The Queen Bee buzzes in 11/15/2025

Ron talks with Barb Bee!  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Our toll free number eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Good morning. I am Ron Wilson, your
personal yard boy, talking about yardening. And as I promised,
she is back. And who is she? Well, of course
she is our queen. We call her our Queen Bee.
She was our retired Ohio state aperis an entomologist. She's

(00:21):
been working you know what, We've been working together for
a long time, trying to educate more folks about bees,
not only honey bees, but the native bees as well.
I can't thank her enough for all the information. It's
so much fun to have her on the show. Ladies
and gentlemen, our Queen Bee. Barbie Blecher, what are you

(00:45):
doing up so early?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Boy, that's a lot of applause. I haven't even spoken yet, I.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Tell you you got your fans are everywhere, and we
even have bees that came out. It is still dark out,
I know, it's not crazy all over the windows say
where's Barbie.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm here. I'm trying to stay warm.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Have you had your coffee yet?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Mm hmm okay, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Just making sure you know, Buggy Joe takes at least
three or four before you know, and that's it eight
thirty in the morning.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh, and that I would be jumping over the walls
if I had that much, okay, caffeine.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
So you do it? Do you sweeten your coffee with honey?
I would absume.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely homegrown honey. You can't beat it.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Is it homegrown?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is homemade homemade honey. Yes, by my very own workers.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
By your own, by your own workers. And by the way,
if let's just get this out right right off the bat.
If I'm buying some of that honey off the shelf
at the grocery store, doesn't say locally grown or anything
like that, local bee keepers. Is that homemade honey? Or
is that homemade syrup?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
It is a syrup product, and it's more than likely
not to pick on Canada. But a lot of these
foreign countries will dump their honey products into Canada and
then they will bottle it and sell it here. The
problem that they're finding is not only does it have
rice syrup, corn syrup, any other kind of a syrup,

(02:19):
it's not honey at all, and there's all kinds of
other innert ingredients in there that you do not want
to eat. So you want to find a local beekeeper
and almost every county and every state has a beekeeper
beekeeping club. You can go on there. You can find

(02:40):
local beekeepers and buy directly from them. It's got nutrients,
it's got all the nutrients and the proteins that we
need for body health. And it's so much better force
than that junk that they sell secondhand in the stores.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, and I you know, I remember you turning me
onto this ten to fifteen years ago. I couldn't leave it.
And I mean we used to tell folks back then
and they were just like, are you kidding me? And
I said, well, just look at the label. I'll tell
you on that. And it's amazing, you know how that happens,
But it does and it's allowed. But again that's why
we always say support your local beekeepers, support your support
your local growers, no matter what it is, but local

(03:18):
beekeepers as well. And you'll find a lot of these
in some of your local farm markets and places like
that as well. But look at the bottle and make
sure that it is locally home grown, and support your
local beekeepers very very important to them as far as
financing them as well. So and it's good stuff. Now,
what's the difference between raw honey and processed honey.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
So raw honey, and there we use that term a
little loosely. Raw honey should be right out of the hive.
We will filter it to get all the extra body
parts and wings and stuff out that might, you know,
get into it, but we'll fill to it. We might
heat it just so it will run through the filter better,

(04:04):
but then it's right out of the beehive. Commercial beekeepers
will heat their honey, which cause that makes sorry processed honey.
It means that it's been heated, so it destroys all
the nutrients. It destroys the proteins, and that's when you
get into issues with non honey products in it, because

(04:26):
you can't identify the proteins. So if I took a
jar honey, or if you took your jar honey to
like a professor with a microscope, he can tell you
every flower that's in that honey. But what happens when
they process it They destroy those destroy the pond, destroy

(04:47):
the proteins, so you can't identify. There's no pollen left
in the honey. So at that point it's processed, it's
just a sweet liquid that might have honey in it.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Interesting, so try to find it. And then and then
when we're looking at these uh different honeys that are
on the shelf, and you see all different colors from
a really dark color to a very light and I
almost see through the honey type of color that just
varies on what what there what was in flower at
the time that the honey was being made.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, well, those bees brought and that's the fun thing
about buying from your local beekeepers. We'll have spring honey,
we'll have like summer wildflower honey, fall honey. But a
lot of beekeepers like when we have a black locust
that blooms in early spring, or the the bassward trees say,
have a beautiful light honey. So if we take our

(05:41):
honey off, if we take our honey off right after
that bassward is finished blooming, you're gonna have the most
beautiful clear honey. And it has a specific taste that
is unique to black locusts or bassward Go ahead. Yeah,
if you have your you're lucky enough to have your

