Naked & Afraid Beekeeping

in a world brimming with complexity few creatures embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless precision she dances from bloom to bloom each motion guided by millennia upon millennia of instinct each act in service to the whole and then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards

of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist, part poet, they move along their hives with the efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to the bees' needs as best they can comprehend, and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our great friends and partners in beekeeping, Man Lake. Today we have two famous

guests joining us. They're not only excellent beekeepers but have also starred in Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid TV show. We'll discuss their custom bee hut, their bees 100 % winter survival rate, and a whole ton more. But first, have you seen this new scientific study that gives us more insights into how queen bees are actually made? Nature Magazine and Science News report on a new study that shows a queen bee may be shaped by more than just its famous royal

jelly diet. The wax of the peanut -shaped chamber where the queen develops does more than just look different. It has distinct physical and chemical properties that help steer its development. By analyzing the chamber's composition and the larvae it harbors, the research team challenges the long -held notion that royal jelly alone

makes a queen. Boris Baer and his colleagues at UC Riverside studied honey bees comparing queen and worker cell wax, the workers that build the cells, and how larvae fare in each wax environment. The finding came as a surprise, Baer says. The royal nurses building royal cribs for the future queens spend longer than worker cell builders constructing these cells They run hotter than other bees and they show distinct patterns of gene activity, suggesting they are specially

adapted to modify the wax they work with. The first clues came with the wax. Analysis showed that queen cell wax is softer, less dense, and chemically distinct from worker cell wax. Everything was supporting the same conclusion, Bear says. Bees do more than feed the queen, they actively engineer her. Personally, I have always wondered how colonies decide which bees will serve in

different roles. Everything from nurse bees to undertakers to wax and propolis makers, guard bees, foragers, etc. According to Bayer, these super -organisms mobilize specialized workers that collectively shape the next generation. The division of labor in bees might be much more

complex than we have acknowledged so far. Wow, another great example of the more you learn the more you realize you don't know Like I always say bees are simply amazing I'd like to welcome to the show today two very special and semi no more than semi famous guests Tara and Darren and that's Darren ray and Tara Scoob Ella. Did

I do okay? Yeah Yeah, okay good in case you recognize these two but are not sure where to place them Imagine if they had dirt all over their faces and they look like they had lost a bunch of weight And then the camera was blurring out body parts. That's where you'd probably know them from right guys Yep, absolutely But I was never afraid never afraid Yeah, I don't get where that part of the title comes from and naked and afraid. The people

never look afraid to me. They look cold. They actually got the title from the book of Genesis, the line, and they were naked and afraid. So it's a biblical show. Well, no, a producer was in a hotel on the toilet and the only thing to read was Gideon's Bible. And that's the page he opened it to and came up with the idea is the story I heard from one of the executive producers. Believe it. I believe it. We're gonna stick with

that. Yeah, but today we're talking about beekeeping because both you guys are beekeepers I think let's just jump in first One of the things that interested me about what you guys do is your bee hut So who can explain that first of all and if you send me some pictures, we'll stick them up with the video version of this But tell me about the bee hut. It's called an apotherapy hut And bees communicate with pheromones, and so they're always releasing all these amazing

pheromones. And they also vibrate at very certain frequencies that have been proven scientifically to be healing frequencies. And people a long time ago noticed that beekeepers would live longer in their respective communities than other people, and were healthier. I mean, this has been noticed for... hundreds if not thousands of years. I mean beekeeping goes way back. Egyptians kept bees, the Vikings kept bees, the Sumerians kept bees, Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incans, like cultures

all around the world have been beekeepers. And this is something that's been noticed throughout history. And so that Hutt hones in on bringing the general public to be able to safely experience and Use those vibrations and pheromones for healing. You're sitting on four beehives, but you're double screened so the bees can't get to you, but you still get all the noise and the vibrations and all the pheromones have leached in and at this point they've saturated the wood that I built

the hut with. I used untreated aspen wood. It's very neutral and it would absorb all those pheromones and smells and then It's a kind of like a time release. Even in the winter when the bees aren't active, it's almost as potent as it is in the middle of the summer now. Well, and we don't very often talk about all those things you just mentioned, which is the vibration, the pheromones.

