#117 | Bees Over Everything: Innovative Beekeeping w/ Israel Bravo
In this episode, I speak with Israel Bravo, innovator in the world of beekeeping and bee colony storage. Israel has years of experience in beekeeping, and through experimentation and passionate dedication to the preservation of bee colonies, has managed to work through, and ultimately overcome, one of the major reoccurring problems experienced by many beekeepers around the world: the the decline of bee populations during the storage of bee colonies during the winter months. Beekeepers lose significant portions of their bee colony populations over those months of storage (in many cases, up to 40% of the bee colony populations). It's common practice, at least in this part of the United States, to store bees through the winter months in vacant potato cellars, and for reasons discussed in this episode, provide less than ideal conditions for bee colony storage. Israel goes over the very practical methods and tools that can be adopted and used by beekeepers to prevent such significant losses of bee populations over the winter months.
In this conversation, we discuss Israel's knowledge and love of bees, and why he is so passionate about ensuring and aiding in their survival. Israel's passion is not just limited to innovating and improving the storage methods of bee colonies during their months in storage, but also in a much broader context. We discuss how global climate change, as well as harmful agricultural practices, have been negatively impacting bee populations across the globe. Israel, through his intelligence and love of bees, is attempting to turn things around, and people are starting to pay attention.
Episode Notes:
- As I mentioned in the introduction, I did manage to get some more detailed information on Israel's operation. Israel is responsible for building the largest (and best) bee colony storage facilities in the world. Learn more here: http://beestorages.com
- Keep up to date on what Isreal is working on through his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/israelbravohoney
- The song featured in this episode is "Tree Of Knowledge" by Actress from the album R.I.P.