(06:01):
apiaries near a clover field where they're raised in clover
for animals or for seed, it has the most a wonderful,
deep flavor, all kinds of different flavors in there, but
it's it's unique to that clover. So whatever the bees
went to, whatever pollen and nectar they brought back, that's

(06:22):
what is becomes your honey.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
And if it's a near buckwheat.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Beautiful example, buckwheat is produces a very dark honey, but wonderful, deep,
heavy flavor, very unique. And goldenrod. Golden rod produces a wonderful,
darker honey with a deep flavor.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
I always thought the buckwheat honey taste of more like
almost like sorghum. The glasses.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
M h.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Talking with Barbie Butcher, she is our queen bee, getting
our our usual update on the hourd with the bees
out there. What about spotted lantern fly honey real dark color.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
It is dark, it's got a little bit of a
red to it.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
You know. I was just kind of joking there because
it's beep there, you know, spotted lantern fly poop.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, it's it's excreted. So when the spa lantern flies
are feeding, they have a sucking mouth part and they
excrete the extra liquids and you know, stuff that they
don't want, extra liquids and sweets, So the bees pick
that up and They do it because they're hungry. So
we you know, when we have a drought like this,
they're looking for anything that might pass as nectar, so

(07:41):
they pick that up. And it can have different flavors
because the spa lantern flies are feeding on things that
not necessarily that bees that wouldn't necessarily go to, so
it does have some unique flavors. They say it's kind
of smoky. I don't really a big difference, but it

(08:02):
is definitely sweeter. Hm.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
I cracked up when I started seeing the articles going
about that, and then you sent me an article. I
was like, that's pretty funny. But I never thought about it.
But it's true. I mean, you know, we talk about describing,
you know, how can you tell you got magnolia scale?
And you know, you're just like if you see wass
and bees all, you know, flies flying around and you
know that's part of the deal, and sure enough that's
you know, but anyway, so they take advantage of the

(08:25):
spotted lantern fly as well. So there you go. But
that all of these factors are are what will cause
the different flavors and the different colors and shades of
all of the honeys that are available out there today
from your local independent beekeepers.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
And it's fun because a lot of beekeepers will go
travel all over the United States and we buy other
people's honey from different states, like mangrove honey or you know,
wild orange honey, orange blossom, orange blossom honey. There's a
wonderful and it tastes like oranges.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yes, So, I mean it's fun. And why why buy
that junk in the store that all tastes like syrup
when you can have that experience of tasting the local fauna.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
There you go. Hey, by the way, happy bee lated birthday.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Oh well, thank you. It was sweet.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Thirty one forty one? Surety one?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
What I thought double the thirty one?

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah? Right, talking with Barbie. But you're queen Bee. We're
gonna take a break. We come back. Well, let's take
a look now at what's going on with our bees.
We had a warm fall so far. How are they doing.
What we're gonna do is we go into the winter season.
Brand new be discovered this year in the United in
the world. I think it's kind of interesting. It's got horns.
We'll talk more about that as well after the break.
Here in the garden, with Ron Wilson. How is your

(09:46):
garden growing?

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Call Ron now at one eight hundred eighty two three.
Talk you're listening to in the Garden with Ron Wilson.

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Speaker 1 (12:12):
Fucking yardening at eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five Barbie. Let your our queen Bee is with
us this morning, give us a little bee update and
of course hope you take her tips about the honey
and which ones you purchase. Just buy local, that's the
bottom line. Buy locally produced honey and you're you're in
good shape and support you all of your local beekeepers.

(12:33):
So we've had a kind of dry in some areas
that was dry up until three or four weeks ago,
pretty dry, and then of course warmer temperatures continue. Finally
got a little bit of snow this week, cooling back down.
Where do our bees stand at this stage?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Well, you know, it's interesting because the bees had been
flying every one day. The bees are flying yesterday. We
are out flying around just looking for us something to eat.
So there's nothing flowering. So when you see these bees
flying around this time of year, you know they're robbing
from other weaker colonies. They're looking, you know, at the

(13:10):
food cross at the farms and the bird feeders, looking
for anything that they can find that they think is
nectar or pollen to take back to their colony. So
it's hard on them. They're spending a lot of energy
foraging and not really finding anything that's nutritious. But we

(13:31):
you know, some parts of Ohio, I think down your way,
especially in the eastern Ohio, they're dry. They had a
dry fall. They didn't get they didn't get anything from
the golden rods to speak of. And there's a gentleman
up in the northwest Ohio and they're they're low up there.

