July 12, 2023 • 40 mins
We sat down with Becky Griffin, community and school garden coordinator within the Georgia Center for Urban Agriculture, to chat about the Great Southeast Pollinator Census. Learn more about this project she piloted in Georgia in 2017, which has since expanded across the southeastern U.S., to inspire citizens to become pollinator advocates. And of course, we can't talk about pollinators without discussing bees and the wonders of honey. Join us as we explore the history of the census, how you can participate and the fascinating world of pollinators with Becky!
Resources:
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census website
Find your local Extension office
Olli at the University of Georgia
The University of Georgia Bee Lab website
Video from Becky's trip to see the monarchs
Edited by Carly Mirabile
Produced by Jordan Powers, Emily Davenport, Carly Mirabile
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and a recent University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify.
Almanac is an annual publication that provides a window into the work being done at CAES to make the world increasingly healthy, equitable and sustainable. We are pleased to announce that the 2024 edition is now available online. Explore stories of science in service of humanity and the environment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sound Effect (00:00):
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:01):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:21):
We are here with Becky Griffin, community and
school garden coordinator withinthe Georgia Center for Urban
Agriculture. Becky, thanks forjoining us today.
Becky Griffin (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
Jordan Powers (00:29):
Can we start with you telling us a little bit
about your background?
Becky Griffin (00:32):
I grew up loving agriculture, like many people
that end up in our field do. Ihave a bachelor's degree from
Kennesaw State University inbiology with a minor in
chemistry, and I went on and didsome things after that and went
back when I was 50 to get mymaster's degree at UGA, so I can
officially be a dawg. And I havetwo wonderful children - neither
(00:53):
one followed in my footsteps -and a very patient Extension
husband.
Jordan Powers (00:56):
Love it. I also love to hear going back to get
your master's at 50. There'salways time to become a dawg.
Emily Davenport (01:01):
There is always time.
Becky Griffin (01:02):
Oh, yeah. That's right.
Emily Davenport (01:03):
How did you become interested in
pollinators?
Becky Griffin (01:05):
My whole life. I can't remember a time where I
wasn't fascinated by bees. So Igrew up in a really small town,
Powder Springs, Georgia, whichisn't so small anymore. But at
the time, there was one publiclibrary with just a few volumes.
And one of those was on bees.
And I must check that book out adozen times. I would love to
have that book. You know, withthat little card, you know, with
my name many, many times.
Emily Davenport (01:26):
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Powers (01:26):
All the stamps.
Becky Griffin (01:27):
Yes. Overdue, overdue. So, from the very
beginning, I've just beenfascinated by insects and how
they work.
Jordan Powers (01:34):
And we know that that's obviously a big part of
your role as a community andschool garden coordinator. Can
you tell us a little bit aboutwhat that role looks like?
Becky Griffin (01:41):
Well, I'm very blessed. I get to work with all
of our amazing agents across thestate, and I help them with
those clients. So if they areapproached by an administrator
from a school or countycommissioner saying ""we want a
community garden" or "help usstart a school garden," I
provide resources and help tomake that happen so that the
agents aren't totallyoverwhelmed with all of those
(02:02):
duties.
Emily Davenport (02:02):
Aside from working with schools and agents,
what might a day to day looklike for you?
Becky Griffin (02:08):
Well, it could be recording a podcast
Everyone (02:11):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (02:11):
or it could be, this morning we taped a Georgia
Public Broadcasting show.
Sound Effect (02:15):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (02:16):
Becky was recording content for Georgia
Public Broadcasting'sPollinators Live program, a half
hour interactive event developedfor school aged kids. This
program is now available ondemand. We'll add a link in the
show notes.
Sound Effect (02:29):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (02:30):
It is usually answering a lot of agent
questions, working onpublications. I love working
with young agents to help themin their career. So it could be
that I'm helping them develop apublication. I could be visiting
school gardens. I'm housed atthe Georgia Mountain Research
and Education Center inBlairsville. I'm the apiarist
there, and I just got word thatI had a swarm this morning while
(02:52):
I wasn't there, so it could bemaintaining the bees or helping
out there where I can, givingpresentations and lectures and
workshops and developing those,working with 4-H agents and 4-H
specialists. So every day isdifferent, which is one of the
things I love about my job.
Jordan Powers (03:07):
Absolutely. And we had a chance to go visit you
up in Blairsville last year, ourteam here at the Office of
Marketing and Communications andwhat a beautiful place to call
home base.
Becky Griffin (03:15):
Oh, it is definitely beautiful.
Jordan Powers (03:16):
You just said something just now you said you
have a swarm of bees while youweren't there. What does that
mean for someone who's not inthe industry?
Becky Griffin (03:23):
That means that I had a very successful beehive
full of Russian bees actually,little feisty buggers, they
thrived during the winter. Andthat means that I attempted to
split the hive, which meanscreating a swarm for them. But
basically what it means is toomany bees getting too full in
their hive, so we're going todivide out. And it's how they
(03:43):
naturally divide if they're outin the wild. But if I was there,
I could capture that swarm andbring it back, and then it's
extra bees but since I'm notthere, I don't want anybody
getting stung or messing withthem so I said, let them go,
they'll find a home.
Jordan Powers (03:58):
Aww. Off on an adventure.
Becky Griffin (04:02):
That's right.
Emily Davenport (04:02):
Traveling bees.
How do you get them to stay inin the hive once you've captured
them?
Becky Griffin (04:07):
Try and treat them really nice. Say nice words
to them, whisper sweetinstructions. It's just
providing a home for them thatthey're happy in. And I knew
this hive was was expandingoutside their range so I tried
to split them, but they did notrespond to that so that lure to
hive and reproduce that way isvery strong.
Jordan Powers (04:25):
Sounds like a toddler. Like, I won't do this
when you want me to do it.
Becky Griffin (04:28):
Oh yeah.
Jordan Powers (04:29):
But then you're not looking and then I'm gonna
run.
Becky Griffin (04:31):
Having raised two daughters is why I'm pretty good
at beekeeping.
Everyone (04:34):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (04:37):
Well, we're really big fans of the Great
Southeast Pollinator Census.
Becky Griffin (04:40):
And I appreciate that very much.
Emily Davenport (04:42):
Yeah. So tell us about the history of this
annual event and how it'schanged over the years.
Becky Griffin (04:47):
Sure. So as the community and school garden
coordinator, I was travelingaround looking at a lot of
gardens, especially communitygardens, and I was finding a lot
of really great gardeners. Theyknew a lot about plant choice,
they knew about soil health.
They didn't know enough aboutentomology. Every bug they saw
was a bug, was a pest. At thesame time, I was working with
school gardeners and findingthat our teachers, when they
(05:09):
were in college learning tobecome wonderful teachers
weren't really exposed toentomology. So more likely than
not, they are not interested inteaching about insects, and it's
more like, ew, it's a bug. So Iwas on a long drive from Tifton
thinking about these things, andcame up with this idea to do
this census. So it had threeprongs. The first one is to
(05:30):
teach people about these bugs,these insects. Why are they
valuable? How can I have them inmy yard doing great things for
me? How can I develop skill setwithin my students? And I also
thought, well, we could alsoteach people how to sustainably
create pollinator habitat.
Georgia is a beautiful state, wehave a lot of people moving in
(05:51):
here. And they want to tell methat I don't know how to create
a pollinator garden. And they'regoing to teach me by bringing in
plants they grew in Minnesota orCalifornia. They don't do well
here. So sustainable pollinatorgarden means you are planting
things with limited inputs,limited water, they survive our
droughts we have in the summer.
So that's what we're encouragingpeople to do with that goal. And
(06:12):
then of course, lastly, togenerate pollinator population
data. And as we thought throughthis, and I talked to
researchers at UGA, researchersin other colleges, looking at
how I can make it easy forpeople to do the census, but
still generate data that'suseful. I had to marry those two
things. So they were veryhelpful. We did two years of
(06:34):
pilot projects in 2017 and 2018.
And then 2019 was the very firstall-state census and I was on
pins and needles, and we wereworried as you upload counts,
were the computers gonna hold?
What if nobody counted? Youknow, but it was a lot of fun.
And I can't express how much joythis census gives me. At the end
(06:56):
of each census, I will getpeople that call me and say, "I
had no idea. I had no idea ofthe diversity and number of
insects in my own garden. AndI've been gardening for
fill-in-the-blank number ofyears." And that person becomes
a pollinator advocate and theyare out in their neighborhood
saying, "you need a pollinatorgarden and here's how you do
(07:17):
it." So it's been a big rewardfor me. The big news is, of
course last year, South Carolinajoined the census through my
good friend Amy Dabbs, who doesmy job at Clemson University.
This year, North Carolina isjoining the census through North
Carolina A&T as well as NCState. And then in 2024, Florida
(07:37):
will be joining. And I have totell you a little about that
because I am a rabid Bulldogfootball fan, which means I'm
already getting my hackles uptalking about working with
Florida, right? So this is allin joking. But when we talked
together, we agreed not to talkfootball. But last time I was in
the Tate Center, I got a pictureof the oar. So you know, the oar
(08:00):
is what we get when we win andif they win, they get it. It's
of course housed here. And Itook a picture and sent it down
and got no response.
Emily Davenport (08:10):
Uh-oh.
Becky Griffin (08:10):
So I may have crossed the line.
Jordan Powers (08:13):
Uh-oh.
Becky Griffin (08:13):
But no, that's all in jest. We get along very
well. And they're excited tojoin this effort with us. And
it's going to be a lot of fun.
Jordan Powers (08:19):
Talk about a lasting impact of the work and
inspiring so many pollinatoradvocates. Speaking of
excitement, what are you themost excited about for this
year's pollinator census, otherthan the new states joining?
Becky Griffin (08:30):
I mean, people say to me, aren't you tired of
this project yet? No! You know,I have new people who are
counting. I have new people thatI've met, new businesses that
are counting. Every year moreand more people join. I have
added new resources foreducators. So I've been spending
a lot of time with teachers,helping them meet their needs,
(08:50):
so they can have this no-costSTEM program. So I'm very
excited about what they do withit. I was invited to speak at
OLLI or retired people.
Sound Effect (08:58):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (08:59):
OLLI stands for the Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute, and is a learning andsocial community for adults 50
and over hosted at theUniversity of Georgia. We'll add
a link in the show notes ifyou're interested in learning
more.
Sound Effect (09:10):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (09:11):
They said, well, we would like you to speak, and
I said, well, which part of thecensus do you want me to speak
about? And someone else wasspeaking on the census. Someone
I didn't even know. And thatmakes me so excited because that
means people are takingownership of the project. If it
were just me and my laptop, itwould have never been the
success it is. People areexcited. They're taking
(09:32):
ownership. They're making ittheir own census, which is what
I wanted from the verybeginning.
