’s also a teacher in many respects. He’s just an incredible soul, a beautiful, very special individual that I’m so excited to share with you today. And again, we just talk about the, the magic of nature and bees and everything being interconnected.

Fan of the Week

So I’m so excited to share this conversation with you today. Before we get into it, though, I want to give a shout out to our fan of the week and his or her name this week is rmtyzzo and he, or she writes so grateful to find this podcast, the tips and holistic living suggestions in this, these episodes are really great.

Kimberly: I look forward to new shows every single week, and I’m really enjoying Kimberly’s new book. I highly recommend it and tuning in here. Well, rmtyzzo my hands are on my heart. I have taken that in. Thank you so much for being part of our community for participating and writing a review. It means the world. Thank you so much, sending you so much love wherever you happen to be.

Please leave a review on iTunes

And my loves for you listening to this as well for your chance to also be shouted out as our fan of the week, please support and leave a review on apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to our podcast, it is a beautiful, and may I mention free and easy way to support the show? And I appreciate it so much. Please also be sure to subscribe to our show while you’re over there. It keeps you in the flow of energy and self care, which is really what our show is dedicated to helping you live your best life. And please also share the show. This is part of this expansiveness, this oneness, which Jimmy and I get into today, but really sharing resources and information. So you can take a screenshot. You can send a link to anyone that you think would benefit in your community. And that’s a wonderful way to expand your own energy.

Get Your Copy Of YOU ARE MORE

Kimberly: Lastly, I will mention here that our new book, You Are More More Than You Think You Are – Practical Enlightenment For Everyday Life, is out. Now you can pick it up wherever books are sold, and it’s a really great practical guide as our Tzo mentioned in the review about really just learning to live this life of working with your own energy, creating magic from your individual unique gifts, tapping into the wholeness, tapping into real creative power, real abundance, real love and peace inside of you. So it’s as practical a book as I’ve ever written. And I’m so excited to share it with you. Please check it out again, wherever books are sold. All right. So all that being said, let’s get into our wonderful conversation today with the amazing Jimmy.

Interview with Jimmy Trujillo

Kimberly (00:01):
Jimmy. Thank you so much for coming over our beloved beekeeper. My pleasure have been such a huge part of our journey. The year we’ve been here in Hawaii, you’re one of the first people we met and actually helped us close on our house.

Jimmy (00:17):
Isn’t that funny?

Kimberly (00:19):
So this story

Jimmy (00:20):
That was be a beekeeper help you <laugh> close on your house.

Kimberly (00:24):
So we were gonna close and we live in this, you know, pretty rural property, as you know, and then suddenly we had the kids here, we had an Airbnb set up, we were ready for our clothes move. And then we get a notice that there was some kind of bee infestation. And the inspector said, we have to push back the close. So our real,

Jimmy (00:44):
We can’t sell a house with a live hive. Didn’t it?

Kimberly (00:46):
<laugh>. Yeah. So Kat who is our amazing realtor and Ronnie found the amazing Jimmy you came and you said, well, there is a hive in this side of the guest house, but it’s okay to close or something to that effect.

Jimmy (00:59):
It’s not gonna affect the structural integrity of the home. Right. <laugh> I remember it was like, you want me to say what? And she was like, yeah, if you could just say that this hive you’ve seen it, you’re a beekeeper and it’s not gonna ruin the building.

Kimberly (01:11):
Right. And

Jimmy (01:12):
It like, oh, well that’s easy.

How the idea of producing honey came about

Kimberly (01:14):
So then we got to the land and then we noticed, you know, this organic, beautiful beehive was there on the side. It was just natural. And I think Jimmy, that is where we originally got the idea of bringing,

Jimmy (01:27):
Starting

Kimberly (01:27):
Your own APS. Yes. Yeah. And so then of course, we reached out to you and you said, well, how many vs do you want? And I remember sitting here at this very table and I said, well, I said 11, and you said, why did you pick 11? And I said, well, one in what? It’s like an angel Dar <laugh>

Jimmy (01:44):
<laugh>.

Kimberly (01:45):
So that was the

Jimmy (01:45):
Random neurology

Kimberly (01:46):
Thought process. Yeah. Because we wanted a certain amount of, you know, producing honey and bees. And so,

Jimmy (01:52):
And I think we ordered 33 hive boxes.

Kimberly (01:54):
Exactly. So

Jimmy (01:56):
Three hi boxes per hive.

Kimberly (01:57):
Yes. Yes. Just

Jimmy (01:58):
To get us started

Kimberly (01:59):
Just to get us started. And so it’s been this beautiful unfolding, the land here is so well, first of all, we came here, we wanted to work with the lands. Mm. So there’s flowers, there’s all these plants.

Jimmy (02:10):
You’re good on you for wanting to work with the land. Yes. Because I mean, that’s an important feature. Well, you land is the way it is, but two, you know, you’re, you’re not gonna be disrupting, you’re not gonna have this impact where maybe neighbors, like, what are they doing over there?

Kimberly (02:24):
Yeah. Bees mm-hmm <affirmative>. So bees are such an important part of the whole ecological system. They’re basically helping to keep our environment going.

Jimmy (02:32):
Yes. I mean, that, that’s one of the things that bees do so well, they’re environmental service provider.

Kimberly (02:39):
Yes.

Jimmy (02:40):
Mm-hmm <affirmative> by being able to help us grow food, um, over a period of time, we’ve recognized their kind of importance in the big picture.

Kimberly (02:50):
Yes. So I wanna say this upfront, Jimmy me, because I’m plant based, I’ve been plant based for, I think over 15 years

Jimmy (02:57):
Now, the majority of your bees are as well.

