PolliNation Podcast

This week we hear about a remarkable initiative in Tillamook, Oregon. Known for its world famous dairy, its home to an industrious beekeeping club that is providing top-notch education to the region (and the thousands of people who come through it each summer). 

Adult honey bees have a variety of organisms that live in their guts. Some are benign but some, like Nosema ceranae, can be pathogentic. In this episode we hear of  Courtney MacInnis' relentless pursuit of understanding the status of an organism you have never heard of - Lotmaria passim - both on its own, and in combination with Nosema ceranae. Her findings are most unexpected. 

In this episode we hear from Susie Peterson who is the co-manager of the very popular Backyard Habitat Certification Program in Oregon. The program is managed in partnership with Portland Audubon and can help you better design your backyard for biodiversity. 

Bumble bee queens have been known to try and take over already established nests. Sometimes they manage to take over the nest and increase their own reproductive success. But according to new research from Heather Grab this is not what happens when a wild bumble bee queen tries to take over a commercial bumble bee colony. 

Land Trusts punch above their weight in creating pollinator habitat. In this episode we talk with Greenbelt Land Trust of some of their innovative methods for restoring pollinator habitat on a working farm. 

Bee Friendly Farming is an initiative to certify agricultural production for taking steps to help bees. This week we hear about the expansion of the program to the Pacific Northwest, specifically with regards to wine grapes. 

Bees are just one part of maximizing cherry yield. Before the bees arrive, cherries have to be pruned properly and given the right nutrition. Also, bee attractive cover crops can help rejuvinate the soil before replanting. We hear about all the tricks to maximizing pollination success in cherries from Mike Omeg of Orchard View Cherries. 

American foulbrood (AFB) is one of the most damaging diseases of honey bees. Up until now, beekeepers have lacked an early warning system to know whether the disease is rising in their colonies. In this episode we hear from Dr. Sarah Wood about an innovative system for surveying for AFB in honey,

This week we hear a facinating conversation between an established mutimedia artist (Jasna Guy) and young artist and melittologist (Marek Stanton) on how art, ecology and the natural world overlap.

There have been extreme temperatures during the pollination of early season crops. In this episode we explore how these temperatures not only influence the activity of pollinating insects, but also the pollen they are shuttling around. 

Prairie ecosystems are essential to many pollinator species across North America. Generating prairie after its been lost can be challenging. This week we travel to Iowa to hear from the STRIPS (Science-based Trails of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips) team. They have been perfecting how to get growers to install prairie strips on the edges of their farms. 

We continue on our bee friendly gardening kick with a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear how one naturalist transformed his front yard into biodiversity hotspot. Using tools like iNaturalist, he has documented over 90 bee species and 1,200 other insects on less than a quarter acre of land. 

This week we continue our September on Bee Friendly Gardening with a southern Oregon Master Gardener who has a passion for native plants. 

With the season for pollinator gardening winds down, it is a great time to start planning your garden for next year. In this episode we we learn about a national program to connect gardeners together and provide them with resources to up their pollinator gardener game.  

The Oregon Bee Friendly Wine Tour is coming to an end for 2023. We hear about what makes King Estate a great place for bees, get some gardening tips and hear about an event hosted along with the Save the Bee Foundation. 

This week we hear from Dr. Phil Allen who has the audacious idea of reducing water use and increasing benefits to pollinator by replacing lawns with subalpine meadows. 

Bumble bees nest in the darndest places - like bird houses and water meters. In this episode we learn about how to relocate bumble bee colonies. We also figure out how to get bumble bee nests where you want them, by rearing colonies from queens that emerge in the spring.