David Burns - YouTube and EAS Master Beekeeper (284)

284 - David Burns - YouTube and EAS Master Beekeeper

Mike Bradford: This is Mike, the Beeman Bradford, founder of Li'l B's Honey Company and the Honeybee Rescue Squad, coming to you from the heart of Tornado Alley, the great state of Oklahoma. You are listening to the Beekeeping Today podcast.

[music]

Jeff Ott: Welcome to Beekeeping Today podcast, presented by Betterbee, your source for beekeeping news, information, and entertainment. I'm Jeff Ott.

Becky Masterman: I'm Becky Masterman.

[00:00:30] Global Patties: Today's episode is brought to you by the bee nutrition superheroes at Global Patties. Family-operated and buzzing with passion, Global Patties crafts protein-packed patties that'll turn your hives into powerhouse production. Picture this, strong colonies, booming brood, and honey flowing like a sweet river. It's super protein for your bees and they love it. Check out their buffet of patties, tailor-made for your bees in your specific area. Head over to www.globalpatties.com and give your bees the nutrition they deserve.

Jeff: Hey, a quick shout out to all of our sponsors whose support allows us to bring you this podcast each week without resorting to a fee-based subscription. We don't want that, and we know you don't either. Be sure to check out all of our content on the website. There you can read up on all of our guests, read our blog on the various aspects and observations about beekeeping, search for, download, and listen to over 250 past episodes, read episode transcripts, leave comments and feedback on each episode, and check on podcast specials from our sponsors. You can find it all at www.beekeepingtodaypodcast.com. Hey, Mike, I hope you are hanging on to that tree for dear life. That's quite an opening for us, Becky.

Becky: I think that's dedication, either the dedication to be out there in that weather recording, or the dedication to the craft of acting to produce that piece for us. I hope it's the latter and I hope all is well. [laughs]

Jeff: Acting? I thought that was real.

Becky: I'm not closing the door. It could be real, Jeff, but I'm just saying either way you look at that, that is dedication. What a gift he just gave us.

Jeff: We appreciate that opening, Mike. Best of luck to you this season. Becky, what a good start to the summer we're having. Not officially, a summer doesn't come till later this month, but it's warm, June. What the heck?

Becky: I know. It's great. One of the things that I get to do right now with the bees in this season is I'm helping the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and Minnesota Extension, and we're training students to keep bees. You know the transition from when you hide your packages, we do it in April, and they grow and they get a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger. The new beekeepers get to handle frames with a lot more bees and they get to see that magic transition where the colony goes from 9,000 and they're doubling. It's so much fun.

Jeff: That is amazing. Then trying to find the queen in that mass of bees is always a second trick. Then try not to think about the number of mites underneath all those cappings.

Becky: That's the beauty of this apiary instruction, is that these are veterinarians. They're all about the diseases and the parasites. We're hoping to find some because they are, in a very educational way, this is what they want to learn about. They want to learn about honey bees and what ails them so that when beekeepers come calling, they're able to actually be comfortable around the bees. Boy, are they doing a great job? Also, be able to offer solutions.

Jeff: Takes me back to a time when I started beekeeping and actually had the Langstroth hives in the back, the State of Ohio had state apiary inspectors. Each county had an inspector or the inspector covered multiple counties. I always saw them as a resource to help me, but I know that's controversial, depending on probably the inspector in the state, in the county, or wherever you are, that not all inspectors were considered friendly to the beekeeper, or they were afraid of that inspector bringing pathogens into the bee yard.

Back then, it was American foulbrood. I think the veterinarians coming in to help with hives and inspections provides not a state employee coming in to help and inspect my hives, it's more of a veterinarian doctor to give me a second opinion on what they're seeing or what I'm seeing.

Becky: Right. If you are a beekeeper and you have your bees in some kind of a box, you are managing livestock because they're not out there on their own in a tree. The way we keep bees in the United States, for me, it's clear-cut, it's livestock, but when we start doing anything artificial to an animal, then we open them up to other concerns. Having veterinarians who deal with livestock and having them aware of our animal, even though it might have been seen with some resistance, I think that it is a pathway to more support.

