EPISODE · Apr 18, 2020 · 38 MIN
From Earth Day 2015! Heather Wood shares her passion and energy with listeners!
from GREEN Organic Garden Podcast
This is a replay from 4/21/15 my first year! And when I release this year's bonus Earth Day episode you will love her even more when you hear what she's up to now!Meet the amazing Heather Wood saving the world one compost pile and bee hive at a time as she shares her journey to connect communities and show what living locally looks like. You’ll be truly touched by this mothers passion and commitment to the environment and world she lives in as she peddles compost from hub site to hub site, and bravely gathers wild swarms of bees to be relocated in a loving home with tenderness and excitement. Be ready to celebrate Earth Day after you hear this fantastic interview with one of the world’s young and inspiring modern day movers and shakers.Tell us a little about yourself.I was looking forward to graduating college and I was researching alternative styles of composting all over the country. When I was young I saw a show about a learned about a community in Italy using mules for collecting garbage and decided that was what I wanted to do. At the same I time I was getting my apprenticeship in Beekeeping.Got two business licensesnon-profit: Urban Evergreen Bee Sanctuary Sun Hive and Swarm.Community Compost Collection that’s 100% bicycle powered!Got her degree from the Evergreen State College, in the capital of Washington, in Olympia. Grew up in Tacoma, Washington. Studying physics and animation. Started studying biodynamics beekeeping and biodynamics farming which sort of takes organic a little further. Always wanted to be a beekeeper.Was able to get my apprenticeship through the Washington State Beekeepers Association. I also got to sit in on a workshop with Corwin Bell of ColoradoMore then Honey and Queen of the Sun documentaries that talk about the harm that the bees are in. Wanted to get involved and believed that she could be involved.Decided to build beehives. Sun hives – wild swarming … a step away from conventional bee keeping … talking about stepping away from conventional bee keeping which is wild swarming. Conventional bee keeping means we prevent our bees from swarming.Natural swarming means ½ of the colony will leave with the old queen so we can have genetic diversity. If we catch wild swarms and trade them we are encouraging biodiversity and local native populations that will withstand winter better and will be stronger.Bees start to swarm in the spring… Earlier that you can get a swarm to keep in the box the better, because they will have time to build up storage for the winter.A swarm is a cluster (in the shape of a V or a football) on a branch – about 7-10 feet off the ground. This is about ½ of the colony, right before the new queen is about to hatch, the bees start pestering the old queen to leave and she takes about ½ the colony with her to find a new home. They...
NOW PLAYING
From Earth Day 2015! Heather Wood shares her passion and energy with listeners!
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Jan 2, 2026 ·47m
Dec 21, 2025 ·46m