Travis Swanson’s Bee 52 Honey – S2E10

Time to focus on the bee, a gardener’s best friend!  I know many of you have been wanting to hear this one, so it is long overdue!  Recently, I had the pleasure to interview a local beekpeer named Travis Swanson.  We discussed how Travis started beekeeping as a hobby, a full time position at a commercial operation and starting his own business.  In addition, we have several listener questions from the MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Facebook Group and the Small Scale Gardening Facebook Group.  Since I am a newb when it comes to bees, I am glad my friends and listeners had questions!  I learned a lot about Travis Swanson’s Bee 52 Honey, and I appreciate the samples and Travis being on the Small Scale Life Podcast!

If you want to connect to Travis and buy honey, pollen or ask questions, feel free to e-mail him at travis@bee52honey.com!

Podcast Topics and Links

Travis from Bee 52 Honey hard at work!

In this podcast, Travis and I discuss the following topics and links:

• Starting out as a beekeeper
• Becoming a commercial beekeeper
• Launching Bee 52 Honey – a small business
• Bees – pests, predators and diseases
• Questions from Listeners and Facebook Group Members

Questions from Listeners:

• 1. What are the basic requirements in terms of money and space for starting a small bee operation?  The “small bee operation” is defined as enough to serve the purposes of your homestead. Honey, maybe some to sell, pollination to encourage growth of vegetables and flowers.
  2. What should you say to your neighbor when you find them spraying herbicides on flowering shrubs on a shared fence line, right behind the hives?
  3. My question is how many hives are too many in an area? Our neighbor has bees on all four corners of his 10 acres and told us that if we added bees the colonies could kill each other due to being too close. Is that a thing?
  4. Do you recommend for new beekeepers to have a mentor for the first year?
  5. Bees and bat houses: my neighbor has a couple bat houses, and my son has built a couple for scouts that we have. I’d also love to do bees. That being said, how far apart should I keep them so they don’t have a royal rumble (with the bees)?
  6. What is your preferred bear exclusion fencing system?  Do you have a brand and volts recommendation?

  A special thanks to Travis for providing excellent samples of Bee 52 Honey and Pollen. They are delicious!

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