Jeff: The veterinarians are a great support system for beekeepers. I think the work that you're doing with the beekeepers there or the veterinarians for the beekeepers, ultimately will pay off to everyone. Another tool for beekeepers for learning are some of the YouTube beekeepers. In the past, we've had Kamon Reynolds, we've had Fred Dunn. Today our guest is David Burns, another YouTube beekeeper. He's an EAS Master Beekeeper. He has a great presence on the website. I'm looking forward to talking to him.

Becky: I'm surprised he found some time because he is a busy man. Boy, is he dedicated to supporting beekeepers? I think we're lucky that he's joining us.

Jeff: It took a bit, but let's hear from our sponsors. We'll be right back.

[music]

StrongMicrobials: Strong Microbials presents an exciting new product, SuperFuel, the probiotic fondant that serves as nectar on demand for our honeybees. SuperFuel is powered by three remarkable bacteria known as bacilli, supporting bees and breaking down complex substances for easy digestion and nutrient absorption. This special energy source provides all the essential amino acids, nutrients, polyphenols, and bioflavinoids, just like natural flower nectar.

Vital for the bee's nutrition and overall health, SuperFuel is the optimal feed for dearth periods, overwinter survival, or whenever supplemental feeding is needed. A big plus is the patties do not get hive beetle larvae, so it offers all bioavailable nutrients without any waste. Visit strongmicrobials.com now to discover more about SuperFuel and get your probiotic fondant today.

Jeff: While you're at the Strong Microbials site, make sure you click on and subscribe to The Hive, the regular newsletter full of interesting beekeeping facts and product updates. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Sitting across the virtual Beekeeping Today podcast table right is none other than Master Beekeeper, David Burns. David, welcome to the show.

David Burns: Thanks so much for having me. I love your podcast. It's an honor to be here.

Becky: Welcome, David.

Jeff: It's truly a pleasure, David, having you on the show. For our listeners who may not know who you are, and there might be one or two, give us a little bit about your background with bees and how you got started.

David: Got started back in, I think, the early to mid '90s. Started the hard way by a friend inviting me to cut bees out of a fallen tree. I didn't know anything about bees back then at all, nothing. We ventured to cut those bees out of a fallen tree with a chainsaw. I remember he said, "If I run, you follow me." [laughter] Boy, I tell you what, we did have to run a couple times into the woods to break the bee's pursuit of us. I was in my 30s back then, maybe, and gosh, I was pretty adventurous. I got started that way. That's the worst way to get started. Those bees hated me. They hated me forever. It was terrible.

As the seasons went on and I kept trying to figure it out, I self-taught myself, and learned, and read. Back then, there was no internet. Somebody threw an ABC XYZ book at me, and that was from 1932 or something. I just started feeling my way around and making horrible mistakes. Finally, learned a thing or two. Just over the years, I've just been staying with bees and decided to take a next step and started a bee business like most or a lot of beekeepers do, selling nucs, and packages, and equipment. Then I decided to stretch myself a bit more in my knowledge of bees.

I studied hard and decided to take the EAS certification of a Master Beekeeper. I think my first year, I passed two of the tests. Then the second year, my attempt, I passed the other two. I became an EAS certified Master Beekeeper in 2010. All along, Jeff and Becky, I've been blogging on YouTube, my beekeeping experience. I started about 2008, a couple of years after YouTube started. I just always have been putting stuff on YouTube about bees, and that's probably where most people know me, from YouTube.

Jeff: I need to ask because this comes up in many Master Beekeeper circles or people who are thinking about continuing their education. Why did you choose and what was the importance of EAS over other Master programs that you chose that? Not that we're selling EAS, but it seems to be the golden ring for many beekeepers.

David: I think at the time, I knew about EAS. Maybe I looked on the internet or something, but I quickly determined that it was like the feather in your hat. At that time, it was really the grandfather of all Master Beekeeper Programs. I liked it because they didn't have any curriculum that you study for, it wasn't a process. It was simply show up, prove that you knew everything because we're going to ask you everything. I thought at the time I knew everything. [laughter] Anyway, I thought, "Okay, I can do this."

