MSU Extension Gardening in Michigan

So welcome to today's Cabin Fever conversation. My name is Abby Harper. >> I'm a community food systems educator with MSU Extension and my co-host today Isabel Branstrom. >> Hi! I'm Isabel. I'm a consumer of horticulture educator with MSU Extension, in Ingham County. And our guest today is Ana >> Heck. So we had a bit of a topic change and today we're talking about honey bees with Ana. >> Ana works with the Michigan Pollinator initiative at Michigan State University. >> And like I said, we're talking about honey bees today, Which in Michigan, I believe we have over 450 species of bees. >> Honey bees are just one of them. And we will be talking with Kelsey Graham in a few weeks about some of the wild bees. >> But today we're talking about the manage honeybee is. >> So we're really happy to have you here, Ana, Thank you! >> Yeah, so we're gonna start off with what first got you really geeked out about honeybees. [Ana] >> Yeah. >> So my grandpa was a beekeeper, but he passed away when I was really little, so I never got to do any beekeeping with him. But after college, I was looking at a program to live in Nicaragua for a couple of years and worked with a non-profit organization there. >> And someone asked if I was interested in beekeeping, I just felt really excited to get that opportunity to learn about honeybees. >> So I got to work with some really smart and great beekeepers there, and learned beekeeping. >> And then once I moved home to Minnesota, I thought that I would really like to continued beekeeping. >> So I took a course with the University of Minnesota at the Bee Lab and then was lucky enough to get to start working with them. [Isabel] >> So I think you have a few slides to share with us so we can put some imagery to the bee biology you're talking about. >> and some of the other things. >> So if you want to get those loaded up,.. Sure. Great! Some of these today What's that Abby? [Abby] I was just going to say that I know there might be a little bit of a lag. Sorry. Go ahead.. [Ana] >> All right, so we're going to talk about honeybees. And as Isabel mentioned we have a lot of different species of bees here in Michigan. >> Honeybees are just one of them. >> But I'm really hoping that you'll all be able to join for Kelsey Graham's talk perhaps talk. So here's our website, pollinators.MSU.edu, They have a lot of information on there about pollinator planting, information for beekeepers, and then information about our programs. >> And I thought this group might be interested in an upcoming webinar that we will have. Its on pollinator habitat. We have a guest presenter from the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund Pete Berthelson >> And this webinar will take place Thursday, April 30th at seven p.m. So we hope you'll be able to join us. Registration is required, you can find a link to register at pollinators.msu.edu/resources/beekeepers/webinars >> Here's our Facebook page. >> It's Michigan Pollinator Initiative. >> And then we also just recently started a new Facebook page specifically for beekeepers. That's @ MSU Honeybees. [Abby] >> So can you talk a little bit about where it may be a good place for beginners to start, or what are those programs that might be good for folks who are brand new to beekeeping? [Ana] >> Absolutely. >> So beekeeping is really hard. We are definitely not trying to convince every person to do beekeeping. There's some issues where people aren't keeping their bees healthy, bees can spread viruses and diseases to other bees. >> So if people want to become beekeepers, we want them to really think it through and also learn a lot about beekeeping. We have some resources on our website. >> If you go to our website and click on beekeepers, at the top, we have information for beekeepers, and we really encourage people to join a local bee club. >> So the Michigan Beekeepers Association is a statewide organization. At its website you can find local bee clubs. So if you're interested in keeping bees. we encourage you to learn as much as you can. >> I know it's hard right now during social distancing, but once we're past that, what we'd really encourage you to do. Instead of buying bees and a bee hive, we encourage you to buy a beekeeping suit and spend a summer or two learning about beekeeping from someone who's experienced. >> Get that mentorship experience, and then decide if you want to keep bees for yourself. >> All right, so here are some beehives. >> This is how we keep our managed honey bees in Michigan, we keep our bees in these types of boxes. >> and in the bottom couple of boxes are where the bees normally have their brood and and grow. And then the top boxes are where we store the surplus honey. >> The really nice thing about honey bees is that they don't have a mechanism that tells them when we have enough honey or food for the winter. >> So they'll keep looking for nectar and bringing it back to the hive as long as it's available for them. And that's what allows beekeepers to take the extra honey because we can calculate the amount of honey that bees need for the winter and take the rest of the the honey. Michigan, and the Midwest in general, tend to be pretty good spots for honey production. A lot of our bees are managed on a commercial level. There are beekeepers who are commercial beekeepers who manage thousands of colonies. >> They move beehives around on palettes with the forklifts and semi-trucks and they move them around for