Kimberly (03:00):
Yes. But there’s this, um, there’s like this, this aspect in the plant-based vegan community where some people are vegan and they will consume bee products and some won’t. So here’s my take on it. Okay. I’ve been besides bees, I haven’t eaten, you know, fish or chicken or, or anything for over 15 years, but from the beginning, I’ve always consumed B pollen and I have consumed B products. And I always felt like, oh, I’m not, it’s not harming the bees, which I wanna get your, your impact, your, your, um, perspective. Just a moment from an Ayurvedic standpoint, there is, you know, a lot of my, my teachers, my primary teachers, VA J um, are plant based, but they do consume honey as well. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so it’s almost like bees are in this separate category where yes, it is. The honey is part of the land. The bee pollen is, you know, part of their, you know, we can explain more how the bee pollen comes, but it’s not harming them and it is their nature to work. And so when we’re taking the honey out, we’re not actually over, you know,

The process of collecting honey and the impact on the environment

Jimmy (04:04):
Pushing out. Yeah. I mean, I mean, and here’s the, you know, the unfortunate reality check for non beekeepers, it’s that beekeepers create a little bit of, uh, destructive practices in their practice of beekeeping.

Kimberly (04:17):
Some yeah. Especially with the ethical, more ethical beekeeping and unethical

Jimmy (04:22):
Beekeeping. Well, that, that, I mean, and we talked a little bit earlier, um, about migratory, beekeeping and modern beekeeping, right. For modern food production and, and modern

Kimberly (04:30):
Migrating them around exactly.

Jimmy (04:32):
Like that is I think, a very unhealthy and very damaging way for beekeeping to unfold or to be practice. Um, I mean, I get it because of the economics, but, you know, your desire to yeah. Yeah. To, to have an apiary. You’re not taking your bees from this apiary to follow a flow of honey somewhere else, or to help set, uh, another type of fruit tree. You’re just having your 11 hives stay here. Yes. And then to be able to manage them and grow them in order to have be products yes.

Kimberly (05:10):
Product

Jimmy (05:11):
In the hive, whether it’s honey and, and the nutritional value for, um,

Kimberly (05:15):
Everything

Jimmy (05:16):
Allergies.

Kimberly (05:18):
Well, it’s the, the, the nectar, the energy of it, the Soma, you know, from an <inaudible> standpoint, it’s like this it’s like the nectar of the God’s

Jimmy (05:25):
Literally, well, here in Hawaii, they talk it, they talk about man. Yeah. And in so many different cultures,

Kimberly (05:31):
Life force, yes. Mentality.

Jimmy (05:33):
It is manful,

Kimberly (05:34):
It is so powerful.

Jimmy (05:36):
It really is. And then, you know, you have folks that actually, um, participate in therapy yes. Where they are using Bee venom and specific point of yes. Uh, I don’t wanna say in, in insertion, but you get stung in a certain spot and you there’s a immediate reaction.

Kimberly (05:58):
Well, also Jimmy backing up for a second, I think, you know, for me, I don’t, we, you and I were talking about this earlier. I don’t eat in a lot of restaurants because besides, you know, many things like, or if it’s organic or not, the oils they’re using for me, it’s the energy of the person making the food. And sometimes in the busy restaurant, I don’t know who’s making the food. I don’t know if they’re having a bad day, if they’re angry, if they’re putting that energy in the food. So for me, with our honey and with our bees, we just fell in love with you from the start because of your big heart, your sweet energy. And so I see the love you, you have with the bees, when you come in, you’re like, I’m gonna go visit the girls. <laugh> it’s. Um, so it’s so obvious to me that it’s not harming the bees they’re treated with love, but it is their nature to work. We have the, like you said, 33, there’s a third box mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we’re, we’re taking out, not stripping, but taking out the honey and they’re going around with their families, so to speak, and they’re working the land and there’s this very respectful co you know, create creating, going on, so to speak. It’s, it’s almost, it feels mystical to me.

Jimmy (07:10):
I mean, I was just gonna share that we, you know, we’ve been, we can be thankful here in the modern era for, uh, uh, gentleman, uh, uh, the Reverend Alonzo Lang STR I think was his name who was an American. Um, I don’t wanna say pioneer, but from the 1850s, got into beekeeping, uh, saw them as beneficial insects for pollination, um, purposes and went to Europe and visited some of the abbeys. And of course, you know, one of the reasons the, the monks tended to be was they could make their sacramental wine out of the, me, out of the honey, that they would, uh, let ferment that they would, you know, render to produce a beverage that would help them, if you will stay, stay good with their, uh, spiritual self. And so Alonzo long, long straw went to Europe learned from these, uh, advanced beekeepers.