Emily Davenport (09:37):
Last year you were at the governor's mansion
to count. What was that like?
Becky Griffin (09:41):
It was wonderful.
I didn't realize Marty Kemp wassuch a pollinator advocate. She
has done so much over at thegovernor's mansion. She's
planted in new gardens. She hasbees there. And she's such a
really neat, approachableperson. It was just a wonderful
afternoon. I felt honored thatshe carved out the time for us
and she really not only countedwith us and carved out part of
her day, but she also advocatesfor the Census as well. So that
(10:04):
was really a feel-good day forme, I really enjoyed being with
her,
Jordan Powers (10:10):
How are scientists and researchers using
the data that's being collected?
Becky Griffin (10:14):
Well, that's interesting. And this is a
tricky one. I know they're usingit for economic pollination
valuation studies. So what thatmeans is they can actually put a
value, an economic dollarfigure, on pollination services.
And if you think about it, wegrow a lot of watermelon in the
state and watermelon has to havea pollinator because the female
(10:36):
flower is on one part of theplant while the male flower's on
another. If we do not havepollinators, then we're out hand
pollinating and having to buy avery expensive watermelon. So
they can actually use theirmagic and figure out how much
that means in dollar value. So Iknow that they're looking at
what pollinators are in whatparts of our state and using
that in their formulation of howmuch these pollinators are
(11:00):
worth. So I know that's goingon. I know that some researchers
that are studying pollinationhabitat will use pollinator
criteria to actually look atdifferent pollinator gardens and
maybe do a before they plantedcertain things, and then an
after to see what kind of impactit's making. I do know that
since we started the census, wegot really lucky here. And we
(11:21):
include flies, and more researchis coming out on the importance
of hoverflies, which are thetiny little flies that look like
bees, they're bee mimics, andtheir role in pollination of our
crops. And we are the onlycensus that I know of in the
United States that's actuallylooking at flies. So I'd like to
say that was my my brainthinking ahead, but it was pure
(11:42):
luck that we chose flies.
Jordan Powers (11:43):
Shh, we won't tell.
Becky Griffin (11:44):
Yeah, don't tell.
So I know it's being used a lotof ways. Schools are using it.
One of the neatest things is tobe in a school, they have
counted, they have saved theirdata from their students. They
wait until I put on the website,the rest of the data, and they
use it for math lessons. So thekids are using data they helped
generate, that really does makea difference, and they're using
(12:05):
it in their math lessons. Andthe teachers tell me, they love
it, the kids are more engagedbecause they can relate to the
data.
Jordan Powers (12:12):
Why was math not like that when I was...
Emily Davenport (12:14):
I know, right?
Jordan Powers (12:15):
I might be more of a math person if that were
the case.
Emily Davenport (12:18):
And then when the student says, "I'll never
use this in real life," you cansay, "Look, you are, right now."
I love a good citizen scienceproject. How can our listeners
participate in the pollinatorcensus?
Becky Griffin (12:30):
Well, happily, it's not very difficult. You
don't have to be anentomologist. If you are all by
yourself, and you live on alittle island in Georgia, and
you're not going to be with yourlocal Extension office who's
going to have programs, you'renot going to be with any of the
other groups leading events, allyou have to do is visit the
website, which is gsepc.org. Andall the information there on how
(12:55):
to count is is right on thewebsite. We have an inset
counting and identificationguide. We have videos, you can
join us on our social mediaplatforms, we post information
daily. Right now we're learningabout bumblebees, we have Fun
Fact Fridays, which will helpyou learn a little bit more
entomology, but it's very basic,you just count for 15 minutes
(13:16):
and whatever insects land onyour flower, you put into one of
eight categories. And learningto differentiate between the
categories is very simple. Butit is also divided so that those
of us who are entomologists,just a little behind the scenes.
For example, we have a small beecategory, and that is any bee
that's smaller than a honeybee.
Well, for the average personthey're like, "I got that," you
(13:37):
know, "I've figured out how biga honeybee is. Any small bee,
I'm ticking that category." Butfor me and other entomologists,
we know that a large group ofour native bees like leaf cutter
bees and mason bees fall intothat category. So you may think,
"Okay, I'm just got a small beesanything small," but for us,
it's like, ooh, those arenumbers about some of our native
(13:57):
bees. And they're important.
Emily Davenport (14:00):
I can't wait to participate this year. I'm gonna
go census my garden.
Becky Griffin (14:04):
There we go.
Jordan Powers (14:04):
I think this will be my first year participating
as well.
Emily Davenport (14:06):
Yeah.
Becky Griffin (14:06):
I can't wait to see your counts.
Emily Davenport (14:08):
I know.
Becky Griffin (14:09):
I will look for them in August.
Jordan Powers (14:12):
And we'll add a link in the show notes with that
information on the Census andhow people can get involved as
well.
Becky Griffin (14:17):
Thank you.
Jordan Powers (14:17):
So when you say the word pollinator we know that
honeybees are often one of thefirst critters that come to
mind. We talked a little bitabout hoverflies. But what are
some other pollinators? And isthere one that surprises people
the most?
Becky Griffin (14:29):
Flies I think are big. Because people the average
citizen, you talk about flies,they're thinking, "I'm trying to
eat on my patio and the fliesare bothering me," right? So
that is a big surprise topeople. Wasps are another one.
People are inherently scared ofwasps. And I think it's just
because we talk about them insuch ominous terms. And
actuality, the only time I havebeen stung by a wasp as an
(14:50):
adult, is when one had died inmy cabin floor and I stepped on
him. So I see them and actuallygrow plants to attract them. As
long as I'm not grabbing them,they're not interested in me. So
wasps are a big one and I'llpost pictures of wasps and I'll
get, "ooh that's a scary blackwasp," and I'm like, that wasp
is doing you so much good inyour garden. You should be
(15:11):
saying, "hello black wasp,welcome!" you know? That type of
thing. So the wasps are one.
Everybody loves butterflies. Icall them the gateway insect.
Everyone (15:21):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (15:21):
Get you hooked on butterflies, we can move into
bees. In actuality, they dopollinate but they're not like
bees. Bees are the mostefficient, best pollinators. So,
you know, those are always thegimme. Carpenter bees, people
have a love hate relationshipwith them, which is
understandable. But they areamazing pollinators and they're
out there. So I guess the waspis the biggest surprise, and the
(15:42):
fly as well.
Jordan Powers (15:43):
Yeah, but the carpenter bee is a contentious
one. My husband's a hater andI'm always like, stop! Don't
swat at them! They're doing somuch good!
Becky Griffin (15:50):
But you can't have them eat your house.
Jordan Powers (15:52):
Precisely.
Becky Griffin (15:53):
You know, you gotta balance it all out.
Emily Davenport (15:55):
Yeah. And when they're out there buzzing
around, they're so big. My kidshate them. Because they're so
big. I'm like, they're not goingto sting you.
Becky Griffin (16:01):
No. And the funny thing about carpenter bees is if
they're buzzing in your face,and you see that there's a white
or yellow stripe on the face,that's a male. They don't have a
stinger. And so I will be out,like at the Atlanta Science
Festival, I was out talking andthese carpenter bees, they get
right in your face. And it's,you gotta admire that. This
little carpenter bee isdefending his territory. Who are
you and what are you doing here?
You know, and he's so tiny. Andhe's getting on my nerves and I
(16:22):
see the yellow face, so I graband move him. And oh my gosh,
those kids went, [gasp], youknow, but I knew he didn't have
a stinger. And although he hasmandibles and could bite me, I
took them off guard, so I justmoved them away from my face,
but it was like a little magictrick.
Jordan Powers (16:38):
There you go.
Emily Davenport (16:39):
The bee whisperer.
Becky Griffin (16:41):
Bee whisperer.
Emily Davenport (16:42):
I've heard rumor that some spiders are
pollinators. Is that true?
Becky Griffin (16:47):
Well, technically, anything that moves
pollen from the male part of theflower to a female part of the
flower is a pollinator. Soyou're a pollinator when you're
at work in your garden, when thebears in Blairsville roam around
and they get goldenrod all overtheir face, they're pollinators.
So technically, I could see aspider being a pollinator. Do
they have a need for pollen intheir diet that would have them
(17:09):
be attracted to flowers? No.
They're mostly predators who areout looking at those
pollinators. What pollinatorscan I trap in my web? So
technically, yes, they can bepollinators but that's really
not what they're out theredoing.
Emily Davenport (17:22):
Okay.
Jordan Powers (17:23):
I'm like still stuck on how fascinating, I'm
like, technically we are allpollinators.
Emily Davenport (17:27):
My dog is a pollinator.
Jordan Powers (17:31):
Do you have a favorite pollinator?
Becky Griffin (17:33):
It depends on the year. You know, every year is a
little different. I was reallyin love with the green metallic,
the Halictid sweat bees a coupleyears ago. They're so beautiful
and dark green and I wastraveling around looking for
sunflowers to take pictures ofthem. This year I think I'm
pretty hooked on bumblebees.
They're so cute as they fly andlumber round like big old teddy
bears. And they are just the,they're built for nothing but
(17:56):
pollination. I mean, if you knewnothing about pollination, and
you studied the anatomy of abumble bee, you would come away
with, that bee has somethinggoing on there's there's a
purpose for that bee and it isbasically moving pollen. From
the way their hair is arrangedto their faces to the way they
fly, the way their wings work.
(18:16):
They are pollinationpowerhouses.
Emily Davenport (18:19):
The cutest pollination powerhouses.
Jordan Powers (18:22):
They really are.
Can you tell us the differencebetween a honeybee, a bumblebee,
and a carpenter bee?
Becky Griffin (18:28):
Sure. So let's start with carpenter bee and
bumblebee because you need todifferentiate those for the
Census anyway. So carpenterbees, we all know what those
are. If I say carpenter bee, youthink of the thing, the bee
that's boring into your home,but I want you the next time you
see one to look at theirabdomen, and that's the last
segment and it's going to bebald. So an entomologist would
say, that bee has a baldabdomen. Actually, what we can
(18:51):
say is a shiny hiney. Right?
There's no hair on it. And itmakes sense if that bee is
boring into wood and having togo in and out of a wood home
that she built, hair would catchon those wood particles, right?
So that's logical for us. Naturehas made her a shiny hiney for
her nest, whereas a bumblebee,and we've talked about how they
fly like big teddy bears, theyhave hair all over them. So
(19:12):
their abdomen is going to havelots of hair on it. It could be
black or golden or even white.
We say their rears are fuzzy. Sothey're about the same size. If
you see one that's about thesize you look at the abdomen and
is it a shiny hiney? It's acarpenter bee. Is it full of
hair? It has a fuzzy rear andit's a bumblebee. So for the
(19:35):
census that is all you have toknow. I'm not asking species I'm
not asking is it a worker bee?