different pollination contracts and then also for honey production. >> So in Michigan, it's really typical that in February most of the commercial colonies are in California for the almond pollination. Most of the commercial colonies in the country end up in California for the almond pollination, the biggest pollination event in the world. >> And then a lot of the beekeepers move that bees to a southern yard location. From Michigan, a lot of them are in Florida or Georgia. And then within the next couple of weeks, the commercial beekeepers, will be bringing their beehives back to Michigan. And so oftentimes they're in Michigan for pollination contracts like blueberries, apples, where growers will hire the beekeepers to put the beehives on their land so that the bees can pollinate the crops. and then those bees will be moved to their honey production yards later in the summer. In the fall, they move back to their southern location before they moved back to California >> for almonds. [Abby] So they're kind of like Michiganders in that respect in flying south for the winter for the warmer months. [Ana] >> I was gonna say it's a hard job, but if you're looking for a job that gets you to a warmer place in the winter, you might interested in commercial bee keeping Go ahead Isabel... [Isabel] >> So why do you think beekeeping is important? Or even maybe people can't bee keep. So supporting bees. Why do you think bees are important? [Ana] >> Yes, bees are really important because of the pollination services they provide. Wild bee species also pollinate crops. One thing that's makes our honeybees really good pollinators is just that we have the strength in numbers. So in the middle of the summer, we can have a colony that has fifty thousand or more bees in that colony. >> Not all of them will forage and pollinate, but we have an opportunity to have a lot of pollination just from that one colony. >> So in a lot of our systems for growing crops, we have a lot of crops that need pollination all at once and so moving honeybees. in to do that pollination service is really helpful. >> So here, I just wanted to show how we can inspect hives. >> So we keep bees in hives where there's these removable frames that can be lifted and inspected. >> And those frames contain the hexagonal wax cells that contain anything from honey and pollen and then developing bee brood. >> So here you can see what one frame looks like. >> This has a lot of pollen and honey and then some brood down at the bottom. So we have three different casts of bees we have the worker, the drone, and the queen. >> So let's talk a little bit about each of them. You can see they all look pretty different. Worker has a barb stinger, so she can sting drones or MLB is they don't sting, They can't sting, they don't have a stinger. And then the queen has a stinger, but it's not barbed, which means she won't die if she stings. >> The workers do die when they sting. >> Here is a queen. this one has a little dot of green paint on her. We often mark our queens because it makes them a little bit easier to find and then also because it helps us track our queens. So we know if we see a queen, if it's the one that we had the last time we checked. Here is another queen without that marking. >> So sometimes, especially when I talk to groups of kids, they think that the queen must have the coolest job in the colony because it's a cool title to be the queen. >>but really, she has kind of a boring job, really. >> She's just in charge of laying eggs. >> In the middle of the summer, she can lay easily over 1000 eggs per day. >> And she's laying eggs in the hexagonal black cells. >> So they kind of look like teeny tiny grains of race. >> She does have a pheromone that she gives off which lets the other bees know that she's there. >> But basically her job is to lay eggs. >> The workers have a really appropriate name. They are hard workers. >> They have to do most of the in hive tasks. So when they're younger, they'll do anything from building that hexagonal wax comb. They have a little gland in their abdomens where they make the wax and they use that to build the comb. >> They feed the developing brood. >> Here in this photo, the white shiny, almost worm-like things are developing larvae. >> And so the adult young honeybees will feed those larvae. They clean the wax cells, they receive nectar from the bees that are coming in. >> And then when they're older, they'll start foraging. So there are several things that are really important for bees. One is pollen. Pollen is a really good important source of protein and it's also really important for feeding those developing larvae. >> So this is a bee with pollen. >> They carry the pollen on the back legs. If you're a gardener, it's probably something you've noticed. This here is pollen from squill. [Abby] >> What is squill? [Ana] >> That's a gardening question... (laughing) [Isabel] >> (laughing) Squill is a type of flower. It is a spring flowering bulb with those like tiny little blue flowers. >> I think they have blue pollen. >> I'm not sure of any other plants that have blue pollen but I know squill does have blue pollen. [Ana] >> Yeah! It's kind of a funny one ...a rare sight but very cool. [Isabel] >> Yeah. [Ana] >> And that's one thing that is a little bit exciting... [Isabel] although they like... >> Yeah, cool. [Ana] So one thing that's cool... I think there's a little delay, [Isabel] Yeah, we're having a little delay, [Ana] I am going to just go ahead. So