And I think that they were so advanced because of their compassion. Yeah, because of their, uh, desire to not harm the bees for their, because before that method of Lang STRs beekeeping equipment that we’re using today, um, the method that a lot of people used were these, uh, what they called skips. And they were vessels that were either made out of some, could be ceramic or earth and wear clay, um, you know, crude vessels, some were made out of straw or textile. They were just an outside protecting, uh, element. And the bees would reside in the middle. And then when they wanted to harvest the honey, they would have to kind of crack it like an egg, they’d have to open up that hive. And that’s pretty harmful to the bees. And so lake STR wanted to find out there’s gotta be a better way and learn from some of the abbeys and the, uh, monks at the, the different places of worship in Europe of how they were attended to bees and some of the equipment technology.
This is the cool thing about innovation and technology, how it evolves. They were using a type of be equipment that had like an accordion or a folding type of mechanism that these frames would open up and they could remove the frames and take the frames of honey that they wanted. And so this was kind of a radical idea to, um, Alonzo Langstroth. And he, um, came back to America and started understanding things, some scientific stuff that a bee needs, a certain amount of space to crawl through the frames. So this, this B space is about three eights of an inch, anywhere from three eights to five eights of an inch, you know, about a half inch, but, you know, the B just needs so much space to get through, and then they’re in their domain. And so these frames, then we’re put in these solid boxes that we could put these frames in and build a hive, and then be able to harvest when appropriate when the time was right. Instead of, oh, I’m out of honey, let’s crack this one, open, kill a bunch of bees and hope they survive. And I think at that time, they weren’t so concerned about a hive survival there’s times in the year where bees swarm we’re just into that second season of swarming here in Kauai. We have our Albi trees that had bloomed earlier in the summer. Now they’re blooming again, it’s a second bloom for them, which is kind of natural, but we also have a, a Christmas barrier, a Brazilian pepper, um, that is blooming at the same time. So when you have a broad scale bloom, it creates a nectar flow and conditions in the hive is they get crowded. There’s no place for them to put their babies, cuz they’re starring honey in all those cells, well they’ll swarm or we put on another box. Right. And that extra box because of their proclivity to work hard, busy as a bee. They’ll store money up there. You give them an opportunity to expand their brew area and we all benefit.

Kimberly (11:25):
Yeah. And then you see, they they’re free. They’re coming out. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I see them on the land. And by the way, we have those that forest right there, Jimmy, as you know, the Norfolk island Pines. Right. Which are so sacred and special. I know they came over, I think from P new Guinea, hundreds of years ago. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so we have one of the only groves on the island who are this magical forest E and I,

Jimmy (11:47):
It’s an impressive stand

Kimberly (11:48):
Older, um, son, we camp in there all the time. So anyways, um, it’s

Jimmy (11:52):
A, a magical forest.

Kimberly (11:53):
It’s a magical forest and they are licking the SAP. I see them in the forest all the time. Jimmy, you know, the bees are around. So sure. I just think about their life, where they’re able to, and you explain this, your, your knowledge of beekeeping is so deep where they come up and they sort of establish their compass. They know where the hive is and they go out and they’re living this beautiful life and then they’re coming back and we aren’t engaging, like you said, unethical practices, like killing the queen. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, if it’s the production starts to go down to keep it like jammed up at a certain level or moving the boxes around, like you said to, to furnish mono crops, this is their home. They’re out in the nature and they come back and we’re here.

Jimmy (12:34):
And are productive. Yes. Right. And, and having, and this is what, when you first were talking about what you and John were hoping to accomplish, and I know at first I was like, okay, I can provide you with your bees. Oh, I could probably train somebody to help your management of the hive. Yeah. Um, but I also thought like, wow, this is kind of a unique opportunity. This is a special, um, um, time to establish something that over a period of time will be beneficial. And there’ll be, uh, a number of, of different kind of, um, yeah, a number of different benefits from that. Not only will you have a great product, honey. Um, but your other plants here, your other crops that you would like to produce, whether it’s, it’s a commercial crop, like cacao or

Kimberly (13:25):
Tulsi yes.

Jimmy (13:26):
Tulsi or, or it’s something that just because you like eggplant or you like to grow, uh, cucumbers, you know, any number of variety of plants do better because they have pollinators. And again, bees are some of the easiest pollinators to manage in a garden setting or in a farm or food production setting.

Break

Kimberly (13:49):
For me too. I think there’s a real, um, there’s, there’s something spiritual about bees mm-hmm <affirmative>. And remember I shared some of my little information with you. Sure. I, we text all the time and you know, the Egyptian said that bees were the connection between the underworld and our world. Yes. Um, in many cultures, bees are this, you know, sacred symbol of spirituality. And so we didn’t, you know, the way John and I are, everything’s just sort of unfold. You know, we saw this land, we’re like, yes, we wanna have a farm. And then we’re like, do this and we’ll do that. And then, you know, and then we, we played around different ideas. So we’re not gonna bring people to Hawaii. We’re not doing retreats. We wanna focus on creating like a real center of love and then sharing that love out through the products, through the bees. So the way everything is handled, the way everything is approached, it’s not just a farm out as much as possible. Sure. But with a lot of thought and the other day, oh my gosh, John had his first beekeeping lesson from you. You, he came back and he was so excited, Jim, he was buzzed. He was buzzed <laugh>. He came down to the tent where Ee and I were, and he brought our first tray of honeycomb and we had it. And Ee or older son, BU what a treat was just eating it like, oh my gosh, this comes from our land is so incredible. And he said, he said, you know, being in there and he was wearing his Bee costume for the first time. And by the way, I’m wearing white B

Jimmy (15:15):
Costume. It’s not a costume. It’s not,

Kimberly (15:17):
I’m a costume. No, sorry. So not costume it’s cuz he wears costumes. He wear superhero costumes, but he said there was something like mystical. He was safe in the suit. The bees were all around him and there’s like a little magic.

Jimmy (15:33):
I, I, I’m glad to hear that. And I really was hopeful that our first beekeeping experience would be kind of positive, be short and sweet.

Kimberly (15:41):
You didn’t get stung <laugh>

Jimmy (15:43):
No. And, and it’s, it’s, I’ve taught a variety of different classes and I’ve always appreciated the shorter ones and the ones that when we’re done, we can take off the veil. We can get out of our sweaty suits and, and really appreciate what we just had. Yeah. That experience I told ’em I was so glad that you didn’t have to, you know, like either get one that there’s nothing worse. Well, I shouldn’t say nothing worse, but this is one of the worst things that a beekeeper will experience when they put on their suit and they’re all zipped up and you feel like you’re dressed for success, but you forgot one aspect, one Velcro button or one zipper. And all of a sudden your safety zone has been compromised. There’s been a breach and you feel buzz.

Kimberly (16:22):
Oh no.