And one thing that I noticed when I was at Epimondia last fall was there were a couple of companies selling gadgets, for lack of a better term, that help you breathe bee air. Tell us about bee error, Tara. Sure. So the aromas of bees, you can use those gadgets, but we think, well, why not also have the benefits of the vibrations as well? So a more of immersion experience instead of just using a breathing apparatus. And so the aromas and the pheromones of the bees really

help with lung supports too. So asthma. Here living in Colorado and in other places where there's a lot of wildland firefighters and the quality of the air, even if you live in a city, can really be compromising to the body. And so breathing with the bees really helps with the tissue repair of the lungs. So you have people come in from all over and do retreats or just spend time in the bee hut. What do they find about it? What do they tell you as their reactions?

Yeah, so we've been keeping track of different feedback and success stories. One person last year who came to sit with the bees in a retreat came initially for a grieving and loss period of the death of her husband. And her friends in Europe said, well, here, if something traumatic happens in your life, you just go sit with the

bees. And this is more Northern Europe and so she began to look and she found us not only did it help her with her grief and loss of her husband because the frequency of the bees also attuned to the heart space. Then she also found an unexpected benefit so she was experiencing chronic inflammation and pain for two years and woke up every single

day in pain. And after she sat with the bees for that period, and then she came back again, um, and sat with the bees again, not as long, but I think for like a day, day and a half, then her, her pain subsided. And for, I think even still to this day, within a six month period, she only had one or two flare -ups. That's really cool. Pretty awesome and amazing. Yeah. As people can tell from my voice, I've been under the weather

the last few days, getting better now. And I'm thinking I'm going to lift a lid on a hive this afternoon. Just go stick my face in for about a half an hour and just breathe it. I'm glad you reminded me to do that. I had not done that yet. So, Darren, tell me about the be hive set up in the hut. The four main hives are on big heavy duty slide out drawers that you actually

access from the exterior of the hive. And they're just your normal Langstroth. 10 frame hives then there's just doors that I keep screwed shut just so no one can access them but they lift up out of the way and then the hives slide out on big heavy -duty drawers just something I built I work construction and I'm a fabricator and so I just wanted to be easy to access to work with the bees and if I got a swap out components it's instant no specialty gear if something happens

with one of the hives if a mold gets in it or a hive gets a disease I can very easily swap that out is kind of was the design to that but then we also have a observation wall hive in there that is a 36 frame six frames high six frames deep observation hive that's a four foot glass cased front that you also access from the outside you can lift a blanket up and observe all the bees coming and going and doing all their things through a glass too so you're not just

you can see because we're visual people we need visual stimulus as well and so that was my reasoning behind that was it kind of came from a science teacher when i was in seventh grade had one and i got to see it and i've wanted one ever since And I've seen other bee huts and yours is the first one that's had an observation hive Inside I need to see more pictures of yours, but that's that totally makes sense You know using all your senses that way. Yeah, and it's just interesting.

I mean even as a beekeeper You don't get to actually see them doing what they do Undisturbed because they're completely undisturbed when you're watching it's not like you've cracked the lid and Smoked them out or something. They're just Doing their thing normally and as a beekeeper, it's interesting for me just to watch them do that All right.

Let's talk about some of the other things you do because You've taken this and turned it into a business in a bunch of different directions Tara give us a little more idea about your background and all the different things that you do I think I'll start in the recent 10 years Yeah, so about 10 years ago with my background in wilderness therapy, even a little bit of social services and running a variety of nonprofits, Earth Tantra was born and that is actually a result of my

naked and afraid experience. And so I became trained in Earth -based Tantra. breath work. I also have a death doula certification and integral relationship certification and yoga certification and others. So I've done a lot of studying and like overall wellness and energy work. And so through that here at the farm, I offer group retreats and also private one -on -one retreats. And also the the bee retreat. So all the retreats I offer aren't necessarily focused on the bees,