Just, is it a carpenter bee or abumblebee? Now honey bees are a
little different. Honey beesonce you see a picture of one
which there are tons of them onthe website, you will know a
honey bee. It is much smallerthan a carpenter bee or a
bumblebee. It will have a pollenbasket if it's a female so
(19:58):
you'll, I often see them carrypollen on their hind legs. They
don't have quite as much hair,but they do have hair around
their face, which makes themextremely cute. The females will
have stingers, the males willnot. But most of the time you're
going to see females, honeybeesout and about. And once you see
a photograph, you will notmistake it for a bumblebee or a
(20:18):
carpenter bee.
Emily Davenport (20:21):
Well, going back to honey bees, this is a
question for our honey fans. Andtell us more about honey and
maybe what impacts the taste ofhoney?
Becky Griffin (20:32):
Sure. So honey is made up of the nectar that the
bees gather. They bring it backto the hive, and they deposit it
in one of those hexagonal cells.
It has been in their honeystomach, so when they
regurgitate it, there's someenzymes in there as well. It's
deposited in its cell and thenthe other bees will flap their
wings to evaporate excess watertill it's about 18% water, and
(20:53):
then they cap it. And that'shoney and they're making it to
get themselves through thewinter. So every single bottle
of honey that you eat is goingto be different, because you
don't know the makeup of theflowers that those bees have
made the honey with. And youdon't know the quality of the
nectar. For example, if we'vehad a really rainy spring, the
(21:14):
nectar is going to be verywatery. If we have some
droughts, the nectar that theplant makes is gonna be very
strong. And even though a bottleof honey will say it is sourwood
honey, that doesn't mean thatthe only plants that those bees
visited were sourwood. I mean,you'd have to really, that'd be
a trick, for sure, but it meansit's primarily sourwood and you
(21:36):
don't know what other thingswere blooming. It's like wine or
whiskey, it's going to be alittle bit different every
bottle. And every bottle isgoing to be really special.
Jordan Powers (21:46):
So is that also part of what impacts the color
of honey?
Becky Griffin (21:49):
Yes, exactly. Ums sourwood's, a little darker,
clover's a little lighter. Sodepending on what's in there.
And honey judges can tell you bylooking at at it, you know kind
of what it is. I'm not that goodyet.
Jordan Powers (22:00):
We got to come do a testing with you about a year
ago and I'd say you were prettyskilled at walking through the
different colors and flavors.
Emily Davenport (22:07):
Oh yeah.
Jordan Powers (22:07):
We all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.
Emily Davenport (22:09):
We did.
Becky Griffin (22:09):
Well I'm glad.
You are now honey advocates. AndI'm hoping that you're buying
honey from your local beekeeper?
Emily Davenport (22:14):
Mm-hmm.
Becky Griffin (22:15):
Excellent answer.
Emily Davenport (22:16):
Yes. Yes, well, the bee lab here on campus has
kept some of us in supply.
Becky Griffin (22:21):
Oh, yeah. You gotta know know the right people
and they'll set you up.
Emily Davenport (22:24):
Yes.
Becky Griffin (22:25):
Jennifer does an amazing job with that lab. I
mean, she's a real gift to thisuniversity.
Emily Davenport (22:30):
And the honey is delicious.
Becky Griffin (22:31):
Oh, yeah.
Sound Effect (22:32):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (22:32):
Like Becky said, the UGA bee lab is an incredible
asset and resource, especiallyfor those interested in becoming
beekeepers. We'll add a link inthe show notes to their website.
Sound Effect (22:41):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (22:42):
So tell us what the deal is with organic honey.
Becky Griffin (22:44):
What the deal is with organic honey. All right, I
have a little bit of issue withorganic honey. Because in
theory, then, what that means ifyou're saying it's organic, that
every flower that the bees havevisited would meet organic
specifications. Unless you havehives in the middle of 25 acres
that you know that has had nonon-organic things done to it, I
(23:08):
don't know how you can say thatyour honey is organic. And that
also means that the way thebeekeeper is keeping those bees,
how is that beekeeper dealingwith mites? How's that beekeeper
dealing with any other diseases?
Are they just not treating thebees to make them organic? Is
that the best practice forcaring for bees? So it opens a
lot of questions. It's not assimple as saying, like, "this is
(23:30):
an organic apple." You know,there's a lot more to it when
you're dealing with bees thatwill fly five miles to get
nectar and bring it home.
Jordan Powers (23:39):
Definitely adds a layer of complication to the
process.
Becky Griffin (23:42):
Mm-hmm.
Jordan Powers (23:42):
So we touched on this a little bit a moment ago,
but we know that not all honeysare created equal. And what are
some of the benefits of buyinglocal honey like you were just
advocating for?
Becky Griffin (23:51):
Yes, well, first, you're supporting local business
and local agriculture. And weall love that, right? You get to
know your local beekeepers. Soyou get to know, how are they
treating their bees? For me,that is extremely important. I
know that my bees are first forme. Of course, I'm not a honey
producer. I'm not relying onthat income. But you want to
make sure that your beekeeper istreating those bees well.
(24:13):
They're taking care of anydisease problems, they are being
looked after, they're being putin pastures and things that have
ample resources for them. Sothat's another advantage. And
then local beekeepers are notheating that honey. They may be
filtering some things out of it,which is fine, but if you
superheat honey, you're takingaway a lot of the benefits that
(24:33):
you bought the honey for, youknow, so buying local is
definitely the way to go.
Emily Davenport (24:37):
So with your bees when they're not producing
honey, what are you doing withyour bees? Or are all your bees
producing honey, I guess isanother question.
Becky Griffin (24:45):
I do. So one trick for me that is kind of fun
is you will never see applehoney for sale. And the reason
is because apples bloom reallyearly in the season and you want
your bees to get that nectar andstart building up their
resources. So that they havefood for themselves. Well, I
work on a farm that has 2000apple trees. And so one of the
(25:07):
tricks that I try and do for thepeople that work at the Georgia
Mountain Research Center is Iwill take a few frames of apple
honey and make some apple honeybutter or something like that.
And that's something you're notgoing to buy at a store. So, you
know, that's kind of fun to do.
Even if I wasn't a beekeeper,and they were just out being
bees, they would be bringing inhoney for themselves. So the
(25:28):
trick is, a lot of bees like ournative bees, bumblebees, their
life cycle is pretty much overat the end of the season.
Bumblebees go through diapause.
Only one will last. Whereas ahoneybee hive is going to try
and be a superorganism, youknow, you remember that term
from school. And they're goingto get through the winter with
maybe 2000 bees and build upstrong again. Well, those bees
(25:50):
got to have some food in thewintertime and they're not out
foraging, it's too cold andthere's nothing blooming. So
they immediately start bringingin pollen, which is a protein
source for their young, andbringing in honey, which is
their carbohydrate source, toget through the winter. So
they're always producing honey.
Jordan Powers (26:06):
You used the word diapause. For our listeners who
might not know what that is, canyou explain diapause?
Becky Griffin (26:11):
Sure. Most people have heard of hibernation. And
it's usually when an animal'smetabolism slows down and they
get through the winter. Wellbees go through something
similar called diapause. And fora bumblebee, her body actually
produces something likeantifreeze, so she can actually
go underground. She borrowsunder the ground, and her
metabolism is very slow. And soshe just hangs out down there
(26:32):
until springtime.
Jordan Powers (26:33):
That's incredible.
Emily Davenport (26:34):
Yeah. That's cool.
Becky Griffin (26:34):
I mean, I'm telling you, the more you learn,
the more you are impressed withinsects.
Jordan Powers (26:38):
So as a beekeeper, how do you balance
making sure your bees areproducing enough to get
themselves through the winter,but also enough for you to
borrow some?
Becky Griffin (26:47):
I can answer that easy because I'm not dependent
on the honey for an income. Youknow, commercial beekeepers are
a different breed and they haveto balance things out a little
differently. And I have manyfriends that are commercial
beekeepers, and we havediscussions about this. And the
people that I work with arealways trying to balance. So
they may say a lot of beekeepershave the rule that after
(27:08):
goldenrod starts blooming, we'renot taking any more honey. And
part of that is selfish becausehonestly goldenrod honey is not
very good.
Everyone (27:14):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (27:15):
But that means we're getting to August, they've
already started getting readyfor the winter. Some beekeepers
will say, for every two supersthat are filled, I'll take one,
you know, that type of thing.
And then a lot of it depends onthe weather. Are we going to be
in a dearth? Are we going tohave a period of time where we
have no rain at all? And there'sno way the bees are making honey
because there's no nectar flow?
(27:35):
Then you have to balance, am Igoing to have to feed my bees or
how's that going to work? So itis always a balancing act. Every
year is different. Everybodyreally has their eyes on keeping
those bees healthy and happy.
And so you want to take somehoney for yourself, but you
definitely want to make surethey can get through the winter.
Emily Davenport (27:53):
People don't keep bumblebees or carpenter
bees, do they? Can you?
Becky Griffin (27:58):
Well, I like to like ask that question. Do they
really?
Emily Davenport (28:01):
Do you want to?
Becky Griffin (28:02):
Yes. So there are some greenhouses that actually
do have bumblebee colonies. AndI did some research on bumblebee
colonies that we brought in. Soyou can purchase bumblebee
colonies, similar to you would apackage of honeybees. And
bumblebees make honey for theiryoung, but it's not enough that
you would ever harvest it ortake it from them. But they do
(28:23):
they do produce it. A bumblebeequeen will produce maybe 200
bumblebee babies, so she's goingto produce some honey for them.
And some, gather some pollen forthem. But it's not the same as
caring for honeybees. Like, ifyou had a greenhouse you would
never put... well, I hate to saynever, but I can't imagine that
you'd put a hive of 40,000honeybees in a greenhouse. There
(28:46):
wouldn't be enough for them todo and you as a person working
in it would have to deal withbees in close proximity. Whereas
bumblebees are not going to bequite so voluminous in their
colonies. And they also do a lotof generalist pollination. So
yes, that's the short answer.
Carpenter bees, no, I don't knowanybody that keeps carpenter
bees.
Emily Davenport (29:06):
Unless they need a bunch of holes drilled in
their house for some reason.
Jordan Powers (29:09):
Right?
Emily Davenport (29:12):
I didn't even realize that bumblebees were a
colony. I just assumed that theylived solitarily kind of like a
carpenter bee.
Becky Griffin (29:20):
No, they're a little different. What's
interesting is we have over4,000 native bee species in
North America. So you can bepardoned for not knowing that
information because there's somany and they're all a little
bit different on, are theysolitary? Are they social? How
many insect babies do they have?
And depending on what part ofthe country, it may be one
(29:41):
generation a year or it may bemore than one. So you are given
a pass for not knowing that.