Jimmy (16:23):
And it’s just, it’s not a good feeling to think. You’re all good. And

Kimberly (16:28):
The bees are getting in

Jimmy (16:29):
And, and, and once you get done, has that happened to you? Oh, too many times.

Kimberly (16:32):
So how many bees will get in?

Jimmy (16:34):
Uh, well, I mean a lot it’s, it’s, it’s really bad. If more than three come in,

Kimberly (16:41):
Has that happened to you more than three?

Jimmy (16:43):
Um, once where I didn’t realize, like I had no protection underneath here. Oh. And it was like, by the time I realized I had several they’re stuck in my beard, they’re stinging my neck. One made its way, stuck me in the nose. There was nothing I could do other than just leave the situation, evacuate. It was like, get outta here. And then, you know, you move on.

Kimberly (17:09):
If they sting you, they die. Is that right?

Jimmy (17:12):
The majority of times they will cuz they have like a Barb in their in their stinger. Now the, the worker bees, that’s their situation. The queen bee’s different. She doesn’t, she has a barbless hook. So she can sting multiple times and will over her lifetime to, you know, fend off rivals if you will. But primarily she just stings just for her own safety. She’s she’s not too concerned the way other bees will protect her. Yeah. And they’ll protect areas of their hive. They’re very defensive and they’re all about pheromones. And so, so once, once you, they raise the alarm, once you’ve disturbed them enough to where they start, um, issuing their kind of defense pheromone. And that’s why we use smokers. A lot of folks are like, oh, the smokers calming them. Right. It’s like, no, really doesn’t calm them. It kind of prevents them from communicating effectively. Yeah. And so the smoke, uh, dissipates the pheromone or kind of disguises the pheromone and disrupts their ability to communicate as a, as an entity, as one group. So you, as a beekeeper, know where to spray smoke, where to kind of issue that, you know, little column of smoke that you see, you can manage the bees better.

Kimberly (18:30):
Well, again, that back to the mystical quality you came in here the other day, like with a smoke and it, it just kind of reminded me of, of being in the temple. Sure. Like in a Hindu temple where there’s these smells and there’s just burning

Jimmy (18:43):
The incense,

Kimberly (18:44):
Something is happening out of the ordinary and it’s, I don’t know. It’s, it’s, it’s very interesting to witness and to be so close to it, it’s just over there in our land. Right. It’s further, it’s far back enough that our it’s away from the children. And um, oh, I meant to ask you about the queen be so is it a successive line? Like the queen will have her child,

Jimmy shares more about the queen and its successive line

Jimmy (19:06):
Her

Kimberly (19:06):
Yes. Daughter, I guess. And so it’s, it’s a, it’s a matriarchal society.

Jimmy (19:11):
It, it absolutely is. Yeah. And she will, um, produce, you know, all the progeny in her hive until she can no longer do that. And her offsprings will recognize, oh, mom, mom is having a hard time. We’re gonna have to do something and

Kimberly (19:29):
Who’s gonna be the next one, if there’s a bunch of babies.

Jimmy (19:32):
So that this is the cool thing about, you know, how they develop Queens. New Queens is the primary food for a newborn is what’s called Royal jelly.

Kimberly (19:45):
Right?

Jimmy (19:45):
And Royal jelly is kind of inserted in the, the what a, well, let’s go to the basic, <laugh> the structure that bees create is made out of wax. And that comb, that wax comb is that hex, that, that classic hexagonal shaped cell. And you have a cell open on one side and a cell open on the backside. And there’s a thin membrane of wax in between. And the, that cell stores, two things, food or brewed food is stored as honey or pollen and brewed is the eggs, the larva and the, um, newest soon to be born cocoon. The, the larva that’s turned into a cocoon because they’re an insect. They start as an egg, the egg hatches. After three days, it exists as a larva for another nine days. So day 11, day 12, sorry to bore you with the numbers. They’ll cap that it morphs once it’s capped it morphs into its next phase. Metamorphis happens, goes from that larva into the cocoon, stays in that cocoon for another week. And approximately after day 21 day 22 will emerge as a baby Bee. Wow. And will

Kimberly (21:10):
21

Jimmy (21:11):
Days, 21 days.

Kimberly (21:12):
And how long is the lifespan of the workers?

Jimmy (21:16):
Not, not long at all. How long? Another, another month and a half? Uh, 45 to 60 days. That’s it? Yeah, that’s it.

Kimberly (21:25):
And the queen that lives a couple,

Jimmy (21:26):
Couple years, years, three to five years,

Kimberly (21:29):
She’s, she’s big

Jimmy (21:31):
Compared to she is much bigger than her daughters. Wow. And so you’ll have her daughters and you’ll have her sons. And if we have 10,000 bees in that colony, 9,000 of them are gonna be females, hardworking laborers, and there’ll be a thousand males. Yep. And those thousand males have only one real purpose in

Kimberly (21:55):
Life to pregnant

Jimmy (21:56):
Or yes, to go out and check out the new Queens.

Kimberly (22:01):
What, that’s their only

Jimmy (22:02):
Purpose. That’s their only job really come on, go to kind of spread the genetic gene pool. And, and that newborn, that Virgin queen that emerges from another hive. So let’s, let’s go back to the hive. That’s failing. And mama Queen has been there for too long and her fertility is waning. And it’ll go to the point where she’s no longer producing enough eggs. She goes from producing so much eggs, almost her body weight in one day, thousands of eggs in a day, she’ll go down to hundreds in a day thousands. And, and then when that level of prodictivity is so low, they recognize, oh, we need to make new queen cells. So they’ll identify specific areas of the Queen’s domain in that brew chamber where there’s no food really close by, but mostly babies in the nursery area of the high. Oh God. Yeah. And so they’ll make certain, I’ll identify certain selves.