I did comprehend that it was really a very noble thing to achieve the EAS certification Master Beekeeper because of Roger Morris, and just Dewey Caron, and Dr. Clarence Collison, and just on and on, these great names in beekeeping. I just wanted to pursue that. I studied hard. I really did study a lot. I think that's it. I think I just knew that that was the pinnacle of reaching the maximum type of certification and beekeeping that you could reach at that time. I really did, I think, bite off more than I can chew. Like I said, took me two years to pass all the exams. Boy, when I did, my family and I, we celebrated greatly. [laughter]

Becky: Oh, that's lovely. There must have been a time, and maybe it was right around 2008 because that was your vehicle with YouTube, but there must have been a time where you decided, "I need to help beekeepers," which is a really big deal to take on that responsibility. I'm sure our listeners are going to go to your website and they're going to see just how much you help beekeepers. Did you get started earlier on with a club, and then it grew into what you're doing right now? Don't you ever get tired?

David: [laughter] That's a good question, Becky. You know what's interesting, I think some of my viewers know more about me than I can remember about myself. [laughter] When I go back and start recollecting how I remembered it, sometimes I think I'm wrong, but I'll just tell you what I think happened. I did start producing material, videos, and all, even before YouTube. I did get involved in teaching classes, and like I said, starting a business. I taught classes here at our training center, starting around maybe 2007. People would come and I would teach people. That was even before I got certified as a Master Beekeeper.

I think I just kept producing a lot of material and content on YouTube, and then I decided to be certified to help me grow as an instructor. I felt like I had gaps in my knowledge base that wasn't fair to my students. I needed to really up the ante a little bit and do a little better on what I needed to know. I pursued it that way. I just kept writing blogs, and producing videos, and holding classes. I actually started in 2008 on YouTube. I didn't really think my YouTube channel was doing any good until about 2016, about eight years later, when I realized, "Oh, people are watching, and asking questions, and saying that hey, I got started in beekeeping because of you, or you helped me with this."

Then I thought, "Oh, this is something." I kept pursuing, how do I make a video that can help people beekeepers? That was just my journey. I didn't have a plan. It just fell out in front of me, and I just kept walking that way. Yes, I do get tired. I think producing the content, I make it two or three videos a week, a livestream a week, and a whole bunch of other stuff, and it's very, very taxing. It's not an easy task at all to make content on a regular basis, but I just keep doing it. I tell people I'm like a 26-year overnight success. [laughter]

Jeff: On your website, you give credit to your wife who works with you? How does she contribute to your channel?

David: Funny story there. When I started making equipment, beekeeping equipment, I don't know if I can really claim this or not, but I think we might have been one of the first companies that ever produced a assembled, painted beehive and sold it on a regular basis. Now, you see it everywhere. Back when we started doing it, it was just unassembled equipment. I had decided I would make my own equipment because I was tired of paying shipping. When I was done making my own hive, it looked really nice. I was proud of my work. I put it on eBay. Now, eBay was different back then. I put it on eBay and it sold for some unbelievable amount of money. [laughter]

I was like, "Oh, my gosh." I grabbed my son, he was probably a teenager, my oldest son, and we started making more, and more, and more, and more. I became a power seller on eBay within one month. We were just pumping out the beehives. We didn't know what in the world we were doing. Now, I don't have a business degree or really a good knowledge of business, my wife has that degree. She was running other businesses and such, but she saw my son and I doing [laughs] this beekeeping business, and she reached a point where she couldn't take it anymore. [laughter]

She said, "Oh, my gosh, you guys are doing everything so wrong." [laughter] I said, "We're making all this money." She said, "You're not making any money, you're losing money first." I was like, "No, but money is coming into the door, not as much as it's going out the back door." "She said, I can't take it anymore. I'm taking this over." Oh, my gosh, she was such a big help to straighten that out. Even to this day, she handles all the business side of the business. Without her, I would just be a total loss. I would have no idea. We rely heavily on her attention to detail, and all the business laws, and tax laws, and everything.

Jeff: Was it one of those situations where you said, "Well, we're losing money on each hive, but we'll make it up in volume?" [laughter]

David: Oh, no, but I did get an offer. I'm not going to say the name of the company, everybody knows this company. They're huge. They offered to me that, "We want to sell your hives in all of our stores across the nation." I fell for it and I said, "Okay." I started going through all that process. Eventually, my wife said, "You won't make any money on this. This is a killer." "I'll be selling millions of hives, and if I make $1 a hive, we'll be a millionaire." She said, "No, it doesn't work that way." [laughter]

She explained on a piece of paper how many millions of dollars it would take to make $1 million. [laughter] I backed out of the deal with the company, and they were very upset with me. I just told them I couldn't get into that. That is something that sometimes people think that just because you can sell more and more and more, you're going to make more money, but boy, it doesn't often work that way.