but we do offer bee -specific retreats. And I teach people breathwork and how to exchange not only just sit in the hut of breathing in naturally and maybe reading a book, but how to connect and become intimate with the essence of the bees through different breathwork and energy exchange practices. What is the earth tantra that you mentioned? Yes, so Earth Tantra is the name of my business, established in 2016, so for 10 years. And kind of our tagline is, heal with nature

and transform with Tantra. Sometimes when people hear the word Tantra, they think sex -based. That's not necessarily the case for Earth Tantra. It's energy exchange with nature, with the Earth. This morning, Darren, it took you a couple of minutes to get in because I was told you had to be emergency. What was that? Well, I wouldn't say an emergency. The wall hive, which is the only hive, I only get into it like twice a year. Just because it's screwed shut and it's complicated

to get into. I do manage it and get in there. Do I put in oxalic mite strips and I still fully believe in treating for mites on all my hives? proactively not retroactively and So it was time to replace the mite strips in there anyways, but this morning they were Breeding outside of the hive, you know, like the whole entrance to the hive was covered in bees I just wanted to get in and make sure they weren't getting ready to swarm. I mean it's 36 frame hive There could

be multiple laying queens in a wall cavity. You just never know. So I got in and I pulled out the bottom four rows of frames, and there was no queen cells. I just wanted to make sure because if there was queen cells then I would split the hive. It's not necessarily needs to be split right now, but I just wanted to make sure they weren't getting ready to swarm. Yeah. So. And you have other hives in addition to this, the ones in the bee hut, right? Yeah. 11 or 12 hives

total. 13? Maybe 13. Depends on the day. That's typical for beekeepers. I try to keep 12 hives. I try to keep a dozen hives. Okay. How long have you been doing it? First got into it about 17, 18 years ago. And that was a short -lived like one -year experiment. I was a rock climbing guide and I just wasn't around to work with the bees. So that hive went away and then now I'm... slow down and got this property and so I got back

into the bees. Tell us a little bit more about where you live because we all know beekeeping is all local and different environments need different things. So what elevation are you at? You mentioned Colorado. So we're I think 4 ,600 feet here, 4 ,500 feet and we're in way western Colorado. basically have the same climate as Moab, Utah. Like we're on the edge of the desert. It is high arid, high desert here. But mountains close by so we can get crazy cold snaps on a

whim. And we can have 75, 80 degree days in January sometimes. You know, days hitting the high 50s and 60s are normal in the middle of winter here. So a lot of people set up for winter and here we have summer and winter for Sometimes half the winter. And then our summers are two months straight of 100 degree days. And then a month on either side of that of 90 degree days. What have you found are some of the secrets to working within those parameters? Because the bees, they

can get a little confused with that. In the winter, I feed externally, a ways away from my hives.

Like I don't put out feeders near my hives. but I want the bees that are going out to look for something to be able to find water and food and on the active days I put up sugar water in bucket feeders and then I keep a heated water bowl out for the chickens anyways and I just have a board that floats on top of that water bowl and all the bees that need water in the winter go land on it they get their water and they go back to the hive and then I also do insulated condensing

hives And since I started insulating the hives, got proactive with my mite treatments, I have yet to lose a hive. I've had 100 percent success right now, three winters in a row. We're going to have somebody on the show in the next couple of weeks talking about condensing hives. But give people just an overall view. What does that mean and in general, how does it work? So some people ventilate their hives to remove excess moisture because bees breathe and they're eating

honey and they're releasing water vapor. through their natural processes and that water can either be ventilated out or you can design the hive so it condenses on the walls because if water condenses above the bees and drips on them then they will die. It's not warm enough to dry off and it kills them. So I give my hives an R40 lid and R10 walls in the winter and I use HVAC foil tape to Seal that insulation up. It's hard

foam insulation. It's fully sealed I then wrap the bubble wrap and then has a giant lid that slides over most of the hive to protect it Quick break to discuss what just might be on your mind

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.com. Discount code MLBlove10. Just doing some research and looking at some stuff But because of our wild temperature swings a cloud can roll in front of the Sun in the winter and it can go from 60 to 15 degrees in minutes it's crazy how that happens here in the desert and I Didn't want my bees to be thermally shot. And so that insulation also gives them a tapered buffer zone