Kimberly (23:03):
Who’s they? The, the,

Jimmy (23:05):
The young be so back to this phenomenal divisional labor, when a Bee is born, it can’t fly and it doesn’t have the kind of ability to go beyond its location. So it stays in its only place it knows and it takes care of its young siblings. Wow. And so it spends its first week as a nurse bee as a caretaker and it just makes the newborns feel welcomed and they get old enough and they start to learn how to use their wings. They then become housebees and will guard the outside entrance. So now their housebees,

Kimberly (23:42):
Incredible.

Jimmy (23:43):
They learn how to fly and

Kimberly (23:44):
They go a little further out.

Jimmy (23:45):
They go further. Then they become the defenders and they’ll make patrols

Kimberly (23:49):
And, and they protect the queen,

Jimmy (23:51):
Uh, not the guard bees on the outside, but those

Kimberly (23:55):
Bees who are they protecting against? Like the Beatles and things.

Jimmy (23:58):
Yeah. And, and any other intruders that might the, the, if you will bearded beekeeper who, uh, coming into the garden, Jimmy, but yeah, this is their job as to learn how to

Kimberly (24:08):
Fly. Do they get aggressive with you or they know you now,

Jimmy (24:12):
You know, I have ways to make them, uh, if you will

Kimberly (24:15):
Wait, hold on, Jimmy, the queen, besides having all the babies is her presence, is her energy just helping to sort of manage, you know, her energetic presence,

Jimmy (24:27):
A pone. Yeah. More than her energetic presence. <laugh> but, but her energetic presence is palpable.

Kimberly (24:33):
Yeah.

Jimmy (24:33):
There’s a skilled, beekeeper could open up a hive and by the sound of the colony, recognize that that’s a hive list, a queen list hive.

Kimberly (24:42):
Yes. You said that. Oh,

Jimmy (24:44):
And it’s just

Kimberly (24:45):
A different, it’s different energy.

Jimmy (24:46):
It is, it is a different energy. I also think there’s a hypothesis. You know, this hasn’t been verified I think because there’s less density in the hive because there’s no queen. No, that there’s a different frequency of that vibration as well. So I think that’s also what makes a, a palpable or an audible difference in that, uh, hives buzz.

Frequency of the bees

Kimberly (25:09):
Oh yeah. So let’s talk about that for a second. Sure. Frequency. There is a, um, there is some yogic proma techniques that emulate the buzzing, the sound of bees. So is there different pitches between different hives that they recognize or is it you think they’re talking to each other, like what is going on with the south?

Jimmy (25:29):
No, I don’t know if it’s intra hive from one hive to another, but for sure. Parts of the hive like that one colony. And so we’ll call a hive. If it has one box or five boxes, it’s one hive and it’s one colony with one queen and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of bees, depending on how large it is. And again, the 90% of them are females. Yeah. And only a small amount of drones in the mainland. Those drones get kicked out of the hive, come wintertime in the fall. They just push ’em out. Wow. Yeah, because they’re worthless.

Kimberly (26:07):
That’s so mean.

Jimmy (26:07):
Those guys. I know <laugh> the nature. It’s, it’s rough being a be, especially if you’re a drone, but Hey, if you get lucky

Kimberly (26:15):
You be a queen.

Jimmy (26:16):
Yeah. You die with a smile on your face. So sorry about that. I, but this is the phenomenal thing about being is that they go through these different stages to go out and after two weeks they know how to fly and they leave the hive and they go and get food. And they are taught that by incoming bees. Yeah. Field bees. Now they’re no longer house bees. They’re field bees and they’re coming back in and they’re getting information. They’re exchanging information through their waggle dance, through their pheromones,

Kimberly (26:45):
Through their incredible,

Jimmy (26:47):
Their vibration and how they’re kind of communicating through physical movement.

Integrating the wild hive into a box is explained

Kimberly (26:52):
So one of the things, you know, to bring the story back to the beginning for a second is that wild hive, we are going to integrate it into a box. So it’s safe. A lot of those bees are not, you know, doing, they’re getting into the guest house and then they’re, you know, perishing

Jimmy (27:09):
They’re, they’re dying inside. Yeah. Because

Kimberly (27:10):
They can’t get out. Exactly. So we’re gonna integrate them. So do you think like each hive sticks to itself or will those wild bees look next door to that hive and be like, Hmm. Who are those guys?

Jimmy (27:22):
So they’ll do that. If that wild hive runs outta space, right. They’re gonna send out a scouting party at some point to find a new home.

Kimberly (27:31):
Wow. We have to put more boxes on top.

Jimmy (27:33):
Well, we want that, that feral hive in, in your wall. Yeah. We want that to leave.

Kimberly (27:40):
Yeah. You want them to be safe?

Jimmy (27:42):
We’re gonna coax them. We, or there’s a fine line between coaxing and coercing, but we will have to physically remove the comb, reattach it to our equipment. Yeah. The wooden frames that we have that Alonzo Langstroth created a hundred years ago, 150 incredible years ago. Yeah. And so we’ll be able to take that comb, that Bee resource, the hive and put it into a box will put the box back up in that space so that the bees go back to the box instead of going into the space and then around dark 30 John and I will put our Bee costumes on, have a flashlight climb on a ladder and remove the box and then take that box and put it into your apiary

Kimberly (28:24):
That late at night.

Jimmy (28:26):
Well, it’s best to do it at night because they come home. They’re come. Yeah. And they’re all there. I mean, some bees are flying or they’re lost. They didn’t come home and they’re gonna come back in the next morning and it’s like, Hey, where’d you go?