Jeff: No, that's for sure.

Becky: Do you strive to find a balance in everything that you do? Because I'm assuming you still want to get out there with the bees. Are you able to get out there?

David: Good question. No, I'm not.

Becky: Oh, no.

David: I know, right. What has happened with me over the years, at one point, I had a lot of hives and I had a lot of mating nucs. I was producing a lot of queens. Sometimes we were producing 100 queens a week. We were just working hard to make the whole business thing go around. We were running, probably caring for about 100 colonies at one point, and all the honey, and all that. Over the years, I decided that I was getting older, and I have some really great people, mentors in my life, not beekeeping, but just mentors. They explained to me that it would be more beneficial if I could collaborate with other people.

I first started collaborating with other people that could help make our hives for us. That worked out really good. Then I was producing a lot of queens. If you've ever raised queens, oh, my gosh, 100 queens a week just takes so much work. I started collaborating with our local bee inspector, and she started making queens for me. We would split the profit. Another person would make queens for me, we'd split the profit.

I wasn't making as much money, but I wasn't having to work myself to death. I just kept doing that. I was producing my own nucs, and so I found another person that would collaborate with me. Same with packages. Over the years, I thinned out my own bees that I care for. I care for about 20 colonies that are in my YouTube studio yard. That's what I call it.

Becky: I love that.

David: These bees are just nothing more. These hives are what I film on a daily basis I'm out there. In fact, sometimes I'm filming and it gets pretty hairy and I have to say, "Oh, my gosh, I can't come back to this hive, I got to go back to the edit room. I need to find somebody that can really be the person that comes back into the hives after me, [laughter] after I film and put everything back together and straighten out that hive again." It's a tough life trying to film and also be a beekeeper.

Becky: When you're in a hive to teach, it's very different than when you're in a hive to manage. You have to make definitely special accommodations for the bees to offset that.

David: I do. Often when I'm doing the filming, I'll have two or three cameras going. I'll have just an array of different problems that I'm trying to solve with the cameras, or batteries, or focus, or shading happening, a cloud going over. A typical inspection for me without cameras rolling is 10 or 15 minutes, I'm out of there. With the cameras rolling and trying to walk through the whole process of what I'm doing, it can be an hour and a half. It's just unbelievable.

Jeff: Are you doing all the camera work yourself?

David: I would say 99.99% of the time, I am. There are times where I just have to get a scene that I want to look like the camera's moving a little bit. That's when I'll go to my wife and say, "Sheri, can you stop all the important things that you're doing and come do something that I think it's more important? Just film me." Yes, I do all the filming myself.

Jeff: You do a very fine job. Hey, let's take this moment to take a quick break, and we'll be right back.

[music]

Bee Smart Designs: Are you a smart beekeeper looking to stay ahead of the curve? Introducing BeeSmart Designs, the ultimate line of innovative, modular, and interchangeable hive system and cool tools. As a listener of the Beekeeping Today podcast, you understand the importance of staying informed on the latest advancements in beekeeping. This is where BeeSmart system comes in. Designed with you and your bees in mind, our core hive system works with all standard Langstroth equipment, and is 8 and 10 frame compatible. Made in the USA using recycled and American-sourced materials, our products are ready to use.

Visit beesmartdesigns.com to explore our groundbreaking offerings and links to your favorite dealer. BeeSmart Designs, next generation beekeeping products for the modern beekeeper.

[00:22:09] Betterbee: Are you an experienced beekeeper, eager to try something new? Try making comb honey. Betterbee has you covered. Our range of ready-to-use systems, including Hogg Halfcomb and Ross Rounds, makes it a breeze to get started, or craft your own cut comb right in your existing frames. With Betterbee's expert guidance, you'll soon be harvesting delicious comb honey. Explore the options at betterbee.com/combhoney.

[00:22:48] Becky: David, you've already shared all the hard work you've put into it. It's very clear that you take it seriously and you are putting your blood, sweat, and tears into supporting beekeepers and bees. On the flip side, you are a YouTube beekeeper. People often throw around YouTube beekeepers and give the people who are showing people how to keep bees on YouTube a negative wrap. Can you maybe address that?