They're retaining their heat. They're heating up slower and they're cooling down slower And it just protects the nucleus of the hive all winter long, in my opinion. I'm glad you mentioned the differences in R values. So for those that didn't catch that, that was in a really important point. That you have a much higher R value on the roof than you do on the walls. And can you

explain the reason for that again? Nature. Bees in nature are looking for hollows and cavities and crevices to nest in and a hollowed out tree Could have infinite wood above it and only you know four or five inches of wood on the sides So that top is gonna stay warm While the sides get cold and water vapor will condense on that cold surface which keeps the water Condensing to the outside of the hive and not above the hive same thing in as a rock climber former rock

climber I found lots of wild bee colonies up in crevices and rocks You know on the cliff faces and they would always be back in a crevice But with a ledge and they'd be hanging off a solid rock and even the winter those hives would have open ventilating air around their sides but yet they still survived and I think it was because of that heat that they could build against that infinite insulated ceiling. That was just observations I made not as a beekeeper but just from being

a naturalist. In that condensation here's my understanding and I'm not a thermodynamic professor

or anything like that. My understanding is if you have the same R value all the way around and on the lid Then the condensation is most likely to happen up top and that's when we talk about it dropping down on the bees We do not want wet bees Condensation on the walls is a good thing it's not running down on top of the bees and They can go to that and drink that when they're all cooped up in the winter That's a special note for people in cold climates to think

about where you have how much our value and one thing with the insulated hives My bees swarm sometimes a month earlier than other beekeepers in the area's hives. And I think it's because they're coming through the winter with such better numbers. They're having a higher survival rate and they're coming through the winter healthier. So it is a little more work as the beekeeper because you got to be ready earlier in the season. You can't go by the clues that other beekeepers

in your area are talking about. You got to get in there and be proactive. It's making my bees

survive that much better. i'm coming through with almost zero winter loss in some of my hives in the spring that's amazing and by the way you mentioned in such a casual way that in rock climbing some of the crevices had bees inside them i think that'd make for a very exciting day not in a good way oh i have jumped off of cliffs before because i have had bees blow out in my face like literally just you just let go or start down climbing and get to your last piece and set up

an anchor and you just go down and call it a day. All right Tara we're not forgetting about you. Tell us more about apotherapy and what ways

are you involved with it? I think I like to think of myself as more of the bee alchemist with the chemistry and working with the energy of the bees and Building a relationship with the bees, I think, is a really important aspect of not only for myself, but also teaching other people and befriending the bees, supporting people, helping people look toward nature and expanding their their wellnesses versus an object or a thing that you can buy from the store. Why not

sit with nature? And when Darren mentioned the rocks, we can observe bees in nature, but why not sit in a place where you're protected, where you're safe? where you can build a relationship with the bees. Some people, and I've experienced this too, right? Each hive has its own frequency, its own smell, its own characteristics. Personality. Personality, exactly. And it's a really unique experience to be able to lay on a bed above these

hives and connect with each hive. even down to like single individual bees, maybe that pulse and frequency of the hive if you're a very highly sensitive person and can tune into that. And then taking that energy and also bringing it within and feeling how the frequencies impact our body, even down to a cellular level. So there's many layers of bee medicine. Yeah, and the whole relationship thing we don't talk about in beekeeping. We talk about Varroa. We talk about all the nuts

and bolts. Tell me more about your relationship with the bees. Darren or I or both. I don't care. Both of you. I think I'll start what I just shared, but also for me, it's a really personal relationship. Some of my ancestors are from the island of Crete, which is actually closer to Egypt, which Darren talked about beekeeping in Egypt, and a lot of knowledge was shared. And I really feel in my lineage on that side of the family at some point had a really special relationship with bees.

And when I filmed the television show Naked and Afraid, before I started filming, the crew was attacked by killer bees. And it's one of the most dangerous situations today in the filming. So I feel my personal relationship with bees also stems from my past, whether it's past in this life and also my ancestors. And I even wear a... bee pendant, which is the symbol of the island of Crete in Greece. And it's two bees coming together with droplets coming down. And

the original is solid gold. This is not. And so I wear this in honor of my ancestors every day now for over two years. How about you, Darren? Do you have a relationship to or you just pounded out beekeeper? I mean, I'm I'm a naturalist.