Emily Davenport (29:48):
I'll take it
Jordan Powers (29:50):
Four thousand.
Emily Davenport (29:51):
It's a lot of bees.
Becky Griffin (29:52):
Yeah, and what's really sad is they did a, I
think Jimmy Kimmel did a man onthe street interview and he
asked, they asked, what do youknow about pollinators? Every
single person said, "honeybees."And we've got 4,000 native bees.
But the trick is, honey beeshave a advocate. They have a
lobby, they have honeybeekeepers, and agricultural
producers will go to bat forthem and try and get legislators
(30:14):
to help them. Whereas native beespecies most people don't
realize do a lot of ecoservicesfor us.
Jordan Powers (30:19):
So we are excited to debut a new part of our show
where we ask for questions fromour listeners. We've been asking
on social media the last coupleof weeks in preparation for this
episode. And we did get a fewfor this one. And the first is,
do you recommend any particularflowers to plant for pollinators
this season?
Becky Griffin (30:37):
So, yes. I tend to like native plants. They
usually require less inputs fromus, and they usually kind of
thrive where they are. A goodexample is what got through the
winter this year? Right? If yougot through the negative 1.9
degrees, then I'm planting moreof you, right? So the one plant
(30:57):
that really thrived in my yardduring the winter was the false
rosemary. And that happens to bea pollinator plant of the year
for the Pollinator Plants of theYear program out of the State
Botanical Gardens, and I trialsome of those up in the
mountains and man, that's awinner. So look for that. I
always will recommend milkweedbecause that's what the monarchs
(31:17):
will lay their eggs on. I loveour native asters. Some of them
are purple, some are white, someare yellow. Some of our native
sunflower species are beautiful.
I'm a big fan of goldenrod. Anddowny goldenrod is something you
could plant in your yard and itlooks pretty manicured, you
could get away with the HOAthere. And you have to remember
that goldenrod does not make asneeze, it is ragweed which
(31:40):
blooms at the same time, but isa different plant altogether.
Also, a lot of those will beblooming in August when we have
the census. So you want to makesure you have something in the
garden that's going to be readyfor counting in the census.
Mountain mint is another onethat was also one of our plants
of the year. It thrives in anyconditions. It's a native. Its
(32:00):
bloom is not that beautiful, butboy, it is a nectar source for
all sorts of insects. So whenyou go to the nursery, if you
are looking for somethingspecific, and you don't see it,
ask them because if we want themto stock native plants like
milkweed, they're not going toknow we would buy them if we
don't tell them that.
Jordan Powers (32:21):
Absolutely. We need to be an advocate for our
pollinator plants. Yeah, andwhen you're talking about native
plants, you use the word inputs.
For our non agriculture-focusedlisteners, tell us what you mean
when you talk about an inputthat a plant might need?
Becky Griffin (32:33):
Yes, an input may be water, a lot of our native
plants can get through thosedroughts with very little water.
Some of our other species haveto be babied. And I don't want
to pay a water bill to keep aplant alive. So if you are in my
yard and you have beenestablished, been there a while,
you're on your own. I'm nothauling water to water you. So
that's one input. Another inputmay be does it attract diseases?
(32:58):
Is there powdery mildew? Isthere downy mildew, are there
things you're going to have touse a fungicide on? Don't want
to do that. Are there thingsthat pest insects that like your
plant? Well, I'm certainly notputting insecticide on a plant
that I'm using to attractpollinators. It's expensive,
it's time consuming. It's notreally a great use of all of our
resources. And you really don'thave to do it if you have good
(33:20):
plant choices.
Emily Davenport (33:21):
Making a list of plants for my own yard.
Everyone (33:25):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (33:25):
All right, another question that we got was
what can this person do at hometo help pollinators in their own
yard?
Becky Griffin (33:32):
Very good. I love that question. That question
makes my heart happy.
Emily Davenport (33:35):
Yay!
Becky Griffin (33:36):
Definitely create good habitat and learn what that
is. That is correct flowers aswe were talking about. Also, if
you want to have native bees,what native bees are you
interested in attracting? And doyou have nesting resources for
them? Some of our native beeslike our cute little leaf cutter
bee, she will look for holesthat are already established. So
(33:57):
she's looking for spentsunflower stems, spent
blackberry vines, you know,pithy stems that she can build
her nest in. So do mason bees.
Bumblebees need something likeright under mulch or in leaf
litter. So if you are raking upall of those wonderful leaves
and putting them on the curb,you are probably throwing away
some bumblebees and maybe somefirefly larvae as well. So just
(34:19):
learning about what's out thereand educating yourself, every
year your pollinator habitatwill get better. And every year
you will see amazing newinsects. And can I share a story
about that?
Emily Davenport (34:35):
Mm-hmm.
Jordan Powers (34:35):
Please do.
Becky Griffin (34:35):
Okay, so in Atlanta near English Avenue,
there is an old church. And theguts of the church burned down,
but the bones of the church, thebrick was still there. And they
contacted the State BotanicalGardens and myself and some
others and said, "we want tomake that a community gathering
spot. Could we put a pollinatorgarden?" So we did. Lauren
(34:56):
Muller was instrumental in doingthat as well as Jenny Cruse at
the State Botanical Gardens.
When I'm down there, I check onit. It had been around about
four years, it's a pretty maturegarden. I went to check on it,
and I found an AmericanBumblebee. And that is
considered a rare bumblebee.
It's not an endangeredbumblebee, but it's not common.
(35:17):
And I was giddy. I mean, I wastaking pictures and sending it
to my entomology friends, am Iseeing what I think I'm seeing?
And this is the middle ofAtlanta. So the lesson is, if
you build it, they will come.
And if you keep your habitat,you know, you have nesting
materials, you have food sourceand the flowers, you have some
water source, then they don'tneed to leave your yard. And
they will keep reproducing. Andthen who knows, you may one day
(35:39):
find an American Bumblebee inyour backyard, and you will be
sending me pictures. And we'llbe giddy together.
Jordan Powers (35:47):
I love that. I just also love that I have a new
person to be giddy about insectswith.
Everyone (35:50):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (35:52):
After we hit, you know, record off, I need to show
you a picture of the bumblebee Ifound a couple of weeks ago.
Becky Griffin (35:57):
I'm all into that.
Jordan Powers (35:57):
Because I'm that person who's always taking
pictures of them.
Becky Griffin (35:59):
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Powers (36:00):
And my five-year-old gets excited but
my husband just kind of rollshis eyes at this point.
Becky Griffin (36:04):
I understand.
Jordan Powers (36:05):
So speaking of the gateway pollinators that we
talked a little bit about, wehear that you recently went on a
special trip to see one of themore popular butterflies, the
monarchs, migrate.
Becky Griffin (36:14):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (36:14):
Can you tell us a bit about that trip?
Becky Griffin (36:15):
Wow. I mean, it was a trip of a lifetime. I
mean, it's really hard todescribe. We got to Mexico, it's
in rural Mexico. And so thesebutterflies will fly to these
fir trees in the middle ofnowhere Mexico. And we don't
know how they know to go there.
There's still so much we don'tunderstand, and these are
millions, millions of monarchs.
(36:36):
And when we got there, it wasunusually warm. So they weren't
in clusters on the trees, likeyou've seen pictures of, they
were moving around. They weregetting ready to migrate. So I
would be walking on a path,they'd be in my hair, they'd be
between my legs. And I don'tknow how this happened. But we
got under the rope. So we got togo where the public usually
(36:57):
doesn't get to go, whatever Idid to earn that I am very
grateful. Because I could turn acorner and be the only human
that I saw and have thesebutterflies. And there were so
many that if we cupped our ears,we could hear their wings. So
the memorable moment there is wegot to visit a local school and
these kids grow up seeing thesemonarchs. They never see the
(37:18):
caterpillar or the chrysalisbecause they're only seeing the
adults that migrate there. Andthen they leave. So we're at the
school and we have this typical,superior American attitude. What
are you doing to take care ofthe monarchs? How are you taking
care of the forest? You know,how are you preventing logging?
What are you going to do as yougrow up? One 6th grade girl,
(37:38):
after hearing a lot of theseaccusations, looked at us and
said, What are you doing?
Because we're seeing lessbutterflies every year. What are
you doing to keep thosebutterflies happy? What kind of
resources are you doing? And Imean, all of us gasped and took
a step back. And we were put inour place real quick. And it
really made me think, you know,I'm always advocating for it,
but could I step it up a littlemore? Could I work more with
(37:59):
local nurseries to supplymilkweed? And teaching people
the correct kind? Can we workmore in like the No-Mow Mays and
just letting wildflowers go forthese insects? So that was a
moment I will not forget. Andthen of course, anytime I'm
having a little bit of a badday, I look at the video on my
computer, and I'm transportedback to Mexico, and all of those
(38:21):
beautiful butterflies.
Emily Davenport (38:25):
Wow.
Jordan Powers (38:25):
That's incredible. And we will actually
link maybe some of that video inthe show notes so that our
listeners can see what you'retalking about.
Becky Griffin (38:32):
Great.
Emily Davenport (38:32):
Oh, I got chills thinking about that.
Becky Griffin (38:33):
Me too. And I've gone through it.
Emily Davenport (38:36):
Right?
Becky Griffin (38:36):
Yeah.
Emily Davenport (38:37):
Well, we've have covered everything from
monarchs to honeybees, to allthe other pollinators. What have
we missed today? Anything else?
Becky Griffin (38:46):
Well, I want everybody to realize that they
have a great resource with theirlocal Extension agent. They know
a lot about local plants. Theyknow about natives, they know
resources that are local. A lotof them will be doing events for
the Census. So if you'reinterested in the Census, but
maybe you're not confident incounting on your own, contact
your local Extension agent,they'll probably have some
(39:06):
events that they're sponsoring.
So that is very important tomake sure that you link up with
them because they're just awealth of information. I have
nothing but high praise for allof those agents. And also want
to make sure that everybodyknows the Census this year is
August 18th and 19th. So I lookforward to everybody's counts. I
am keeping my fingers crossedthat we have a good sunny days,
(39:27):
we had a little bit of rain lastyear. It's just going to be
pollinator day in Georgia andacross the Southeast.
Emily Davenport (39:34):
We're very excited for it.
Jordan Powers (39:36):
We love that. We will be out there ready to count
and we will also link in theshow notes all of the county
Extension offices. So ifsomebody doesn't know where
their Extension office is or whotheir agent is, they can find
that information as well. Becky,thank you so much for joining
us. Thank you for coming downfrom Blairsville in the
mountains to join us on the showtoday. We have learned a lot. I
(39:56):
have a whole list of plants andbees that I need to go look up
I'm like, I need to see whatthis leaf cutter bee looks like.
Becky Griffin (40:00):
Oh, she's adorable.