one thing about the squill that's pretty coll is that it's one of the earliest pollen that the bees bringing into the hive. >> So beekeepers really excited when we started seeing pollen coming into the hive in the really early spring. So another really important thing for bees is nectar. Bees bring nectar back to the hive. >> And then nectar has a lot of moisture in it, so they dry out the nectar. And then once it's dry and they cap it off with wax that's when we call it honey. >> And so bees in Michigan, normally need about 75 to a 100 or so pounds of honey for the winter. >> Sometimes they need less than that. >> But we as beekeepers, leave our bees with a lot of honey. And then we are able to take and extract the surplus honey. But it's really an important source of calories for the bees for surviving the winter. And then also for those older bees, that just need a lot of food in order to be able to fly long distances. Honeybees will fly on average about two miles or so for food, but they'll fly further if there is not anything closer available. [Abby] So Ana, you mentioned squill as one of those early season food sources for bees. And I know it's important to keep bees fed all year or as long of a season as you can. >> Can you talk a little bit about what, what bees need, in general, to survive? >> Just sure yet. [Ana] So nectar and pollen are really important. So yeah, it's really good to have stuff that blooms really early in the season, and then also later in the season. In the spring, maples can be a good source of pollen for the bees >> And then dandelions are one of our first nectar flows. >> I know they are weeds, but our honeybees really like them. >> So what's a weed anyways? [Ana] >> That's a good question... (laughing) So here you can see this is honey that's on the top of the photo. That's capped honey that the bees will use for winter. >> And then in the middle, that's their brood nest. But one thing that's kind of cool is it's not just pollen and nectar that bees need, they also need resins from trees. So our honey bees collect resin. she's carrying the sticky resin on her legs and they'll collect these resins from trees and use them to seal off the hive. >> And so once it's in the hive we call it propolis >> And it, it's partly used to seal the hives, but there's a lot of research right now that it has antimicrobial properties and is good for the bee health overall. So propolis is really cool. >> The thing that's not cool about it is I think it's impossible to get out of the clothing, butother than that, it's it's a really cool thing. >> And then also bees need water, especially when it's really hot. >> They need to be able to bring water back to the hive and it helps them cool it down. >> So it's nice if you're able to have a little area for bees to collect water. >> So I get a lot of people who tell me that they got stung by a honeybee. >> But one way you can tell it is a honeybee is that honeybees will leave a stinger in you. >> Oftentimes wasps get confused with honeybees because they can kind of look similar from a distance. >> And it's like "if you're not seeing a stinger in you it probably wasn't a honeybee." >> Okay, and then we have our males, or males are drones. >> They have really big eyes and their goal in life is to mate with the queen. >> So they'll fly away from the hive and they hang out in these areas. >> We call them drone congregation areas. >> They're up in the sky. They will just wait and see if a young queen will fly. >> And if they have an opportunity to mate. Most of them are not successful. >> If they are successful, they'll die within a few hours. >> But that's what they'll do throughout the summer. >> They'll go fly and see if they have that opportunity to mate. >> Then in the fall, they don't really contribute to a lot to the in hive work. And the workers will kick out the drones in the fall. So the drones don't overwinter with the colony. [Isabel] >> So during the summer you said they just kinda like hang out up in the sky waiting for an opportunity to mate? [Ana] exact exactly, [Isabel] Oh! Wow! [Ana} That's not a bad life. (laughing) [Isabel] >> It's fun to think about, like when you're walking around in the summer and you think "there are some drones up there!" [Ana] then they come back to the hive every maybe afternoon or evening. >> Yeah. >> So one really cool thing about honeybees is they are "superorganisms"? >> So when we think about them on an organism level, we don't think about the individual bees. we think about the colony and the colony needs to reproduce. >> So the way they do this naturally is to swarm. This happens in Michigan very commonly in May or June, where the queen will leave with about half of the worker bees. >> They leave behind some queens that are developing and that's the way that they split. >> So typically the swarm will leave the hive and they'll congregate in a meeting area. >>Often it is a tree branch close to the hive and will stay there. >> And then some scout bees will go and they'll try to find a new location for them to move into the build their new hive. And so once they come back to the swarm, they have a dance language where they're able to communicate direction and distance. And other bees will go to that location to look at it. >> And then once they've all kind of reached a consensus, the swarm will leave and move into that new place. >> So oftentimes it's cavity, like a tree cavity, or they'll move into it and then they'll start