Kimberly (28:37):
Oh no. Where you

Jimmy (28:37):
At? And, and potentially, because we’re gonna bring that hive close walk.

Kimberly (28:41):
Yeah. It’s pretty close.

Jimmy (28:42):
They, they potentially will go, Hey, Hey, there’s some be over there. Hey, oh, we found our home

Kimberly (28:49):
<laugh> wow. So do they have an internal compass? Like how do they know? Absolutely. They go, what five miles out? Yes. Wow.

Jimmy (28:58):
Yeah. In a five mile diameter,

Kimberly (28:59):
What is, what is it? Something in their brain, their

Jimmy (29:03):
Sensor. I think there’s, yeah. There’s a number of things that affect it. It’s the position of the sun and they orient to where the sun it’s kind of, um, what is that called? The apex or the, uh, transit, how it arcs across the sky and how the hive is oriented. So they you’ll mess up a beehive if you orient it, if you change the orientation, right. You’ll see confused bees.

Kimberly (29:28):
Like, if you literally turn it,

Jimmy (29:30):
It’s facing east for, for the first three weeks of its existence. And then on week four, you turn it around. So it’s facing south. They’ll be confused for a couple days. Not sure. How do I get in what’s this isn’t the same hive. This is

Kimberly (29:42):
The same

Jimmy (29:42):
Hive. Oh my God. Yeah. So there’s different things that happen and it’s back to how it perceives light. I believe that’s what makes the sun be part of its navigational processes, the angle of the sun, how it’s through its complex eye sees or interprets that energy, that vibration, and then adjusts accordingly.

Kimberly (30:06):
You know, there’s this theory in, um, Ayurvedic medicine, Jimmy as is the, as is the micro as is the macro. Right. Okay. So it’s, you know, what’s, what’s best for us and our bodies. When we take care, it’s be, you know, we make decisions that are best for the whole, the community everything’s interrelated, Pancha, Maha, BTA theory, the same elements in nature of the earth, air, fire, air, um, water and space are the same elements. And so when you, when you’re talking about the bees being atuned with the sun, and then they’re going out into the earth, it’s just like this in my mind, I just see these like concentric circles, like everything is so interrelated. Sure. And then, so when we’re eating these be products, it’s like we’re taking in the nature and the nectar, the pollen and orientation

Jimmy (30:53):
At one of the most intense levels.

Kimberly (30:55):
It’s so intense. Mm-hmm <affirmative> you can really feel it. I thinking really fresh, raw unpasteurized honey is, is really, to me it is like one

Jimmy (31:05):
Of the most it’s like electric on your

Kimberly (31:07):
Tongue. Yeah. It, it, it, it is. Um, it’s like that really? Um, I’m trying to think of that word of that, that there’s a, there’s a special nectar that’s talked about in the Bagga Vata. When you take that nectar in your body, it heals on all levels. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, it’s like rejuvenative on all levels.

Jimmy (31:22):
Sure. At an intercellular in intercellular level,

Kimberly (31:27):
In a spiritual level. I think so in a vibrational level, mm-hmm, <affirmative> emotionally mm-hmm, <affirmative> on so many levels.

Jimmy (31:32):
Yeah. Well, I mean, we were talking earlier too in regards to, uh, like how beekeeping has made me a better person.

Kimberly (31:39):
Yes.

Jimmy (31:40):
And primarily

Kimberly (31:41):
More in touch mm-hmm

Jimmy (31:42):
<affirmative>, mm-hmm, <affirmative> being in tune. It, it is more, um, I don’t wanna say it to be here now, but it

Kimberly (31:53):
Really, I guess

Jimmy (31:54):
It really, it,

Kimberly (31:55):
It brings you into the present.

Jimmy (31:56):
You have a focus and not to say my life was, uh, unfocused, or I had no purpose before a beekeeper. I just feel like it’s become more focused and it’s been more purposeful,

Kimberly (32:08):
Amazing mm-hmm <affirmative> well, you’re part you’re, you’re, you know, a steward to this life connecting.

Jimmy (32:16):
Thank

Kimberly (32:16):
You, energy. It, it, it’s very spiritual Jimmy.

Jimmy (32:19):
It is. And, and I think here, I want to just kind of, you know, touch upon, uh, on a Hawaiian value that I think it’s, it’s a universal value, but here it’s pronounced, uh, or it’s often, um, attributed to your responsibility, this coolianna.

Kimberly (32:37):
Cool.

Jimmy (32:38):
Yeah. Cool. Being this. And it’s, it’s not an obligation, but it is like once, you know, once you understand how it’s gotta be a certain way, or it’s done a certain way, or it’s performed in this certain way, that that’s, that’s your understanding and the ion is for you to do that. Now that’s your responsibility. So once you know, you there’s no unknowing.

Kimberly (33:06):
Exactly. Well, it’s like Dharma mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, it’s, it’s when you, when you, when you connect to this, it’s like a larger expanded view of purpose. Sure. So let’s say your unique gifts, talents, how you work with the nature, let’s say, and then you CR you know, you serve it. You, you give it to the collective, you offer it up.

Jimmy (33:26):
Sure. And that, and that is, I think one of the awesome, um, experiences of beekeeping is finding that kind of connection to creator, like yes. Connection to source that, uh, deeper level understanding of your place.

Kimberly (33:45):
Yes. Your role,

Jimmy (33:47):
And to have that cool of wanting to be a, a steward, to be a responsible individual, to like how you manage, um, whether it’s pests or how you manage your, your life to, you know, make choices about what you eat, uh, how you garden, um, when, or why you do certain things that are, you know, kind of your lifestyle, whether it’s simple, like recycling or it’s more, you know, conscientious about the things you purchase and or activities that you no longer do, because you know, that no longer serves you, that is not gonna be, um, helpful in the long run.