Jordan Powers (40:02):
We have a lot of resources and a lot of more
research to do and we just weappreciate your time and
insight.
Becky Griffin (40:08):
Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been
a pleasure.
Emily Davenport (40:10):
Thank you.
Sound Effect (40:10):
[music]
Emily Davenport (40:11):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects.ind more episodes
wherever you get your podcasts.
[music]
Emily Davenport (00:01):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Emily Davenport.
Jordan Powers (00:12):
And I'm Jordan Powers. And we're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:21):
We are here with Becky Griffin, community and
school garden coordinator withinthe Georgia Center for Urban
Agriculture. Becky, thanks forjoining us today.
Becky Griffin (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
Jordan Powers (00:29):
Can we start with you telling us a little bit
about your background?
Becky Griffin (00:32):
I grew up loving agriculture, like many people
that end up in our field do. Ihave a bachelor's degree from
Kennesaw State University inbiology with a minor in
chemistry, and I went on and didsome things after that and went
back when I was 50 to get mymaster's degree at UGA, so I can
officially be a dawg. And I havetwo wonderful children - neither
(00:53):
one followed in my footsteps -and a very patient Extension
husband.
Jordan Powers (00:56):
Love it. I also love to hear going back to get
your master's at 50. There'salways time to become a dawg.
Emily Davenport (01:01):
There is always time.
Becky Griffin (01:02):
Oh, yeah. That's right.
Emily Davenport (01:03):
How did you become interested in
pollinators?
Becky Griffin (01:05):
My whole life. I can't remember a time where I
wasn't fascinated by bees. So Igrew up in a really small town,
Powder Springs, Georgia, whichisn't so small anymore. But at
the time, there was one publiclibrary with just a few volumes.
And one of those was on bees.
And I must check that book out adozen times. I would love to
have that book. You know, withthat little card, you know, with
my name many, many times.
Emily Davenport (01:26):
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Powers (01:26):
All the stamps.
Becky Griffin (01:27):
Yes. Overdue, overdue. So, from the very
beginning, I've just beenfascinated by insects and how
they work.
Jordan Powers (01:34):
And we know that that's obviously a big part of
your role as a community andschool garden coordinator. Can
you tell us a little bit aboutwhat that role looks like?
Becky Griffin (01:41):
Well, I'm very blessed. I get to work with all
of our amazing agents across thestate, and I help them with
those clients. So if they areapproached by an administrator
from a school or countycommissioner saying ""we want a
community garden" or "help usstart a school garden," I
provide resources and help tomake that happen so that the
agents aren't totallyoverwhelmed with all of those
(02:02):
duties.
Emily Davenport (02:02):
Aside from working with schools and agents,
what might a day to day looklike for you?
Becky Griffin (02:08):
Well, it could be recording a podcast
Everyone (02:11):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (02:11):
or it could be, this morning we taped a Georgia
Public Broadcasting show.
Sound Effect (02:15):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (02:16):
Becky was recording content for Georgia
Public Broadcasting'sPollinators Live program, a half
hour interactive event developedfor school aged kids. This
program is now available ondemand. We'll add a link in the
show notes.
Sound Effect (02:29):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (02:30):
It is usually answering a lot of agent
questions, working onpublications. I love working
with young agents to help themin their career. So it could be
that I'm helping them develop apublication. I could be visiting
school gardens. I'm housed atthe Georgia Mountain Research
and Education Center inBlairsville. I'm the apiarist
there, and I just got word thatI had a swarm this morning while
(02:52):
I wasn't there, so it could bemaintaining the bees or helping
out there where I can, givingpresentations and lectures and
workshops and developing those,working with 4-H agents and 4-H
specialists. So every day isdifferent, which is one of the
things I love about my job.
Jordan Powers (03:07):
Absolutely. And we had a chance to go visit you
up in Blairsville last year, ourteam here at the Office of
Marketing and Communications andwhat a beautiful place to call
home base.
Becky Griffin (03:15):
Oh, it is definitely beautiful.
Jordan Powers (03:16):
You just said something just now you said you
have a swarm of bees while youweren't there. What does that
mean for someone who's not inthe industry?
Becky Griffin (03:23):
That means that I had a very successful beehive
full of Russian bees actually,little feisty buggers, they
thrived during the winter. Andthat means that I attempted to
split the hive, which meanscreating a swarm for them. But
basically what it means is toomany bees getting too full in
their hive, so we're going todivide out. And it's how they
(03:43):
naturally divide if they're outin the wild. But if I was there,
I could capture that swarm andbring it back, and then it's
extra bees but since I'm notthere, I don't want anybody
getting stung or messing withthem so I said, let them go,
they'll find a home.
Jordan Powers (03:58):
Aww. Off on an adventure.
Becky Griffin (04:02):
That's right.
Emily Davenport (04:02):
Traveling bees.
How do you get them to stay inin the hive once you've captured
them?
Becky Griffin (04:07):
Try and treat them really nice. Say nice words
to them, whisper sweetinstructions. It's just
providing a home for them thatthey're happy in. And I knew
this hive was was expandingoutside their range so I tried
to split them, but they did notrespond to that so that lure to
hive and reproduce that way isvery strong.
Jordan Powers (04:25):
Sounds like a toddler. Like, I won't do this
when you want me to do it.
Becky Griffin (04:28):
Oh yeah.
Jordan Powers (04:29):
But then you're not looking and then I'm gonna
run.
Becky Griffin (04:31):
Having raised two daughters is why I'm pretty good
at beekeeping.
Everyone (04:34):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (04:37):
Well, we're really big fans of the Great
Southeast Pollinator Census.
Becky Griffin (04:40):
And I appreciate that very much.
Emily Davenport (04:42):
Yeah. So tell us about the history of this
annual event and how it'schanged over the years.
Becky Griffin (04:47):
Sure. So as the community and school garden
coordinator, I was travelingaround looking at a lot of
gardens, especially communitygardens, and I was finding a lot
of really great gardeners. Theyknew a lot about plant choice,
they knew about soil health.
They didn't know enough aboutentomology. Every bug they saw
was a bug, was a pest. At thesame time, I was working with
school gardeners and findingthat our teachers, when they
(05:09):
were in college learning tobecome wonderful teachers
weren't really exposed toentomology. So more likely than
not, they are not interested inteaching about insects, and it's
more like, ew, it's a bug. So Iwas on a long drive from Tifton
thinking about these things, andcame up with this idea to do
this census. So it had threeprongs. The first one is to
(05:30):
teach people about these bugs,these insects. Why are they
valuable? How can I have them inmy yard doing great things for
me? How can I develop skill setwithin my students? And I also
thought, well, we could alsoteach people how to sustainably
create pollinator habitat.
Georgia is a beautiful state, wehave a lot of people moving in
(05:51):
here. And they want to tell methat I don't know how to create
a pollinator garden. And they'regoing to teach me by bringing in
plants they grew in Minnesota orCalifornia. They don't do well
here. So sustainable pollinatorgarden means you are planting
things with limited inputs,limited water, they survive our
droughts we have in the summer.
So that's what we're encouragingpeople to do with that goal. And
(06:12):
then of course, lastly, togenerate pollinator population
data. And as we thought throughthis, and I talked to
researchers at UGA, researchersin other colleges, looking at
how I can make it easy forpeople to do the census, but
still generate data that'suseful. I had to marry those two
things. So they were veryhelpful. We did two years of
(06:34):
pilot projects in 2017 and 2018.
And then 2019 was the very firstall-state census and I was on
pins and needles, and we wereworried as you upload counts,
were the computers gonna hold?
What if nobody counted? Youknow, but it was a lot of fun.
And I can't express how much joythis census gives me. At the end
(06:56):
of each census, I will getpeople that call me and say, "I
had no idea. I had no idea ofthe diversity and number of
insects in my own garden. AndI've been gardening for
fill-in-the-blank number ofyears." And that person becomes
a pollinator advocate and theyare out in their neighborhood
saying, "you need a pollinatorgarden and here's how you do
(07:17):
it." So it's been a big rewardfor me. The big news is, of
course last year, South Carolinajoined the census through my
good friend Amy Dabbs, who doesmy job at Clemson University.
This year, North Carolina isjoining the census through North
Carolina A&T as well as NCState. And then in 2024, Florida
(07:37):
will be joining. And I have totell you a little about that
because I am a rabid Bulldogfootball fan, which means I'm
already getting my hackles uptalking about working with
Florida, right? So this is allin joking. But when we talked
together, we agreed not to talkfootball. But last time I was in
the Tate Center, I got a pictureof the oar. So you know, the oar
(08:00):
is what we get when we win andif they win, they get it. It's
of course housed here. And Itook a picture and sent it down
and got no response.
Emily Davenport (08:10):
Uh-oh.
Becky Griffin (08:10):
So I may have crossed the line.
Jordan Powers (08:13):
Uh-oh.
Becky Griffin (08:13):
But no, that's all in jest. We get along very
well. And they're excited tojoin this effort with us. And
it's going to be a lot of fun.
Jordan Powers (08:19):
Talk about a lasting impact of the work and
inspiring so many pollinatoradvocates. Speaking of
excitement, what are you themost excited about for this
year's pollinator census, otherthan the new states joining?
Becky Griffin (08:30):
I mean, people say to me, aren't you tired of
this project yet? No! You know,I have new people who are
counting. I have new people thatI've met, new businesses that
are counting. Every year moreand more people join. I have
added new resources foreducators. So I've been spending
a lot of time with teachers,helping them meet their needs,
(08:50):
so they can have this no-costSTEM program. So I'm very
excited about what they do withit. I was invited to speak at
OLLI or retired people.
Sound Effect (08:58):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (08:59):
OLLI stands for the Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute, and is a learning andsocial community for adults 50
and over hosted at theUniversity of Georgia. We'll add
a link in the show notes ifyou're interested in learning
more.
Sound Effect (09:10):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (09:11):
They said, well, we would like you to speak, and
I said, well, which part of thecensus do you want me to speak
about? And someone else wasspeaking on the census. Someone
I didn't even know. And thatmakes me so excited because that
means people are takingownership of the project. If it
were just me and my laptop, itwould have never been the
success it is. People areexcited. They're taking
(09:32):
ownership. They're making ittheir own census, which is what
I wanted from the verybeginning.
Emily Davenport (09:37):
Last year you were at the governor's mansion
to count. What was that like?
Becky Griffin (09:41):
It was wonderful.
I didn't realize Marty Kemp wassuch a pollinator advocate. She
has done so much over at thegovernor's mansion. She's
planted in new gardens. She hasbees there. And she's such a
really neat, approachableperson. It was just a wonderful
afternoon. I felt honored thatshe carved out the time for us
and she really not only countedwith us and carved out part of
her day, but she also advocatesfor the Census as well. So that
(10:04):
was really a feel-good day forme, I really enjoyed being with
her,
Jordan Powers (10:10):
How are scientists and researchers using
the data that's being collected?
