Something special today! This interview with Ryan Williamson of Sourwood Farm of Virginia has been the one where I learned the most. He is a full time beekeeper selling local nucs and honey, but who also specializes in offering VSH queens from tested breeders he raises himself.
We start off with how he got into the bee biz and just got to talking between beekeepers and ended up in full geek mode on tips and hacks for testing and introducing queens and much more. He is doing wonderful work and is a joy to get into conversation. Enjoy!
PS. Ryan is a frequent speaker at bee clubs and conferences. He is available by Zoom and in-person in some cases. I got a sneak preview of a couple of his talks and I'm going to be lobbying our club and state conference to book him as soon as possible. You can contact him at his website.
Find our more about Ryan, order queens, honey or this winter...hats (!) Ryan makes from the links below.
Home page: http://sourwoodfarm.com/
Buy Queens or Honey: https://sourwoodfarm.square.site/
Ryan's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SourwoodFarm
Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/sourwoodfarms
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In case you missed it:
Ep157 More Springtime Tips
Ep156 Spring in the Bees!
Ep 155 Interview with Colorado beekeeper and writer Tina Sebestyen
Ep 153 Interview with James Lee of SBGMI
⬆️ available wherever you listen to podcasts
Patron Exclusives:
Patron exclusive show notes on Ep 155 which includes link to the split notes compendium.
Links to Five Apple’s podcast on the Reverse Doolittle split on Patreon, with links to Tina’s how-to article as well as my own silly drawings of the process AND the link to the compendium of splits methods I teach (the handout when I speak to bee clubs)
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About Beekeeping at FiveApple: Leigh keeps bees in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (gardening zone 6b). She cares for around a dozen+ hives in a rural Appalachian highland climate. Colonies are managed for bee health with active selection for vigor, genetic diversity and disease resistance, but without chemical treatments for sixteen years. The apiary is self-sustaining (not needing to buy/catch replacement bees since 2010) and produces honey and nucs most every year.