Kimberly (34:31):
You know, Jimmy, I’m at a point in my life where for the past year, especially, I’ve been really obsessed well, prior to that, but, you know, especially obsessed with rereading over and over again, ancient scripture. Mm. And these sutures. And so much of it goes back to this idea of suffering really comes where we have this vein idea of the separate self, the ego, me, me, me. But when we find this connection, like we said to source and us and source and all things we realize like, oh, like we are part of this allness yes. So the more we connect to this expensive way, we feel this flow. We, we feel more bliss. And so there’s something about working with bees bees in general, because they’re out, like you said, they’re out and they’re connecting the environment and there’s like thousands of them. So we see the, like all of these little bits, like these little parts that we are that, you know, these little sparks of the divine, but it makes up this oneness.

Jimmy (35:31):
Yes. And be one with yes. Creator with nature, with yourself, with others. Yeah. It, it gives you that. I, I think perspective of how significant and insignificant we are.

Kimberly (35:48):
Yes.

Jimmy (35:48):
At the same time.

Kimberly (35:49):
Yes. Isn’t that amazing? Oh,

Jimmy (35:51):
Absolutely.

Kimberly (35:52):
And also when you’re describing the bees and they all have this part of the hive, there’s this idea where some people are always, you know, wanting to be seen, mm-hmm, <affirmative> wanting to be special. But when you see that, when we, when you boil it down, we are all equal. It’s like, everybody’s special. So a way nobody’s special. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, but everybody is special. Cause everybody’s equal. Like the bees, they each have their part, whether you’re a, you know, a drone or worker bee, a queen bee.

Jimmy (36:20):
Right. I mean, and most folks would think, oh, the queen bee, that’s the most important bee. And she ha does have great importance and significance to the survival of the colony, but she doesn’t survive if there aren’t her attendance. Yeah. You

Kimberly (36:35):
Know, everybody has a part

Jimmy (36:36):
Her. Right. I mean, because you know, every bee’s gotta get fed. Yeah. And those nurse bees, those young bees are the only ones that produce Royal jelly. So for their first three days of their lives, they can’t fly. They don’t have the ability to, they haven’t developed that kind of muscle memory, but they have these glands that are in their, there, they call a mandibular jam glands in their jaws that allow them to excrete the most super food in the hive. That’s that Royal jelly. Wow. Yeah. And then once they’re four years old or four days old, they can’t produce that anymore. And they move onto the next phase. Wow. But that queen doesn’t survive without

Kimberly (37:18):
Right. Everybody is, is interconnected. What, what is, how is it exactly that, um, Bee pollen is being made? I feel like, um, Bee pollen is something that I’ve been consuming for years. I like that earthy taste. It’s in these little balls. How exactly is that happening?

How bee pollen is produced

Jimmy (37:43):
<laugh> so it’s, um, I’d say really interesting. And I’m gonna have a little, little

Kimberly (37:49):
Oh yeah. Scratching

Jimmy (37:50):
Your throat, but it’s

Kimberly (37:51):
Okay. Wait, we could edit that out. Worry to me. Yeah. Take your time. Drink some water,

Jimmy (38:04):
You know, choked up, talking about the bees.

Kimberly (38:07):
Yeah. I’m one you’re too.

Jimmy (38:08):
Oh, my bad.

Kimberly (38:09):
<laugh> that’s okay. We’ll edit that part.

Jimmy (38:12):
So the pollen is the protein for the, the colony. So you have your nectar, honey being the carbohydrate and you have your pollen be your protein source. And so bees will make, well, first off, they go out and collect again. It’s only the field bees and it’s interesting in the hive, they get their orders. They’re told to go collect nectar because that’s, what’s mostly, but they also get, uh, information from the house bees that, Hey, we’re a little short on pollen. Can you guys find any pollen and they’ll divide labor tasks, some will go get nectar. And if it’s Albi, that’s blooming, they’re gonna go to Albi and go to Albi. Only until that resource is exhausting. They might find other nectar sources along the way, but primarily they’re going for the, if you will target species. And the same is for pollen. Whatever’s blooming and the flower produces pollen for its survival.
And that’s kind of this great, you know, co-evolutionary process that bees and flowers have done over a period of time is to help each other out. The bees want that pollen, right? And those flowers aren’t gonna fruit unless a bee takes pollen from one flower and puts it onto another flower. And they do that by going back and forth. Wow. And the frequency that vibration that helps the bees be able to collect the pollen by buzzing in the flower, by, uh, manipulating or, uh, what’s the word stimulating the different flower parts, especially when they’re looking for pollen to be able to create a static electrical charge through the hairs on its, back on its legs so that the pollen will just kind of fly off the plant onto the flower and attach itself to the B. And then the be will work its legs and all its legs will brush itself and then gather the pollen in these little balls in what they call the pollen and SS on, on their hind legs.

Kimberly (40:29):
It’s all off the it’s on the outside of their body.

Jimmy (40:32):
It’s all on the outside of their body. Wow. And so then they’ll go back into the hive and one of those nurse bees, or not a nurse bee, but one of the house beads will greet it and give it instructions of like where you need to go. And they’ll also have, uh, well, an area where they’re gonna help groom that incoming bee with resources. And if it’s gotten accurate, it’s gonna tell you that be, you gotta go over here or they’ll do an exchange. Sometimes that’s the, the process as though from the field to the house bee and they’ll change exchange pollen, they’ll exchange nectar. And then that field bee will go back into the field and get more. And that house bee will go to the right place to store the food in the appropriate cell.

Kimberly (41:18):
Wow.