David: Oh, yes. I have to own up to that because that's what I'm doing. I am helping people using YouTube as a platform. I think I view myself probably a lot differently than most people view me. I view myself as somebody who cares about the beekeeper, who cares about honey bees and the beekeeping culture. I'm trying to do my best to come alongside of both the brand new beginner that's scared to death and the experienced beekeeper that maybe just wants some beekeeping entertainment. That's how I view what I do, but I do understand your question.

It's fair because I think a lot of times beekeepers that have YouTube channels are accused of maybe enticing people to come into beekeeping, just by using YouTube only. They don't take classes, or they don't go to conferences, they don't really spend a lot of time in beekeeping, they're relying on YouTube. I understand that. That's why I continue to make beekeeping YouTube videos so that I often say, "You need to take a class. Don't rely just on me. I'm giving you a little bit of entertainment. I'm giving you videos that really aren't organized like a class would be." I encourage that, and we offer classes.

At the same time, I want to say this because this is really dear to my heart and I'm passionate about this, that I'm concerned about beekeeping in general on this very topic of beekeeping as a hobby. I'm struggling with beekeeping even qualifying to be a hobby. I looked up the definition of hobby, and it says something like a pleasurable activity in your leisure time. I don't think that's beekeeping at all. [laughter] You can't take care of bees leisurely. Also, the definition says it's relaxing. It really isn't relaxing when you go out there and can't find your queen or they're trying to swarm and you see mites coming out of everything.

We need a better title than we have those three categories, hobbyists, sideliner, commercial beekeepers. Nonetheless, I think if I could say anything in comparing this, I would say a lot of times beekeepers on YouTube may get the wrap that we're just trying to only have people watch us and nothing else. That's not what I'm about. I'm wanting people to really go to conferences, take classes, listen to podcasts like this, and educate yourself long before you get started.

Don't look at it just like this fashionable hobby that you can buy a hive and set it in your backyard and be proud and happy about it, and it will live for many, many years to come. It won't happen that way. I don't know if that answers your question, but that's how I see myself on YouTube.

Becky: I think that's a great answer. I think there's danger when anybody tries to judge any group. The fact that so many people learn well visually, the fact that reading a book, although I value that, about beekeeping, it's actually very different when you're in the hive, and you can hear the hive, and you have the bees moving around, and you have different parameters. I'd rather watch a video if I needed to learn how to remove a frame from a hive versus read it in a book. I think it's so important. I also think that it's always disappointing when you're working so hard to try to support a community and then people might say, "Don't watch YouTube and learn," because I think you have to qualify that.

David: I was speaking at a conference recently, and I was in one particular workshop, and the person upfront, she was doing such a wonderful job. I was like, "Wow, I can't believe how wonderful she is making this presentation." It was for new beginners. She was saying just everything like it just was something I would say. I was just so impressed. When she was done, I went up to her and said, "Wow, that was such a good presentation. I was so impressed with everything that you said and how you said it."

She said, "Oh, my gosh, I was so nervous. I must have watched all of your videos last night getting ready." [laughter] I felt good that, "Okay, I am helping people." People do go to YouTube and try to find some answers. I agree, it can't be our only place. We need the cooperation of clubs, we need the cooperation of conferences, and other educational arms as well.

Becky: I can watch a YouTube video if it's something very general, and it doesn't matter where that video was recorded. If I'm looking for how to winter my bees and I'm getting advice from Arizona, I might not be getting the right advice. I think it is on the beekeeper to know the context of what they're trying to gain.

Jeff: It is so regional that you do need that local resource touchstone to find out, "Hey, what are we doing here in this area for moisture control in the winter," which is our big issue here, just south of Seattle? That's not an issue that I had in Colorado, for sure. David, you've also written a book, I see on your website.

David: I think it was 2020 maybe, that my wife and I were approached by a publishing company. They said, "Would you like to write a book?" I thought, "Oh, gosh, no, I couldn't even think about that." They said, "Well, we want you to write this book. Would you and your wife be willing to write a beekeeping book?" I said, "Perhaps tell me more." Anyway, we did talk with them and we really liked what they had to offer as far as what type of book they were looking for. They told me they were looking for beginners, extremely basic beginner's beekeeping book.