I have been a nature nerd my entire life, like Easiest way to distract me was to have a new bug walk by And I just follow it and see what it did as a little kid like I was all I did catching snakes looking at bugs just seeing nature and that's one of the things with like naked and afraid is I study ecosystems and how they interact and All pollinators are such vital parts of our

ecosystem. You know, I also have built a lot of property or a lot of habitat on our property for native bees and native pollinators, not just my honeybees. I plant flowers that honeybees don't even go to, but a lot of the native bees do. A lot of the native wild desert flowers, I collect seeds out in the desert and I bring them here and I get them growing in clusters for the native stuff. My relationship is kind

of on that level with the bees. And then also I'm the one that does the physical work with the bees. I'm the one in the hives doing the work. You mentioned their personalities. You know, I've got a couple hives that I would get into without a suit on, no problem. And then I've got one hive in particular that I don't even feel safe in the suit with them sometimes. They're so prone to just exploding out in anger.

And it's funny, but that hive is also my It produces twice as much honey as any other hive I have so I'm like Good and bad. I mean, they're just busy busy active bees I've heard that a lot and it seems like the common Thought pattern and beekeepers is if you have a hot hive you just go automatically requeen that thing But there are some benefits, you know in a year or two, they'll requeen themselves Yeah, that queen might get that aggressive trait might not I don't requeen

unless I have to. I'm the same way. I just can't do it. But I'm not a commercial beekeeper. I understand why some people really need to. I mean, I requeen when a queen is nearing her end of cycle. If they're just not building population, then I will check for diseases. I do a mite wash. And if it's not anything that I can find, then I will figure it's a lane issue with the queen. And then I will requeen. Oh, I had a friend on the podcast last year that was talking about

he was the same way. He's like I just can't squish queen And he's actually set up like this queen bee retirement home And he has figured out how to have a box with little separators And so that he can have multiple old queens live out their life And it's cute. I think it's good fun. That's great I give everybody that comes on the show an opportunity to tell their favorite or a couple of their favorite wild and crazy beekeeping stories.

Either of you have one? So my introduction to beekeeping was catching a swarm in Palisade, Colorado and there's a church that has a giant wild hive in their bell tower and that hive is known to sometimes go into the church and sting people and swarm inside and it spit it's a big hive and it spits out lots of swarms and Someone called a friend of mine that had a couple hives and said hey there's a swarm in the tree in front of the church and We went there and it was way

up in a tree and we parked my Toyota underneath that boards across the bed a stepladder on top of the boards and I'm up there with just a mask on, holding a box above my head while my friends in the truck with a stick trying to balance the ladder with one hand and shake the bees into the box for me with the other. While that's going on, these two boys, like 10 year olds, come riding up on their bikes and they're like, hey, what are you guys doing? And then one of the kids

goes, bees! And he just booked it as fast as he could on his bike and his friend looked up and Let's add a word that his mom would have been happy about and follows his buddy as fast as he can and I got stung probably 15 times that day from that swarm and that was my first hive and to this day it was still the most aggressive hive I've ever had and I mean we don't have Africanized bees here, but you didn't go near that hive without a suit once I got it set it was explosive at

all times And you risk your life to save that thing. Yep. So they they owe you. Tara, have you had any unusual experiences with bees? Maybe not unusual. I mean, catching my first swarms are always really exciting. You know, if you're doing it with your hands and the vibration and the air moving in between your eyes and the bees, that frequency is pretty intoxicating, I'll say. But maybe I'll share an indirect story while I was preparing to film Naked and Afraid and

I was waiting for the start date. There was a really weird day that was all like hush hush and I was sequestered even more before we filmed all day and I wasn't told why. And then they finally let me out of this holding room and it looked like. something really bad had happened and there was like wet clothing all over the resort, cameras in gear, there was not a single person around. And it was this really eerie feeling as they walked me through this disaster zone

to my room. It was real hush hush. And then later on that day, the producer came to me and told me that the production crew was attacked by the Africanized killer bees. And she asked me, do you want to stay and film because they're in the area or not? Because if you don't, that's fine. We'll fly you home and we'll find somebody else. And I made the choice to stay and to take the risk. Where were you? I was in Panama and an island called Isla San Jose. And a lot of

Africanized bees in that area. Yes. Yeah. A local guide. hit a tree with a machete that activated a hive and attacked the production crew. It was a really serious attack as well. Yeah. Africanized bees in the Americas started in Brazil. They were trying to get bees that produced more honey and survived better. And so they crossed European bees with African bees. And it did not go over very well. And they have worked their way north.