(13:52):
They didn't get the harvest that they usually expect because
they didn't get anything out of the golden rods. So
these these dry falls that we've been having are are
tough on the bees, you know, and other pollinators as well.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Obviously we talk about planning things that flowered late in
the season, keeping water out for the for the bees,
things like that, but there's nothing really at this stage
in the game that a homeowner can do correct.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Keeper me your humming bird feeder out, but it might freeze.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, so the hummingbird feeder could be a source of
of some sugar water, I guess for them to uh
to benefit from. And if somebody's listening saying why would
they go to uh farm troughs or my bird feeder?
Why do I see bees around there? It's not there's
no pollen there.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
There's no pollen, but it looks like pollen. It's fine,
it's around. They can pick it up and carry it
back to their colonies. So what happens They take this
stuff back. It looks just like pollen to them, and they,
you know, offload it to the gal whose stores in
the cells. And they said, well, that's that's not palling,

(15:00):
you dummy. So they just they just seal it off
and wait for more to be brought. So they can't
eat it, they can't use it.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Kind of like the three stooges and they get the
little two fingers to the eyes or smack upside that.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, just like that, saintly ye, get back out there
out there, try it again, Try this again.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
So if you see those out there and they don't
chase the birds away from.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
The bird feeder, no they don't.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
As a matter of fact, could be a source of
food for some birds if they're interested.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Oh yeah, a lot of birds love eating bees.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
So there you go. So again, you know, we had
our We sometimes on a nice day we'll leave the
back door kind of cracked open, so Miley, our dog
can go in and out freely. And it's amazing still
how many bees come in that back door and you know,
fly around a little bit and they realize they're in
the wrong spot and head back out again. But it's
a boy, they've just been so active up like you
said to even you know, a couple of days ago,

(15:56):
still seeing them flying around out there. So how about
when they get caught all of a sudden with that,
like the snowfall or the colder tempts? They know what's
going on, right, Bese are amazing.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
You know, their brain is basically, you know, five nerves
that are stuck together. The things that they know. They
know it's gonna starts getting colder. They know basically an
hour before it rains it's going to be raining. They
all head back to the colony. If it's gonna get cold,
they will cluster and they detach their wings and they buzz,

(16:27):
and that buzzing creates heat. So because of course it
takes a lot of honey to produce that heat, but
they will buzz and keep the core of the colony
warm and believe it or not, even if when it's
zero outside, it's a cozy ninety five or no, ninety
four are down where the queen is. So they're able
to keep their colony warm just by buzzing their wings.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
And when you say detached, they don't take their wings off.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Oh no, sorry, but they just sort of disconnect them
so they can buzz in a different way instead of flying.
They buzz it up and.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Down, because if they were still connected, they'd pick up
the hive and and take off.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah, you just see this behind going.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
On flying away. And then you know what I see
bee hives that are painted all different colors. Is there
a particular color that's best for them? Or you know,
I mean white is obviously the prominent color, but I'm
more and more saying, you know, greens and yellows and
reds and all that out there.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah, they like the earth tones. And for two reasons. One,
so when the bees are flying around and coming back,
if you have all your hives in a row and
they're all white, they they they don't always go back
to the same colony. They might drift to the right
or drift to the left, So your colonies on the
ends always end up having more bees in them because

(17:46):
the bees they don't remember exactly which hide they came
out of. So we paint them different colors and they
they know, okay, that hive is mine, and they'll go
right back in. And that the earth tones hold more
heat in the wintertime, So the browns and the greens
and the tans, we we've actually used that heat detector

(18:08):
and pointed them at the hives and the ones that
are painted earth tone colors, they retain more heat, which
is really important in the wintertime.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Cool or you can just get Nina Bagley's hive covers.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, keep them nice and toasted.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
And by the way, I want to thank you and
Teresa and Nina for sending me all the videos and
all the information you guys send me on a regular
basis keep me updated with his bee keeping. I tell
you what, you guys do a great job. You're the
three star.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Our favorite drone. We appreciate, our favorite drowne.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
We got about thirty seconds. Did you see the new
bee they discovered in Australia with the horns on it?

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yesifili's lucifer, it's got horns.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
I'm assuming we have.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Long horn bees in Ohio that have little horns, but
not like this little guy. She's got pointed horns.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and it's only the female from what I read. Yeah, yeah,
that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool, very cool. Barbie Bletcher.
Always a pleasure, our queen Bee. Thank you for all
so much, for all the information, and we will continue
to hear more from you as we go along.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Thank you, thank you so much. Enjoy your day, all right, Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'd be thanksgiving to you, Barbie Bletcher. Coming up next,
the one of the authors co author from the Preserver's Gardens,
Jeremy Hill's going to join us here in the Garden
with Ron Wilson.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Green Tom or not Ron can help at one eight
hundred eighty two three talk This says in the Garden
with Ron Wilson.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
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