I thought, "Okay, good. That would be easy to write." It wasn't going to be really advanced. I didn't have to get in real detailed about pests, and diseases, and all that, I thought. Then they broke the news, we have to have it done in six weeks. [laughter] I was like, "Oh, my gosh. It's a pretty sizable book." I thought, "Okay." They had a really good team of people, artists, editors, and everybody that was collaborating with us was so helpful. With their help, my wife and I actually divided the book in half. She wrote half and I wrote half. I think it is a good book. We're proud of it that it's for that person that just like, "I don't know if I want to keep bees. I don't even know what honey bees are." They can read that book and get started. That's how we fell into writing our first book.

Jeff: Hopefully, they didn't approach you, say, at the beginning of April and need it in six weeks. Maybe in November that would've been easier to navigate, timewise.

David: Oh, yes. It was during the winter because I remember we both had little desk chairs set up right next to our fireplace in our living room. We sat there many nights by the fireplace, just cranking away on the book. It was cold outside.

Jeff: Where's your book available?

David: It's available on our website at honeybeesonline.com. We autograph those if you order from us. Then it's also available, I think, at some bookstores, but certainly on Amazon.

Becky: David, I think everybody is dying to know the name of this book. We've talked all about it.

David: Backyard Beekeeping: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your First Hive.

Jeff: I wish I had that book way back when.

David: Oh, me too.

Jeff: You have your courses that you provide. What kind of courses are you providing there in Illinois?

David: We're simply online beekeeping courses. Now, we did teach here, but ever since COVID, we stopped teaching in our training center and we never resumed that. We're just counting on the online courses now for people because we had a lot of requests of people that live too far away to come here. That worked out really good. We do have that. I also have a mentorship program. I started it six or eight years ago, and wow, it's really done well. I mentor beekeepers. This is interesting. I started it by taking phone calls, emails, and texts from beekeepers that would sign up to be mentored.

I did that for so many years and so many people said, "I can't believe anybody would sit there and take a phone call." They were literally 24/7 from the beekeeping community. It was very hard and it was very taxing on me. I'd be at a grandchild's birthday party and, "Oh, I got to take this." It was overloaded, it was really hard. I think over the years, it's gotten better. I don't take phone calls, but we still mentor people through email. That's really worked out well. That's something that's important to me. I've gathered so much data from what beekeepers are experiencing. When they ask questions, I'm like, "Oh, this is what the beekeeping community is struggling with. This is how they enter into beekeeping.

This is what they don't know, this is what they don't understand." I've just collected this just huge amount of data on the new beginner. It's been really staggering. Other things that I'm involved in, I do a lot of speaking, of course, most beekeepers do. I do a lot of work on my own hives. I've created some ways to feed bees in the wintertime and deal with moisture. I'm just always reading, researching. I'm part of EAS now, helping to test Master Beekeepers. My plate is really full. I write a monthly column for Bee Culture. I wake up in the morning and do bee work till I go to bed at night.

Jeff: You and Becky will have to compare notes at the next Bee Culture conference. [laughs]

Becky: Right. All of us monthly writers get together so often. [laughter] I saw your winter feeding. Would you tell everybody about that?

David: There's a lot of different ways that people can care for their bees. I have one way that really worked out well for me. I'm not at all saying that anybody else's way is not as good as mine, or mine's better, or mine's the only way. I'm not saying that, but over the years, my bees were getting so much moisture in the wintertime, and the frames would be moldy. They'd run out of food, they'd freeze to death. I just went to solve that problem. I solved it by making a feeding board, what we call the Winter Bee Kind. I have a little ventilation slot in the top of it and I have insulation in it.

Then we put our mixture of candy onto that board and you put a candy down on the wintertime. You can watch my videos, it's just amazing. When I first started doing that, first I was just like, "This can't be real. This is just a anomaly or something." I just kept doing it with more and more hives and the same results. The bees would come out at winter, they have their largest population for me when they come out winter. That's astounding. Before I started feeding them in the wintertime, that was my lowest population of bees. I'd come out of winter with very strong bees and that's what I need.

I need to make queens, and nucs, and all that early on. I need lots of bees. I come out of the winter with just extraordinarily big colonies, heavily populated. That's just something that we've sold for maybe well over a decade and a half now to beekeepers around the country that buy those and put them on their hives. The bees eat that. We played around with it for years to get it just right so that when the heat and the moisture of the colony gets into that candy, it makes it edible for the bees to consume it. It has proteins, carbohydrates, good things for bees. It's just something that we're really proud that can strengthen bees in the wintertime.