building that hexagonal wax comb. >>So as beekeepers what we do is we try to prevent our bees from swarming by splitting them. >> That helps us have more colonies of bees. >> It also can make people a little bit nervous to see a swarm of honeybees. >> So we want to be good stewards and prevent that. >> But they do have this natural tendency to want to swarm. [Abby] >> So Ana, are that swarms both drones and worker bees? >> Are those mostly the queen and workers? [Ana] >> Yes. So it's queens, mostly queens and workers. >> There might be some drones that end up with them, but yeah, they're, they're heading out. >> So here you can see them in a tree. >> And we can oftentimes just shake the bees off of the tree and into box. [Isabel] >> And they just end up in the box? How does that work? [Ana] >> Yeah. >> If if it goes well, then you collect them in the box and then you move them into your beeyard. >> Wow. >> Though if you do see a swarm this spring, it's really great if you can get in touch with the beekeeper. >> The Michigan beekeepers Association has a swarm removal map of people who want to go out and catch swarms. >> So please let a beekeeper. Now if you see a swarm. So one thing that you've probably heard about it is that we do is see really high levels of losses of honey bee colonies for the 2018-2019 year it was about 44% in Michigan. These are survey data, so we do lose a lot of honeybee colonies are small-scale beekeepers lose a higher proportion of their colonies than our large-scale commercial beekeepers. Beekeeping is really hard and there's a pretty steep learning curve. And we are able to recover a lot of our losses because we split the colonies, but it's still pretty stressful overall in order to keep our numbers where they need to be. [Isabel] >> So maybe people who are getting into this don't necessarily feel prepared to start beekeeping. >> Do you have any suggestions for places for them to start? >> Like maybe a really good place for people to start is just by planting plants >>or different, flowers or trees. >> Would you suggest that? [Ana] Absolutely. That is one great way to help bees. >> So there's a lot of issues that honeybees have, Like diseases and parasites, exposure to pesticides. poor nutrition. >> But really having access to good nutrition can help them deal with those other issues. >> And it's really the best way that people can help bees is by planting flowers for bees. So if you can...We like to say, like whatever amount of space you can plant for bees is great if it's just, you know, a couple plants or a garden or even like a large-scale habitat area. It's awesome if you can think about pollinators and choose some plants that will provide pollen and nectar for them throughout the season. Trees, as you mentioned too, are a great source can be a great source of nectar and pollen depending on the tree. [Isabel] >> Awesome. >> And I feel like people might have specific questions about plants. >> And I just want to let everybody know that we'll be sending out resources with different types of plants >> you can play it because there are so many and we'll send you some resources on that. [Abby] >> And I loved what you said on about just having kind of like seasonal successions of flowers and making sure there's always kind of some nectar >>I know dandelions are kind of the the expert at lawn care's enemy, but they really are so good for bees in the spring, and they are one of those first flower sources, for sure. We had a couple questions come in about this. I think this relates to the colony collapse and bees survive survive or not, is whether or not harvesting honeybee IS something, or harvesting honey from honeybees is something that is damaging or takes food away from bee colonies? [Ana] Yeah, that's a great question. >> So it can depend. >> Where we live in Michigan, there's normally an opportunity for bees to make much more money than they need. And so most of the time, beekeepers are taking the honey, that's extra surplus and they're leaving honey for the colony. So that's not something I worry about. As long as the bees have a lot of honey for themselves, we're able to enjoy the extra that's leftover. [Abby] is that throughout the winter too? >> I mean, I know there's like seasonality in terms of when you harvest and things like that. >> So what happens in the winter? >> Yeah. >> So typically we do or honey harvests in the late summer or fall, and then we leave honey for the colony for the winter. >> And the cool thing about honey is that the flavor depends on the nectar and so honey can taste really different based off of the flower where they were foraging. So sometimes when you buy just the generic honey in the grocery store it is a blend, and that can be a lot of clover, but if you start buying from local beekeepers are especially beekeepers who might be doing it on a smaller scale and separating out there different harvest you can tastes really big differences in the flavor. [Isabel] >> So we had another question come in. >> And I think sometimes people are frightened by being stung by honeybees. >> So if you could enlighten us about honeybee's, stinging tendencies and how handlers avoid getting stung. [Abby] [Isabel] [Ana] [Abby] [Ana] >> Absolutely so typically our honeybees aren't going to want to sting when they're away from the hive. They lose their life when they sting. >> And normally when they're out foraging, they'd much rather >> fly away. >> So unless you do something like step