South from Brazil to cover all of South America and all the way up, you know into Arizona New Mexico and Texas now Yeah, California too. Oh, yeah. Yeah that kind of that whole swipe. They're making their way north I know there are a lot of African eyes colonies in Las Vegas So I guess they like to eat so they don't tolerate the freezes Like the European bees do but that could always change they seem to be The future of bees, honestly, just how they're going to probably reclaim themselves

as wild bees instead of domesticated bees. Have you found that with your hot hive or hives that they do better with Varroa? I haven't noticed until I'm in honey flow every week. I do oxalic vapor and I use strips and I've just never let a colony get to a point. My mite washes show no bees, no mites. I have almost none. OK. I need to let you guys go, but you know what? We have a couple extra minutes. I'll bet people would love to hear a fun story or two about what

it's like to be on Naked and Afraid. I'll let him talk because he's been on many times. And by the way, Tara's been on once. Darren, you've been on four times, right? Yeah, I've been on four times. I'm always ready to go again. I thoroughly enjoy it. It's immersions into ecosystems in a manner that you can't get in regular life. to go out there and just have your wits and a couple tools and have to survive. I just thoroughly enjoy it. It's a challenge, but it's fun. You

don't remember easy parts of life. You remember the hard times and the struggles and moments in nature. You'll never forget that overlook from the top of a mountain and you see your rescue. You'll never forget that. Don't forget the TV show you watched yesterday. It looks so miserable. Like, it's just, how can I survive one more day kind of thing? And while I'm eating dirt and bugs. So I'm glad you brought up how much you love it. That's awesome. What do you like about

it so much? Like I said, the immersion in nature. I'm also lucky. I'm always the person that gets bit the least by the bugs. They don't bother me nearly as much. I don't have the histamine reactions. I have a better cold tolerance than a lot of people. I usually sleep the farthest away from the fire in a group setting. That's just how I am. I don't even like to have a fire unless I have to most of the time. You're built

for it. The struggles finding finding the food, you know, we're supposed to be hunter gatherers going out and having those opportunities and go to a big reserve in South Africa and be like, hey, can I go sleep in the dirt with the lions and they'll kick you off the property? I get to go do that. How many people can say they've Stood there with a spear that they made while two angry lions circled them roaring. I mean I Got paid to do that All right, you win. I'm

the boring guy Anyway, that's really fun. Hey you two Thanks a lot for being on with me today and keep it up. Keep doing all the good you're doing out there. Cool Thank you. Thanks for having us All right. Thank you, Eric. Can I give a shout out really quick? I just want to send a sense of gratitude to Capella Ranch. They also have an apiary therapy hut in Boulder County and Colorado, and they helped us get started and inspired us for BZenHuts. And what's your website so people

can find you? B -B -E -E -Zen -Z -E -N -Huts, H -U -T -S .com. BeZenHuts .com. Perfect. Thanks for sharing. And you can find us on Instagram. Yep. Thanks again for joining us on Be Love, Be Keeping presented by Manlike. Another big thank you goes to V2B Health for their support. Vita's Varroa Control Ranger products includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Varroxan Extended Release

Oxalic Acid Strips. Hey thanks a lot guys, and if you haven't yet, please subscribe to and follow the show, tell your friends about it, and click on over to BeLoveBeKeeping .com to sign up for our free newsletter. If you have a guest suggestion or topic you'd like discussed on the show, shoot me an email eric at BeLoveBeKeeping .com and remember if you're not just in it for the honey or the money, you're in it for the love. See you next week.