Becky Griffin (10:14):
Well, that's interesting. And this is a
tricky one. I know they're usingit for economic pollination
valuation studies. So what thatmeans is they can actually put a
value, an economic dollarfigure, on pollination services.
And if you think about it, wegrow a lot of watermelon in the
state and watermelon has to havea pollinator because the female
(10:36):
flower is on one part of theplant while the male flower's on
another. If we do not havepollinators, then we're out hand
pollinating and having to buy avery expensive watermelon. So
they can actually use theirmagic and figure out how much
that means in dollar value. So Iknow that they're looking at
what pollinators are in whatparts of our state and using
that in their formulation of howmuch these pollinators are
(11:00):
worth. So I know that's goingon. I know that some researchers
that are studying pollinationhabitat will use pollinator
criteria to actually look atdifferent pollinator gardens and
maybe do a before they plantedcertain things, and then an
after to see what kind of impactit's making. I do know that
since we started the census, wegot really lucky here. And we
(11:21):
include flies, and more researchis coming out on the importance
of hoverflies, which are thetiny little flies that look like
bees, they're bee mimics, andtheir role in pollination of our
crops. And we are the onlycensus that I know of in the
United States that's actuallylooking at flies. So I'd like to
say that was my my brainthinking ahead, but it was pure
(11:42):
luck that we chose flies.
Jordan Powers (11:43):
Shh, we won't tell.
Becky Griffin (11:44):
Yeah, don't tell.
So I know it's being used a lotof ways. Schools are using it.
One of the neatest things is tobe in a school, they have
counted, they have saved theirdata from their students. They
wait until I put on the website,the rest of the data, and they
use it for math lessons. So thekids are using data they helped
generate, that really does makea difference, and they're using
(12:05):
it in their math lessons. Andthe teachers tell me, they love
it, the kids are more engagedbecause they can relate to the
data.
Jordan Powers (12:12):
Why was math not like that when I was...
Emily Davenport (12:14):
I know, right?
Jordan Powers (12:15):
I might be more of a math person if that were
the case.
Emily Davenport (12:18):
And then when the student says, "I'll never
use this in real life," you cansay, "Look, you are, right now."
I love a good citizen scienceproject. How can our listeners
participate in the pollinatorcensus?
Becky Griffin (12:30):
Well, happily, it's not very difficult. You
don't have to be anentomologist. If you are all by
yourself, and you live on alittle island in Georgia, and
you're not going to be with yourlocal Extension office who's
going to have programs, you'renot going to be with any of the
other groups leading events, allyou have to do is visit the
website, which is gsepc.org. Andall the information there on how
(12:55):
to count is is right on thewebsite. We have an inset
counting and identificationguide. We have videos, you can
join us on our social mediaplatforms, we post information
daily. Right now we're learningabout bumblebees, we have Fun
Fact Fridays, which will helpyou learn a little bit more
entomology, but it's very basic,you just count for 15 minutes
(13:16):
and whatever insects land onyour flower, you put into one of
eight categories. And learningto differentiate between the
categories is very simple. Butit is also divided so that those
of us who are entomologists,just a little behind the scenes.
For example, we have a small beecategory, and that is any bee
that's smaller than a honeybee.
Well, for the average personthey're like, "I got that," you
(13:37):
know, "I've figured out how biga honeybee is. Any small bee,
I'm ticking that category." Butfor me and other entomologists,
we know that a large group ofour native bees like leaf cutter
bees and mason bees fall intothat category. So you may think,
"Okay, I'm just got a small beesanything small," but for us,
it's like, ooh, those arenumbers about some of our native
(13:57):
bees. And they're important.
Emily Davenport (14:00):
I can't wait to participate this year. I'm gonna
go census my garden.
Becky Griffin (14:04):
There we go.
Jordan Powers (14:04):
I think this will be my first year participating
as well.
Emily Davenport (14:06):
Yeah.
Becky Griffin (14:06):
I can't wait to see your counts.
Emily Davenport (14:08):
I know.
Becky Griffin (14:09):
I will look for them in August.
Jordan Powers (14:12):
And we'll add a link in the show notes with that
information on the Census andhow people can get involved as
well.
Becky Griffin (14:17):
Thank you.
Jordan Powers (14:17):
So when you say the word pollinator we know that
honeybees are often one of thefirst critters that come to
mind. We talked a little bitabout hoverflies. But what are
some other pollinators? And isthere one that surprises people
the most?
Becky Griffin (14:29):
Flies I think are big. Because people the average
citizen, you talk about flies,they're thinking, "I'm trying to
eat on my patio and the fliesare bothering me," right? So
that is a big surprise topeople. Wasps are another one.
People are inherently scared ofwasps. And I think it's just
because we talk about them insuch ominous terms. And
actuality, the only time I havebeen stung by a wasp as an
(14:50):
adult, is when one had died inmy cabin floor and I stepped on
him. So I see them and actuallygrow plants to attract them. As
long as I'm not grabbing them,they're not interested in me. So
wasps are a big one and I'llpost pictures of wasps and I'll
get, "ooh that's a scary blackwasp," and I'm like, that wasp
is doing you so much good inyour garden. You should be
(15:11):
saying, "hello black wasp,welcome!" you know? That type of
thing. So the wasps are one.
Everybody loves butterflies. Icall them the gateway insect.
Everyone (15:21):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (15:21):
Get you hooked on butterflies, we can move into
bees. In actuality, they dopollinate but they're not like
bees. Bees are the mostefficient, best pollinators. So,
you know, those are always thegimme. Carpenter bees, people
have a love hate relationshipwith them, which is
understandable. But they areamazing pollinators and they're
out there. So I guess the waspis the biggest surprise, and the
(15:42):
fly as well.
Jordan Powers (15:43):
Yeah, but the carpenter bee is a contentious
one. My husband's a hater andI'm always like, stop! Don't
swat at them! They're doing somuch good!
Becky Griffin (15:50):
But you can't have them eat your house.
Jordan Powers (15:52):
Precisely.
Becky Griffin (15:53):
You know, you gotta balance it all out.
Emily Davenport (15:55):
Yeah. And when they're out there buzzing
around, they're so big. My kidshate them. Because they're so
big. I'm like, they're not goingto sting you.
Becky Griffin (16:01):
No. And the funny thing about carpenter bees is if
they're buzzing in your face,and you see that there's a white
or yellow stripe on the face,that's a male. They don't have a
stinger. And so I will be out,like at the Atlanta Science
Festival, I was out talking andthese carpenter bees, they get
right in your face. And it's,you gotta admire that. This
little carpenter bee isdefending his territory. Who are
you and what are you doing here?
You know, and he's so tiny. Andhe's getting on my nerves and I
(16:22):
see the yellow face, so I graband move him. And oh my gosh,
those kids went, [gasp], youknow, but I knew he didn't have
a stinger. And although he hasmandibles and could bite me, I
took them off guard, so I justmoved them away from my face,
but it was like a little magictrick.
Jordan Powers (16:38):
There you go.
Emily Davenport (16:39):
The bee whisperer.
Becky Griffin (16:41):
Bee whisperer.
Emily Davenport (16:42):
I've heard rumor that some spiders are
pollinators. Is that true?
Becky Griffin (16:47):
Well, technically, anything that moves
pollen from the male part of theflower to a female part of the
flower is a pollinator. Soyou're a pollinator when you're
at work in your garden, when thebears in Blairsville roam around
and they get goldenrod all overtheir face, they're pollinators.
So technically, I could see aspider being a pollinator. Do
they have a need for pollen intheir diet that would have them
(17:09):
be attracted to flowers? No.
They're mostly predators who areout looking at those
pollinators. What pollinatorscan I trap in my web? So
technically, yes, they can bepollinators but that's really
not what they're out theredoing.
Emily Davenport (17:22):
Okay.
Jordan Powers (17:23):
I'm like still stuck on how fascinating, I'm
like, technically we are allpollinators.
Emily Davenport (17:27):
My dog is a pollinator.
Jordan Powers (17:31):
Do you have a favorite pollinator?
Becky Griffin (17:33):
It depends on the year. You know, every year is a
little different. I was reallyin love with the green metallic,
the Halictid sweat bees a coupleyears ago. They're so beautiful
and dark green and I wastraveling around looking for
sunflowers to take pictures ofthem. This year I think I'm
pretty hooked on bumblebees.
They're so cute as they fly andlumber round like big old teddy
bears. And they are just the,they're built for nothing but
(17:56):
pollination. I mean, if you knewnothing about pollination, and
you studied the anatomy of abumble bee, you would come away
with, that bee has somethinggoing on there's there's a
purpose for that bee and it isbasically moving pollen. From
the way their hair is arrangedto their faces to the way they
fly, the way their wings work.
(18:16):
They are pollinationpowerhouses.
Emily Davenport (18:19):
The cutest pollination powerhouses.
Jordan Powers (18:22):
They really are.
Can you tell us the differencebetween a honeybee, a bumblebee,
and a carpenter bee?
Becky Griffin (18:28):
Sure. So let's start with carpenter bee and
bumblebee because you need todifferentiate those for the
Census anyway. So carpenterbees, we all know what those
are. If I say carpenter bee, youthink of the thing, the bee
that's boring into your home,but I want you the next time you
see one to look at theirabdomen, and that's the last
segment and it's going to bebald. So an entomologist would
say, that bee has a baldabdomen. Actually, what we can
(18:51):
say is a shiny hiney. Right?
There's no hair on it. And itmakes sense if that bee is
boring into wood and having togo in and out of a wood home
that she built, hair would catchon those wood particles, right?
So that's logical for us. Naturehas made her a shiny hiney for
her nest, whereas a bumblebee,and we've talked about how they
fly like big teddy bears, theyhave hair all over them. So
(19:12):
their abdomen is going to havelots of hair on it. It could be
black or golden or even white.
We say their rears are fuzzy. Sothey're about the same size. If
you see one that's about thesize you look at the abdomen and
is it a shiny hiney? It's acarpenter bee. Is it full of
hair? It has a fuzzy rear andit's a bumblebee. So for the
(19:35):
census that is all you have toknow. I'm not asking species I'm
not asking is it a worker bee?
Just, is it a carpenter bee or abumblebee? Now honey bees are a
little different. Honey beesonce you see a picture of one
which there are tons of them onthe website, you will know a
honey bee. It is much smallerthan a carpenter bee or a
bumblebee. It will have a pollenbasket if it's a female so
(19:58):
you'll, I often see them carrypollen on their hind legs. They
don't have quite as much hair,but they do have hair around
their face, which makes themextremely cute. The females will
have stingers, the males willnot. But most of the time you're
going to see females, honeybeesout and about. And once you see
a photograph, you will notmistake it for a bumblebee or a
(20:18):
carpenter bee.