on a honey bee or pinch it by accident they're normally not going to want to sting you when they're away from the hive. When the beekeepers are working the hive there are bees that will defend the hive. Especially the older worker bees. So as beekeepers, there's a lot of ways they can prevent getting stung. We use smoke and that covers up the alarm pheromone. Bees will give off an alarm pheromone when they sense a threat. But once we smoke, it covers that's up. And it also kind of encourages them to just go down into the hide and eat some nectar. >> So that's one way we use it. >> We also are really careful in the way we manage the hive. There are certain things that beekeepers can do, like if you're making really big, abrupt motions, that can be seen as something where the bees want to defend >> So like one of the worst things you can do is just like SWAT at a honey bee, like it's a fly, that's not a good thing. >> But if we're working really calmly and slowly through the hive, that can be seen as less defensive. >> But a lot of beekeepers are just used to getting stung. >> And it's just something that you have... >> most of us get used to. [Abby] We have a couple here... We've had a couple questions about, you know, when you are talking to the workers, you used "she". >> So how do you distinguish between genders with the bees? >> Also you mentioned that the drones don't stay with the hive. >> They kinda do that, like "hanging out and waiting for their queen" dance. >> Do they, what are they doing in the winter? Do drone survive the winter? [Ana] So I'll answer the drone one first... So the drones are, they do stay in the hive, but they go out to the meeting congregation areas during the middle of the day to wait for a queen. So then they return to the hive and they do get kicked out by the workers in the winter. So the Queen and the workers are females, the drones are males. The queen lays the eggs, and they can either be fertilized or unfertilized. All of the unfertilized eggs develop into a male drones. All of the fertilized eggs can develop into queens or workers, and it depends on the food or nutrition, they receive as very young larvae. So for example, like if I were to go out and accidentally squish my queen, the bees would recognize that her pheromone wasn't there, and they would start picking some very young female larvae and feeding them what we call the royal jelly. >> And that changes their developments, so they develop into queens. >> And this is also now when we're in swarm season, the bees will, if they are preparing to swarm, they'll start raising some queens before they leave the hive and swarm. [Isabel] >> Wow, that's fascinating that they don't sense her pheromone and know to start rearing a new queen. [Abby] >> Yeah, so that's pretty cool. [Isabel] >> You, you might get this question, but what is royal jelly? >> What makes it "royal"? [Ana] >> Yeah, so it's kind of a different concentration of the food that the bees prepare. >> So though worker bees have a gland in their head that they used to prepare, to prepare the brood food. And the royal jelly is really nutritious, is also a point where it has less pollen than the other brood food that's fed. But they make it from the combination of nectar and pollen in a gland in their head. [Isabel] >> Wow. Very cool. [Ana] One other thing I can add real quick, is just to kind of follow up on when they're raising the queens, the queens will emerge, >> Then there's normally just one, there's normally several queens that will be raised and there will be one who ends up victorious and she'll go on mating flights. So she will leave the hive, and she'll find those drone congregation areas And she'll mate with 15 to 20 or so drones. And normally she flies further away from the hive than the drones do. >>So normally there's not a lot of inbreeding. >> Then when she returns to the hive after her mating flight or flights - after that period - she won't or can't mate again but she's able to still lay fertilized eggs. Fertilized eggs. [Isabel] >> Cool, so I think we've been getting a few questions about plants, which I will just quickly answer some plant recommendations. So I'm just going to, again, there's so many plants you can plan for pollinators and we will be sending a bunch of resources that lists them. So it kinda just depends on what you want, your garden to look like, what kind of and size plants you want, what kind of color? >> But Monarda is a really good one. >> Joe Pye Weed is a really big one, but also a fabulous pollinator plant. >> Some trees like Ana mentioned Maples are great. Willows are really good. Any sort of Lindens. They're also fabulous. We don't want you to forget about pollinator trees because those are also important. >> Like Ana mentioned, Asters are really great pollinator plants. >> The list goes on and we'll send out some lists later for everybody who's planning their gardens and wants to help support pollinators. [Abby] That makes me think of all of the trees in my neighborhood that I really like that are about to bloom right now. >> I'm getting really excited both for added spark of color as well as that, that new food source for some of our pollinator friends. [Ana] So one cool thing about bee species is that some of them are more specialists and they really prefer small number of plant species. And then some of them are generalists. >> Honeybees fall into the generalists categories. >> So they're not picky eaters. They enjoy a lot of different