Jimmy (41:18):
Yeah. Crazy. Right. And so they have this ability to communicate in the hive to say, Hey, go here and get this resource, come back here, I’ll meet you here and we’re gonna do it again. And they do that 24, well, not 24 7, but they do it all day long until they can’t. And that B will fly out of the hive, but not return. Um, because if it’s weakened condition strong enough to go out empty, but not strong enough to come back late in with the resources. Wow. And whether it succumbs out in the field or a, a predator B I mean, not a B, but a bird. Um, you know, maybe, and you’ll see, we’ll have a, a growth of, of toads, cuz they’re gonna find that, oh, there’s a bunch of bees here.

Kimberly (42:09):
Oh the toads are gonna try to eat our bees. Oh,

Jimmy (42:11):
Toads love

Kimberly (42:12):
RBS. What do they stick out? Their tongue?

Jimmy (42:14):
You know, they just wait for ’em to fall off the weak bees bees that can’t make it back in. There’s another,

Kimberly (42:19):
What about the stinger?

Jimmy (42:20):
Yeah. You know, toads, they’re immune to that stuff.

Kimberly (42:24):
Wait, so the structure of the hive, cuz now we have, we still have both. We have wild and then we have the boxes, but structure is going on, even though the wild is a different shape.

Jimmy (42:35):
Well, the comb is gonna be very similar in structure. It might be a little bit different in shape because the length straws B space, right. You know, technology of creating a rectangle frame. Yeah. It’s gonna create a rectangle comb, but in the tree or in your condition or your, your specific, uh, location that, that hive, the feral hive, that’s in the guest house, it’s gonna have kind of a freeform home. It’s gonna be hexagon cells, but it’s not gonna be uniform like that rectangular comb structure in the majority of your boxes.

Kimberly (43:09):
No, but there’s yeah. There’s the same, like the Queens there, like you said that then the patrolling around the outside have

Jimmy (43:15):
Young bees. Wow. You house bees you’ll have field bees guard bees and then expiring worker bees that, that won’t make it back.

Kimberly (43:23):
Wow. Yeah. The like the res the re, the more we hear about the respect that I have for these bees and their place in the cosmos, in the environment,

Jimmy (43:34):
I believe we’re now better prepared to handle the challenges that bees are facing. Yeah.

Kimberly (43:42):
Um,

Jimmy (43:42):
From, you know, whether it’s exposure to harmful chemicals, uh, habitat, destruction and loss, um, climate crisis. Yeah. All these things affect bees, but because more people understand the importance and more people want to do similar to what you and Jon are doing, wanting to create safe environments, bee havens, um, places where, you know, we have be sanctuaries or, uh, pollinator gardens, you know, planting out, uh, resources that are gonna benefit our hives. Those are all things that people can do in their own backyard to address, uh, critical, you know, environmental and, uh, global issues. Wow. Whether it’s feeding our families yes. Or providing a wonderful product for, um, our nutritional needs.

Kimberly (44:30):
Wow. Wait, and I, I just thought of the word randomly, it’s the Amita nectar. It’s called it’s this,

Jimmy (44:37):
It’s say that again. What kind of Nector?

Kimberly (44:39):
Amrita Amita. It’s called a, so it’s like this, this really potent nectar mm-hmm <affirmative> and they say in high levels of meditation, your body can actually produce this effect, this sweetness, which comes down your throat. But again, in our VEIC medicine, which is the sister science to yoga honey plays.

Jimmy (44:57):
A significant role.

Kimberly (44:58):
Yeah. It’s, it’s an important, um, food medicine to work with. It has, you know, medicinal qualities, obviously energetic, spiritual.

Jimmy (45:07):
It really is medicinal food. Yes. Without a doubt, it’s

Kimberly (45:11):
Powerful. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> powerful. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And I, I really, um, since I’ve been here in Hawaii, Jimmy working with you, and now we’ve got our first Combs, I have been consuming honey, pretty regularly, maybe know on a daily basis.

Jimmy (45:24):
That’s a good thing.

Kimberly (45:25):
Not in like huge quantities. Sure. But every day I, I have some,

Jimmy (45:28):
We can work on that.

Kimberly (45:29):
<laugh> I feel really, really great about it. I just think that, um, you know, like everything, I think people oversimplify, oh, carbs and sugar and protein, what you need, but it’s really the sourcing. It’s the way that you work with everything in a synergistic way in your diet. And so for me, honey, does have, uh, an important part. And of course, back to what we were saying earlier ethically, you know, how we’re treating the bees and especially you Jimmy, and we’re so grateful to have you here, really working with them with love and reverence and respect and awe and you know, part of this, what was the ho the, the word again? You said. Cool, cool. Mm-hmm <affirmative> Dharma the purpose. Mm-hmm <affirmative> mm-hmm, <affirmative> the, it’s amazing. So thank you so much.

Jimmy (46:14):
Well, thank you. It’s it’s been a pleasure. I’m really excited about our, uh, working relationship and the friendship that’s developing and, and just super stoked to share the buzz about bees with you and John <laugh>.

Kimberly (46:27):
Thank you so much, Jimmy. Thank

Jimmy (46:29):
You.

Kimberly: I hope you enjoyed our conversation today with Jimmy, as much as I enjoyed being in the conversation, being in the presence of Jimmy, what an honor, I just love that we’re building this really special community in Hawaii and just vibing with the land, working with the land in the most respectful way. And it just feels deeply nourishing. We are so excited to share more of our love and creations from Hawaii, out into the world. Please check out our show notes as well for more information about Jimmy and other podcasts. I think you would enjoy other resources, recipes, meditations, articles, and so on. So again, thank you so much for tuning in sending you so much love and gratitude. You can also find me back here Thursday, of course, for our next Q&A podcast, and also on social media at _Kimberly Snyder, lots of love, lots of gratitude and lots of Aloha.