Emily Davenport (20:21):
Well, going back to honey bees, this is a
question for our honey fans. Andtell us more about honey and
maybe what impacts the taste ofhoney?
Becky Griffin (20:32):
Sure. So honey is made up of the nectar that the
bees gather. They bring it backto the hive, and they deposit it
in one of those hexagonal cells.
It has been in their honeystomach, so when they
regurgitate it, there's someenzymes in there as well. It's
deposited in its cell and thenthe other bees will flap their
wings to evaporate excess watertill it's about 18% water, and
(20:53):
then they cap it. And that'shoney and they're making it to
get themselves through thewinter. So every single bottle
of honey that you eat is goingto be different, because you
don't know the makeup of theflowers that those bees have
made the honey with. And youdon't know the quality of the
nectar. For example, if we'vehad a really rainy spring, the
(21:14):
nectar is going to be verywatery. If we have some
droughts, the nectar that theplant makes is gonna be very
strong. And even though a bottleof honey will say it is sourwood
honey, that doesn't mean thatthe only plants that those bees
visited were sourwood. I mean,you'd have to really, that'd be
a trick, for sure, but it meansit's primarily sourwood and you
(21:36):
don't know what other thingswere blooming. It's like wine or
whiskey, it's going to be alittle bit different every
bottle. And every bottle isgoing to be really special.
Jordan Powers (21:46):
So is that also part of what impacts the color
of honey?
Becky Griffin (21:49):
Yes, exactly. Ums sourwood's, a little darker,
clover's a little lighter. Sodepending on what's in there.
And honey judges can tell you bylooking at at it, you know kind
of what it is. I'm not that goodyet.
Jordan Powers (22:00):
We got to come do a testing with you about a year
ago and I'd say you were prettyskilled at walking through the
different colors and flavors.
Emily Davenport (22:07):
Oh yeah.
Jordan Powers (22:07):
We all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.
Emily Davenport (22:09):
We did.
Becky Griffin (22:09):
Well I'm glad.
You are now honey advocates. AndI'm hoping that you're buying
honey from your local beekeeper?
Emily Davenport (22:14):
Mm-hmm.
Becky Griffin (22:15):
Excellent answer.
Emily Davenport (22:16):
Yes. Yes, well, the bee lab here on campus has
kept some of us in supply.
Becky Griffin (22:21):
Oh, yeah. You gotta know know the right people
and they'll set you up.
Emily Davenport (22:24):
Yes.
Becky Griffin (22:25):
Jennifer does an amazing job with that lab. I
mean, she's a real gift to thisuniversity.
Emily Davenport (22:30):
And the honey is delicious.
Becky Griffin (22:31):
Oh, yeah.
Sound Effect (22:32):
[chime]
Becky Griffin (22:32):
Like Becky said, the UGA bee lab is an incredible
asset and resource, especiallyfor those interested in becoming
beekeepers. We'll add a link inthe show notes to their website.
Sound Effect (22:41):
[chime]
Emily Davenport (22:42):
So tell us what the deal is with organic honey.
Becky Griffin (22:44):
What the deal is with organic honey. All right, I
have a little bit of issue withorganic honey. Because in
theory, then, what that means ifyou're saying it's organic, that
every flower that the bees havevisited would meet organic
specifications. Unless you havehives in the middle of 25 acres
that you know that has had nonon-organic things done to it, I
(23:08):
don't know how you can say thatyour honey is organic. And that
also means that the way thebeekeeper is keeping those bees,
how is that beekeeper dealingwith mites? How's that beekeeper
dealing with any other diseases?
Are they just not treating thebees to make them organic? Is
that the best practice forcaring for bees? So it opens a
lot of questions. It's not assimple as saying, like, "this is
(23:30):
an organic apple." You know,there's a lot more to it when
you're dealing with bees thatwill fly five miles to get
nectar and bring it home.
Jordan Powers (23:39):
Definitely adds a layer of complication to the
process.
Becky Griffin (23:42):
Mm-hmm.
Jordan Powers (23:42):
So we touched on this a little bit a moment ago,
but we know that not all honeysare created equal. And what are
some of the benefits of buyinglocal honey like you were just
advocating for?
Becky Griffin (23:51):
Yes, well, first, you're supporting local business
and local agriculture. And weall love that, right? You get to
know your local beekeepers. Soyou get to know, how are they
treating their bees? For me,that is extremely important. I
know that my bees are first forme. Of course, I'm not a honey
producer. I'm not relying onthat income. But you want to
make sure that your beekeeper istreating those bees well.
(24:13):
They're taking care of anydisease problems, they are being
looked after, they're being putin pastures and things that have
ample resources for them. Sothat's another advantage. And
then local beekeepers are notheating that honey. They may be
filtering some things out of it,which is fine, but if you
superheat honey, you're takingaway a lot of the benefits that
(24:33):
you bought the honey for, youknow, so buying local is
definitely the way to go.
Emily Davenport (24:37):
So with your bees when they're not producing
honey, what are you doing withyour bees? Or are all your bees
producing honey, I guess isanother question.
Becky Griffin (24:45):
I do. So one trick for me that is kind of fun
is you will never see applehoney for sale. And the reason
is because apples bloom reallyearly in the season and you want
your bees to get that nectar andstart building up their
resources. So that they havefood for themselves. Well, I
work on a farm that has 2000apple trees. And so one of the
(25:07):
tricks that I try and do for thepeople that work at the Georgia
Mountain Research Center is Iwill take a few frames of apple
honey and make some apple honeybutter or something like that.
And that's something you're notgoing to buy at a store. So, you
know, that's kind of fun to do.
Even if I wasn't a beekeeper,and they were just out being
bees, they would be bringing inhoney for themselves. So the
(25:28):
trick is, a lot of bees like ournative bees, bumblebees, their
life cycle is pretty much overat the end of the season.
Bumblebees go through diapause.
Only one will last. Whereas ahoneybee hive is going to try
and be a superorganism, youknow, you remember that term
from school. And they're goingto get through the winter with
maybe 2000 bees and build upstrong again. Well, those bees
(25:50):
got to have some food in thewintertime and they're not out
foraging, it's too cold andthere's nothing blooming. So
they immediately start bringingin pollen, which is a protein
source for their young, andbringing in honey, which is
their carbohydrate source, toget through the winter. So
they're always producing honey.
Jordan Powers (26:06):
You used the word diapause. For our listeners who
might not know what that is, canyou explain diapause?
Becky Griffin (26:11):
Sure. Most people have heard of hibernation. And
it's usually when an animal'smetabolism slows down and they
get through the winter. Wellbees go through something
similar called diapause. And fora bumblebee, her body actually
produces something likeantifreeze, so she can actually
go underground. She borrowsunder the ground, and her
metabolism is very slow. And soshe just hangs out down there
(26:32):
until springtime.
Jordan Powers (26:33):
That's incredible.
Emily Davenport (26:34):
Yeah. That's cool.
Becky Griffin (26:34):
I mean, I'm telling you, the more you learn,
the more you are impressed withinsects.
Jordan Powers (26:38):
So as a beekeeper, how do you balance
making sure your bees areproducing enough to get
themselves through the winter,but also enough for you to
borrow some?
Becky Griffin (26:47):
I can answer that easy because I'm not dependent
on the honey for an income. Youknow, commercial beekeepers are
a different breed and they haveto balance things out a little
differently. And I have manyfriends that are commercial
beekeepers, and we havediscussions about this. And the
people that I work with arealways trying to balance. So
they may say a lot of beekeepershave the rule that after
(27:08):
goldenrod starts blooming, we'renot taking any more honey. And
part of that is selfish becausehonestly goldenrod honey is not
very good.
Everyone (27:14):
[laughter]
Becky Griffin (27:15):
But that means we're getting to August, they've
already started getting readyfor the winter. Some beekeepers
will say, for every two supersthat are filled, I'll take one,
you know, that type of thing.
And then a lot of it depends onthe weather. Are we going to be
in a dearth? Are we going tohave a period of time where we
have no rain at all? And there'sno way the bees are making honey
because there's no nectar flow?
(27:35):
Then you have to balance, am Igoing to have to feed my bees or
how's that going to work? So itis always a balancing act. Every
year is different. Everybodyreally has their eyes on keeping
those bees healthy and happy.
And so you want to take somehoney for yourself, but you
definitely want to make surethey can get through the winter.
Emily Davenport (27:53):
People don't keep bumblebees or carpenter
bees, do they? Can you?
Becky Griffin (27:58):
Well, I like to like ask that question. Do they
really?
Emily Davenport (28:01):
Do you want to?
Becky Griffin (28:02):
Yes. So there are some greenhouses that actually
do have bumblebee colonies. AndI did some research on bumblebee
colonies that we brought in. Soyou can purchase bumblebee
colonies, similar to you would apackage of honeybees. And
bumblebees make honey for theiryoung, but it's not enough that
you would ever harvest it ortake it from them. But they do
(28:23):
they do produce it. A bumblebeequeen will produce maybe 200
bumblebee babies, so she's goingto produce some honey for them.
And some, gather some pollen forthem. But it's not the same as
caring for honeybees. Like, ifyou had a greenhouse you would
never put... well, I hate to saynever, but I can't imagine that
you'd put a hive of 40,000honeybees in a greenhouse. There
(28:46):
wouldn't be enough for them todo and you as a person working
in it would have to deal withbees in close proximity. Whereas
bumblebees are not going to bequite so voluminous in their
colonies. And they also do a lotof generalist pollination. So
yes, that's the short answer.
Carpenter bees, no, I don't knowanybody that keeps carpenter
bees.
Emily Davenport (29:06):
Unless they need a bunch of holes drilled in
their house for some reason.
Jordan Powers (29:09):
Right?
Emily Davenport (29:12):
I didn't even realize that bumblebees were a
colony. I just assumed that theylived solitarily kind of like a
carpenter bee.
Becky Griffin (29:20):
No, they're a little different. What's
interesting is we have over4,000 native bee species in
North America. So you can bepardoned for not knowing that
information because there's somany and they're all a little
bit different on, are theysolitary? Are they social? How
many insect babies do they have?
And depending on what part ofthe country, it may be one
(29:41):
generation a year or it may bemore than one. So you are given
a pass for not knowing that.
Emily Davenport (29:48):
I'll take it
Jordan Powers (29:50):
Four thousand.
Emily Davenport (29:51):
It's a lot of bees.
Becky Griffin (29:52):
Yeah, and what's really sad is they did a, I
think Jimmy Kimmel did a man onthe street interview and he
asked, they asked, what do youknow about pollinators? Every
single person said, "honeybees."And we've got 4,000 native bees.