types of flowers. [Isabel] >> Oh! That's good to know. >> If you have like a very diverse garden you're supporting the honeybees. So we want to ask you too, how do you share your passion for honey bees with others? [Ana] >> Yeah. >> So I work a lot with beekeepers. They can be really fun groups. I like working with beekeepers, so that's definitely a way we beekeepers can be, especially Michigan, tend to be pretty well organized. And there's a lot of local bee clubs that are doing some really great education and meeting and having colonies that they work through together and are supporting each other. >> So that's one way. [Isabel] >> Cool, and I think....So we had another question about bees successions, which I think he had touched on about like how they cycle through queens or how a new queen will develop. >> And then >> Go to start a new hive... >> If you could just reiterate bee succession how that works, sir. [Ana] So in the natural way it works is through a swarming. >> So the Queen leaves with about half of the bees to find a new home, and they leave behind some queens that are developing. >> So normally in the pupal stage with about half of the other bees. >> So that's kinda the way that naturally they will split and divide. >> But we as beekeepers, especially around this time of year, will start splitting our colonies to prevent them from swarming and so that they don't have that urge to swarm. [Abby] >> Okay, so we had a question come in about whether honeybees are native and maybe how they interact with wild bee populations... [Ana] >> So honeybees are not native to the Americas. >> The kind of honeybee that we have, mostly in Michigan, are from Europe originally. So European honey bees, they do- can interact sometimes with wild bees. Right now, there's some research looking at disease transmission between species of bees. >> So that's one thing that beekeepers really want to be aware of is that we're not only worried about honey bee diseases spreading to other honeybee colonies that were also worried about. >> I'm spreading to other species of bees. >> That is one reason it can be really important to plant flowers for bees because that helps keep the bees a little bit spread out if there's not very many flowers and all of the bees are visiting the same flowers, there's more opportunity for disease transmission. >> But we think a lot about the native bee species and the wild bee species. >> And I'm really excited that Kelsey, will do a session on them. [Abby] Yeah, we're looking forward to that. [Isabel] [Ana] [Isabel] [Isabel] [Ana] [Ana] [Abby] [Abby] [Ana] [Abby] [Isabelle] >> She's going to cover the 449 other species. >> I think I'm just kidding. One-by-one. (laughing) [Abby] So Ana, one of the questions, we like to end our sessions with is just inquiring what's bringing you hope or joy right now with regards to honeybees are what inspires. [Ana] Yeah, so I think one thing is just having really good conversations with beekeepers, even when I'm not able to see them in person right now, I've been able to connect with a lot of beekeepers I genuinely like. It's also springtime and it's just exciting that we're getting warmer weather and more opportunities to be outside and work in a honeybee colony. That can be really relaxing. I know that might sound a little weird to people if they're thinking of honeybee is and how they sting. >> But I think a lot of beekeepers really enjoy the process of going through a colony. And it's, it's just a lot of things that are cool to see in it. >> So getting excited for the season. [Isabel] [Ana] [Isabel] [Isabel] [Ana] [Ana] [Abby] >> But yeah, it's funny. >> You said spring when I think we've counted like seven of the last ten days having snow in Mid-Michigan. >> but it definitely is coming...it's trying. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. >> Well, I think that's all for today, so thank you so much for being willing to come on and chat with us. We really learned so much from you. Feel like I have a bunch of notes to go apply in my own garden. >> I'm going to stop getting rid of the dandelions for sure! [Ana] >> Thank you both for having me. >> This is really fun. >> Yes, it was awesome. I think bee biology is just fascinating. So it's kinda cool to understand how they work and then how we can help support them. >> So yeah, thank you so much for being on this was fun things. >> So next week we're going to be chatting with Naim >> Edwards. He's another colleague of ours from MSU Extension, and he's going to be talking about edible landscaping. >> We're going to follow this e-mail with lots of resources and more information on kind of what to plant and gardening aspects of supporting honeybees as well. [Isabel] >> Oh, yeah. >> And I will say also just the Michigan pollinators Initiative website has great resources and gardening and Michigan website. >> So if you are eager to go look at those plant lists there, learn more. >> Check out this two websites. [Isabel] [Ana] >> Yeah, and I will make a plug on, uh, and her team have developed a wonderful Michigan Pollinator Champion Course that I started taking a few months ago and now have more time to devote to. And it's a really phenomenal free educational opportunity on their website that you can kind of do it your own pace and learn all about pollinators. It's an awesome resource. All right, well, thank you for spending your Friday morning with us and we'll look forward to seeing you all next week. >> Thank you.