Beekeeping At Five Apple Farm Podcast

Today I interview James Lee, president of the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan about the goals and offerings of this important virtual education hub for beekeepers interested in increasing the genetic work towards reducing the need for treatments in hives. We talk about his work in creating the Northern Queen Initiative to provide locally raised Northern adapted queens as well as his own apiary and management techniques which you can follow on his YouTube channel James Lee's Bees.  We mention the Harbo Assay, a well-documented but labor intensive way to 'grade' queens on their expression of varroa sensitive hygiene as a way to guide stock selection. SGBMI even offers a course you can take to learn to do it. Or you can read about it from this publication from Penn State.  I hope you enjoy this interview! Leigh   ------------------------------ This episode is free and available to everyone....and your support really makes a difference. You are warmly invited to become a Friend of Five Apple on Patreon t