But the trick is, honey beeshave a advocate. They have a
lobby, they have honeybeekeepers, and agricultural
producers will go to bat forthem and try and get legislators
(30:14):
to help them. Whereas native beespecies most people don't
realize do a lot of ecoservicesfor us.
Jordan Powers (30:19):
So we are excited to debut a new part of our show
where we ask for questions fromour listeners. We've been asking
on social media the last coupleof weeks in preparation for this
episode. And we did get a fewfor this one. And the first is,
do you recommend any particularflowers to plant for pollinators
this season?
Becky Griffin (30:37):
So, yes. I tend to like native plants. They
usually require less inputs fromus, and they usually kind of
thrive where they are. A goodexample is what got through the
winter this year? Right? If yougot through the negative 1.9
degrees, then I'm planting moreof you, right? So the one plant
(30:57):
that really thrived in my yardduring the winter was the false
rosemary. And that happens to bea pollinator plant of the year
for the Pollinator Plants of theYear program out of the State
Botanical Gardens, and I trialsome of those up in the
mountains and man, that's awinner. So look for that. I
always will recommend milkweedbecause that's what the monarchs
(31:17):
will lay their eggs on. I loveour native asters. Some of them
are purple, some are white, someare yellow. Some of our native
sunflower species are beautiful.
I'm a big fan of goldenrod. Anddowny goldenrod is something you
could plant in your yard and itlooks pretty manicured, you
could get away with the HOAthere. And you have to remember
that goldenrod does not make asneeze, it is ragweed which
(31:40):
blooms at the same time, but isa different plant altogether.
Also, a lot of those will beblooming in August when we have
the census. So you want to makesure you have something in the
garden that's going to be readyfor counting in the census.
Mountain mint is another onethat was also one of our plants
of the year. It thrives in anyconditions. It's a native. Its
(32:00):
bloom is not that beautiful, butboy, it is a nectar source for
all sorts of insects. So whenyou go to the nursery, if you
are looking for somethingspecific, and you don't see it,
ask them because if we want themto stock native plants like
milkweed, they're not going toknow we would buy them if we
don't tell them that.
Jordan Powers (32:21):
Absolutely. We need to be an advocate for our
pollinator plants. Yeah, andwhen you're talking about native
plants, you use the word inputs.
For our non agriculture-focusedlisteners, tell us what you mean
when you talk about an inputthat a plant might need?
Becky Griffin (32:33):
Yes, an input may be water, a lot of our native
plants can get through thosedroughts with very little water.
Some of our other species haveto be babied. And I don't want
to pay a water bill to keep aplant alive. So if you are in my
yard and you have beenestablished, been there a while,
you're on your own. I'm nothauling water to water you. So
that's one input. Another inputmay be does it attract diseases?
(32:58):
Is there powdery mildew? Isthere downy mildew, are there
things you're going to have touse a fungicide on? Don't want
to do that. Are there thingsthat pest insects that like your
plant? Well, I'm certainly notputting insecticide on a plant
that I'm using to attractpollinators. It's expensive,
it's time consuming. It's notreally a great use of all of our
resources. And you really don'thave to do it if you have good
(33:20):
plant choices.
Emily Davenport (33:21):
Making a list of plants for my own yard.
Everyone (33:25):
[laughter]
Emily Davenport (33:25):
All right, another question that we got was
what can this person do at hometo help pollinators in their own
yard?
Becky Griffin (33:32):
Very good. I love that question. That question
makes my heart happy.
Emily Davenport (33:35):
Yay!
Becky Griffin (33:36):
Definitely create good habitat and learn what that
is. That is correct flowers aswe were talking about. Also, if
you want to have native bees,what native bees are you
interested in attracting? And doyou have nesting resources for
them? Some of our native beeslike our cute little leaf cutter
bee, she will look for holesthat are already established. So
(33:57):
she's looking for spentsunflower stems, spent
blackberry vines, you know,pithy stems that she can build
her nest in. So do mason bees.
Bumblebees need something likeright under mulch or in leaf
litter. So if you are raking upall of those wonderful leaves
and putting them on the curb,you are probably throwing away
some bumblebees and maybe somefirefly larvae as well. So just
(34:19):
learning about what's out thereand educating yourself, every
year your pollinator habitatwill get better. And every year
you will see amazing newinsects. And can I share a story
about that?
Emily Davenport (34:35):
Mm-hmm.
Jordan Powers (34:35):
Please do.
Becky Griffin (34:35):
Okay, so in Atlanta near English Avenue,
there is an old church. And theguts of the church burned down,
but the bones of the church, thebrick was still there. And they
contacted the State BotanicalGardens and myself and some
others and said, "we want tomake that a community gathering
spot. Could we put a pollinatorgarden?" So we did. Lauren
(34:56):
Muller was instrumental in doingthat as well as Jenny Cruse at
the State Botanical Gardens.
When I'm down there, I check onit. It had been around about
four years, it's a pretty maturegarden. I went to check on it,
and I found an AmericanBumblebee. And that is
considered a rare bumblebee.
It's not an endangeredbumblebee, but it's not common.
(35:17):
And I was giddy. I mean, I wastaking pictures and sending it
to my entomology friends, am Iseeing what I think I'm seeing?
And this is the middle ofAtlanta. So the lesson is, if
you build it, they will come.
And if you keep your habitat,you know, you have nesting
materials, you have food sourceand the flowers, you have some
water source, then they don'tneed to leave your yard. And
they will keep reproducing. Andthen who knows, you may one day
(35:39):
find an American Bumblebee inyour backyard, and you will be
sending me pictures. And we'llbe giddy together.
Jordan Powers (35:47):
I love that. I just also love that I have a new
person to be giddy about insectswith.
Everyone (35:50):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (35:52):
After we hit, you know, record off, I need to show
you a picture of the bumblebee Ifound a couple of weeks ago.
Becky Griffin (35:57):
I'm all into that.
Jordan Powers (35:57):
Because I'm that person who's always taking
pictures of them.
Becky Griffin (35:59):
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Powers (36:00):
And my five-year-old gets excited but
my husband just kind of rollshis eyes at this point.
Becky Griffin (36:04):
I understand.
Jordan Powers (36:05):
So speaking of the gateway pollinators that we
talked a little bit about, wehear that you recently went on a
special trip to see one of themore popular butterflies, the
monarchs, migrate.
Becky Griffin (36:14):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (36:14):
Can you tell us a bit about that trip?
Becky Griffin (36:15):
Wow. I mean, it was a trip of a lifetime. I
mean, it's really hard todescribe. We got to Mexico, it's
in rural Mexico. And so thesebutterflies will fly to these
fir trees in the middle ofnowhere Mexico. And we don't
know how they know to go there.
There's still so much we don'tunderstand, and these are
millions, millions of monarchs.
(36:36):
And when we got there, it wasunusually warm. So they weren't
in clusters on the trees, likeyou've seen pictures of, they
were moving around. They weregetting ready to migrate. So I
would be walking on a path,they'd be in my hair, they'd be
between my legs. And I don'tknow how this happened. But we
got under the rope. So we got togo where the public usually
(36:57):
doesn't get to go, whatever Idid to earn that I am very
grateful. Because I could turn acorner and be the only human
that I saw and have thesebutterflies. And there were so
many that if we cupped our ears,we could hear their wings. So
the memorable moment there is wegot to visit a local school and
these kids grow up seeing thesemonarchs. They never see the
(37:18):
caterpillar or the chrysalisbecause they're only seeing the
adults that migrate there. Andthen they leave. So we're at the
school and we have this typical,superior American attitude. What
are you doing to take care ofthe monarchs? How are you taking
care of the forest? You know,how are you preventing logging?
What are you going to do as yougrow up? One 6th grade girl,
(37:38):
after hearing a lot of theseaccusations, looked at us and
said, What are you doing?
Because we're seeing lessbutterflies every year. What are
you doing to keep thosebutterflies happy? What kind of
resources are you doing? And Imean, all of us gasped and took
a step back. And we were put inour place real quick. And it
really made me think, you know,I'm always advocating for it,
but could I step it up a littlemore? Could I work more with
(37:59):
local nurseries to supplymilkweed? And teaching people
the correct kind? Can we workmore in like the No-Mow Mays and
just letting wildflowers go forthese insects? So that was a
moment I will not forget. Andthen of course, anytime I'm
having a little bit of a badday, I look at the video on my
computer, and I'm transportedback to Mexico, and all of those
(38:21):
beautiful butterflies.
Emily Davenport (38:25):
Wow.
Jordan Powers (38:25):
That's incredible. And we will actually
link maybe some of that video inthe show notes so that our
listeners can see what you'retalking about.
Becky Griffin (38:32):
Great.
Emily Davenport (38:32):
Oh, I got chills thinking about that.
Becky Griffin (38:33):
Me too. And I've gone through it.
Emily Davenport (38:36):
Right?
Becky Griffin (38:36):
Yeah.
Emily Davenport (38:37):
Well, we've have covered everything from
monarchs to honeybees, to allthe other pollinators. What have
we missed today? Anything else?
Becky Griffin (38:46):
Well, I want everybody to realize that they
have a great resource with theirlocal Extension agent. They know
a lot about local plants. Theyknow about natives, they know
resources that are local. A lotof them will be doing events for
the Census. So if you'reinterested in the Census, but
maybe you're not confident incounting on your own, contact
your local Extension agent,they'll probably have some
(39:06):
events that they're sponsoring.
So that is very important tomake sure that you link up with
them because they're just awealth of information. I have
nothing but high praise for allof those agents. And also want
to make sure that everybodyknows the Census this year is
August 18th and 19th. So I lookforward to everybody's counts. I
am keeping my fingers crossedthat we have a good sunny days,
(39:27):
we had a little bit of rain lastyear. It's just going to be
pollinator day in Georgia andacross the Southeast.
Emily Davenport (39:34):
We're very excited for it.
Jordan Powers (39:36):
We love that. We will be out there ready to count
and we will also link in theshow notes all of the county
Extension offices. So ifsomebody doesn't know where
their Extension office is or whotheir agent is, they can find
that information as well. Becky,thank you so much for joining
us. Thank you for coming downfrom Blairsville in the
mountains to join us on the showtoday. We have learned a lot. I
(39:56):
have a whole list of plants andbees that I need to go look up
I'm like, I need to see whatthis leaf cutter bee looks like.
Becky Griffin (40:00):
Oh, she's adorable.
Jordan Powers (40:02):
We have a lot of resources and a lot of more
research to do and we just weappreciate your time and
insight.
Becky Griffin (40:08):
Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been
a pleasure.
Emily Davenport (40:10):
Thank you.
Sound Effect (40:10):
[music]
Emily Davenport (40:11):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects.ind more episodes
wherever you get your podcasts.
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