Becky: It's called Winter Bee Kind. It looks like you must sell out every year because it looked like there was an announcement, everybody asked you when they can start to buy them. This looks like a real popular product.

David: It is. It's not something that we make in an assembly line. I pour each board myself and I mix-

Becky: With love.

David: -all of it myself. Then we do have mainly family, anybody that's walking across the property that day, [laughter] that we will grab and say, "Hey, do you want to put these in boxes? Do you know how to run a tape gun so you can tape this up?"

Jeff: It's better than a no trespassing sign.

David: Oh, yes, definitely. We just had to reach a point where we can only sell X number of these a year just because we can't handle anymore. It's really popular. We're just happy that it's helping the beekeeping community. I'm happy what it does to my operation is just really great. Now, whether it'll work in Minnesota, or Alabama, or California the way it works for me, I don't know, but it really works great in a real cold climate like I'm in.

Jeff: The other thing that you are working on, you just started, is you have your own podcast now.

David: I've always had a podcast since way back, and podcasts have never been something that I've been very good at. I can do them for a little while and then I burn out and I don't do them anymore. That's been really hard for me. My wife and I started a podcast many, many years ago, and it was called Studio Bee, B-E-E. We ran that and did that for a while. Dr. Jon Zawislak and I, we've started a podcast. We say we still have it going, it's called HiveTalk. We haven't contributed to that for probably two or three years, and people loved it. I still get emails. People are like, "When are you guys going to do your podcast again?"

Recently, I did start up, again. I have started one called Mysteries of Honey Bees, basically taking the content that I create on YouTube or other things that happen and interjecting those things as well. I guess, Becky and Jeff, you guys know, when I started doing podcasts, I had to do all the coding myself. I had to do all the HTML coding. It was so far back that I had to do MP3 uploads and store them somewhere. Now, oh, my gosh, it's so easy to start a podcast or use podcast apps and everything. It was much easier this time to stay with it and keep producing content than it was when I first started.

Jeff: It's evolved quite a bit, but you still have to develop, and provide good content, and keep those listeners much like you have to on a YouTube channel.

David: I actually spend a lot of time scripting out content for YouTube. I don't read off a script, but I script it out just so I can go through it in my mind and say, "Would this be a good video?" I've just got tons of paperwork with video ideas, and sketches of thumbnails, and notes on the back of napkins. It's just insane. I was at a point where I thought, "I can never come up with another video on beekeeping, I've said it all. What is there to say about bees after this?" What is it? I don't know how long I've been doing it. Is it 16 years now I guess, but wow, I'm just making two or three videos a week and I'm loving it. I really do enjoy it.

Jeff: What's next on the David Burns beekeeping horizon and the media empire that you have going? [laughter] I see that, well, all due respect, obviously. What are you working on that we should look forward to?

David: I've started live streaming a year ago on YouTube. I'm pouring a lot of my heart and soul into live streaming where I can talk one-on-one with beekeepers and answer questions every Thursday night. We do that on YouTube. I'm pouring more of myself into, I think, my YouTube channel. That's where I'm just putting more effort into right now, partly because I'm hoping that one day, this is probably so unrealistic, I know, but as a beekeeper, you really don't have good retirement plans when you're self-employed.

You really don't have provided healthcare. I'm thinking when I get old, [laughs] which jokingly, I think I am now, but when I get old, I'm going to have to find some way to make a living. I won't be able to go out there and play with my bees as much if I get old and crippled up. Maybe I can still make YouTube videos and make my retirement YouTube. I don't know. That's unrealistic probably, but I think if I just keep building up my YouTube channel, that maybe it will one day pay a few more bills than it's paying now.

Jeff: That's a good future plan, I believe. Is there anything we haven't asked you about that you'd like to talk about to our listeners?

David: I do want to talk about, how do you try to help people that know nothing about beekeeping? One of the things that I really struggle with is, how do I really help beekeepers that are starting out, but they don't really know what to do? Because I was there once, we were all there once, especially those of us that go way back before we had so much information like we do now. I liken it to this, and I did take pilots lessons for a while. Let's say if I was in a airplane and something happened to the pilots upfront and they said, "Oh, does anybody here know how to fly a plane? Can you land the plane for us?"

