Reflections on Interviews

When I started interviewing beekeepers and passing on their stories and wisdom, I was not the first nor the last to do this; there are loads of people at it. In fact, it’s a growing phenomenon, particularly on YouTube, as content creators seek content (funnily enough) for their channels. After I release a book (it’s only happened twice) I sometimes become the person being interviewed, which is an interesting perspective. Here are my reflections on interviews involving me being the interviewee.

Recent Interviews

My co-author, Paul Horton, and I have recently been interviewed by Stuart Spinks (Beekeeping – Short and Sweet), Jeff Ott and Becky Masterman (Beekeeping Today Podcast), and Jan Biggemann (Interview mit einem Imker). It’s all part of promoting our book, Healthy Bees Heavy Hives, published by Northern Bee Books. Beekeepers don’t tend to get the megastar treatment. No red carpets and paparazzi for us, which is a blessing, as most beekeepers that I know are introverts. It’s sometimes easy to forget just how few people practise the noble pursuit of bee-bothering. There aren’t many of us, and we still find plenty to fight about!

Insect Eaters

But first, I shall digress slightly, as I have just gone to make a cup of tea and, while doing so, disturbed a small cloud of fruit flies. They seem to have come from a basil plant on the kitchen windowsill. Now, I’m a nature-loving kind of guy, but there are times when I’m not completely enthusiastic. I hate mice, not just because they mess up bee hives, and there are other creatures that this walrus would not miss if he never saw them again. I’m thinking of the Scottish midge, mosquitos, rats, small yappy dogs, snakes, and yes, fruit flies. How can I have fruit flies in April? The kitchen is clean – what do they live on? I took a short break from writing this to order three sundews and a pitcher plant from South West Carnivorous Plants. That will show them.

Jan from Germany

Anyway, yesterday Paul and I had a pleasant chat with a German beekeeper called Jan Biggemann on Zoom. He was very impressed with my first book Interviews with Beekeepers and has been doing exactly that (interviewing beekeepers) on his popular YouTube channel for some time. It turns out that plenty of people in Germany liked the book, which is gratifying to hear. Jan is similar to me, but younger and better looking. His English is about the same level as mine.

One of the things that came up during our conversation was the fact that I try to be the Oprah of beekeeping, in my small way. In other words, I shine a light on other beekeepers, who are probably better than me (whatever that means). Most people don’t want to know about my beekeeping; they want to know about Randy Oliver, Mike Palmer and so on. That’s fair enough. In recent times, they wish to know about Paul Horton, who produces incredibly high honey crops every year from approximately 250 colonies. That’s fine by me. It’s when people ask me what I think that I start to break out in a cold sweat.

Promotion

Yesterday I said that I am an average beekeeper, but, on reflection, I might be quite good at it by now. How would I know? I feel confident that I make good queens, which is apparently a rare thing in beekeeping. Most beekeepers don’t dabble in queen rearing, which is a shame, as it is extremely rewarding, both in terms of beekeeping and spiritually (or am I weird?). I also manage to produce a decent honey crop, though nothing like Paul’s, and I keep most of my colonies alive through winter. These are not small things; many people give up beekeeping because ‘keeping them alive’ is not as easy as you might think. It’s the varroa mites, you see. I’m going to promote myself – I shall now have the rank of ‘pretty good beekeeper’ from this day forth. Just watch me completely mess up this season now, and lose half of my bees. The Gods do that.

Raising Standards

It was apparent from talking to Jan that the Knowledge Exchange Group (KEG) run by the Bee Farmers’ Association (BFA) might be a model that German bee farmers could adopt. The days of closely guarded secrets seem to be fading away, as more people openly share what they do, how they do it, and whether it makes any money. Sharing this knowledge helps to raise standards across the whole industry, which has to be a good thing. We also learned that nucleus colonies are much cheaper in Germany than the UK, and fees for pollination seem to be a bit lower over there too. However, they have similar problems with imported cheap honey, and other food products, and their farmers are hurting just like ours.

OK Then

Our interview for the Beekeeping Today Podcast was mostly done by Dr Becky Masterman, with Jeff Ott chipping in. She is a ‘proper beekeeper’ and had many questions for Paul. She was interested in the use of genetics to reduce swarming (who wouldn’t be) and Paul’s method of running single National brood boxes, which can barely contain the brood of his prolific bees. I was delighted to hear that she loved our book, so I will be sending a signed copy to her very soon. Becky was in Minnesota, but she did not speak like the characters of Fargo. The USA is such a big place; the state of Minnesota is a similar size to the UK, and look how many accents we have here.

Who are You?

My main reflection on being interviewed about beekeeping, particularly when it’s about MY beekeeping, is that I know that plenty of beekeepers out there probably wonder why I think I am entitled to lecture them about anything. I have only passed one British Beekeeping Association examination (Module one). How can I write books about beekeeping when I haven’t passed the exams? Plus, I have crazy ideas like “the colour of your bees doesn’t matter,” and “treating for varroa is critically important” – apparently those ideas are outdated now. Still, I can keep my bees alive, mostly. And I definitely make good queens.