Nobody could, and even though I know I probably couldn't, I'd give it a try because I might have a little more knowledge. I would sit upfront and I would say, "Air traffic control has to guide me down." This has happened. Maybe they would say, "Okay, make your approach, do all these things." Air traffic control would answer my questions and guide me to the ground, and I could safely make a decent landing and save the people on the plane. A lot of people approach beekeeping that way. In other words, they start, but they're not a beekeeper. They're not a pilot, but they feel like, "I think I know enough to land it," which nobody ever really does if you're not a pilot.

Sometimes I think beekeepers continue to keep bees as that fill in, "Oh, my gosh, we're in a crisis. We need to land the plane." "Oh, my gosh, I've got bees. Who can I call to tell me how do I take care of these bees?" Because that's what my life has been over the last 10 years, people calling me saying, "I don't know what this bee is. Here's a picture of it." I write back, "It's a drone." That's after a year of beekeeping. I wonder, "Oh, no, they're using me as air traffic control to guide their hive safely to a nice landing before winter." It doesn't work that way. If I safely landed that plane, nobody would say, "You did a good job. Can you fly this one to Hawaii in the morning?" [laughter]

I can't, I'm not a pilot. You told me what to do and I did it, but I don't know what I'm doing. I think some beekeepers are in that scenario where they feel like they can fly a plane, but they can't, and they are relying on other people just to give them day-to-day, minute-by-minute information. That's a part I can't figure out how to bridge with my YouTube channel. How do I say, "Wait a minute, I'd rather you get your, I'm making this up, your beekeeping license, your pilot's license.

I'd rather you know how to keep bees and don't just rely on this 12-minute video of mine to successfully keep bees." That's that's a hard part. That's one of the things, I guess, I'm trying to figure out. Every year I wrestle with this and one day, I'm going to figure this out.

Jeff: When you do, would you come back to the show and tell us how you are being successful doing it?

David: I will. [laughs]

Jeff: David, I have one last question for you before we wrap it up. You and I were exchanged in emails before you came on. You're a cyclist as well, aren't you?

David: I am, yes.

Jeff: Do you have any summer cycling plans?

David: Jeff, I'd love to do a century ride, 100 miles. Actually, I'd love to ride across America, 4,000 miles. It's going to take me probably 60 to 80 days to do that. I can't be gone that long from all the things that I do. I've accepted a lot of challenges and I've achieved a lot of things like that. I would love to do that, but it seems like I just can't find the time. I do love cycling. I cycle about everyday. I've always cycled since I was young. It's something that is so beneficial for me, not just sitting and editing videos, I can get up and exercise.

Jeff: When you want to do the transcontinental ride, let me know, I'll ride with you. We'll make it a beekeeping bike centennial or something like that.

David: All right. Sounds good.

Becky: I'll take care of your bees when you guys are off doing that.

David: Oh, deal.

Becky: I'll just go back and [unintelligible 00:44:32]

David: We're all set. I love it. Sounds good.

Jeff: David, it's been a true pleasure having you on the podcast today. We look forward to having you back.

[music]

David: I'm looking forward to being with you, again, one day. You guys have been really enjoyable to be with.

Becky: Thanks so much, David.

Jeff: I'm sorry, Becky. I am busily checking out the YouTube channel and David Burns show. He's got a slew of them, I got a lot to watch.

Becky: [laughs] I'm so honored that he spent that time with us and shared what he was doing. What a great asset to beekeepers, both beginners and experienced.

Jeff: I think he really does exemplify what you want as a Master Beekeeper in terms of educating the public, educating other beekeepers.

Becky: I think that if you are just getting started or if you've been around for a while, you can probably benefit if you check out David's work, his vast library of different media.

Jeff: That about wraps it up for this episode. Before we go, I want to encourage our listeners to follow us and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, wherever you download and stream the show. Even better, write a review and let other beekeepers looking for a new podcast know what you like. You can get there directly from our website by clicking on the reviews along the top of any webpage.

We want to thank our regular episode sponsors, Betterbee, Global Patties, Strong Microbials, and Northern Bee Books for their generous support. Finally, and most importantly, we want to thank you, the Beekeeping Today Podcast listener, for joining us on this show. Feel free to leave us questions and comments at the leave a comment section under each episode on the website. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks a lot, everybody.

[00:46:31] [END OF AUDIO]