Receive our newsletter and announcements from Beekeeping Today Podcast! We do NOT sell email lists.
Dr. Tammy Horn Potter started her professional life with a PhD in American Literature. Today, she is State Apriarist for Kentucky. Along the way, she's taught English and literature at several universities in the Southeast, helped her grandfather - a...
Dr. Tammy Horn Potter started her professional life with a PhD in American Literature. Today, she is State Apriarist for Kentucky. Along the way, she's taught English and literature at several universities in the Southeast, helped her grandfather - a sometimes cantankerous man with his bees and in doing so, fell in love with them. She became involved in the reclamation of strip-mine land and mountain tops in part through the establishment of honey bee hives across those lands. She was appointed State Apriarist in 2014. She hasn't slowed down yet.
Tammy joins Jeff and Kim on this show to talk about her background and her latest book, "Flower Power: Establishing Pollinator Habitat" published by one of the episodes sponsors, Wicwas Press. Flower Power provides the reader the essential tools she'd learned and used in the many different restoration and beautification projects in which she's been involved in an easy to read and concise publication.
Tammy has also authored (as Tammy Horn): Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation and Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Can Teach Us about Local Trade and the Global Market.
[** Update - In the podcast, it is mentioned that the Tupelo tree is an invasive species in the south. In fact, it is the Tallow or "Popcorn" Tree. Thanks to @TascatchaFarm on Twitter for that correction!]
_______________
This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help 
ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com.
Today's episode is also brought to you by
Wicwas Press. Wicwas Press is the publisher of beekeeping how-to and scientific books, including Dr. Larry Connor's, Keeping Bees Alive: Sustainable Beekeeping Essentials. We thank Wicwas for their support of our podcast.
When visiting and shopping at Global Patties or Wicwas Press, let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode with Dr. Tammy Horn Potter!
_______________
We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com
Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com
Thank you for listening!
Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"
Author, State of Kentucky Apriarist
Tammy Horn Potter got her start by helping her grandfather with his beehives in 1997. In 2006-2010, she worked winter seasons with Big Island Queens in Hawaii. In 2008, she started Coal Country Beeworks, working with surface mine companies to establish pollinator habitat and apiaries in Eastern Kentucky.
In 2014, she became the KY State Apiarist, helping shape the Kentcky Department of Agriculture Pollinator Protection Plan and Kentucky Certified Honey Producers program. From 2015-2020, she has coordinated the USDA Honey Bee Health Survey in the state.
Tammy also serves on the boards of Eastern Apiculture Society, Project Apis M, Honey Bee Health Coalition, and Green Forests Work.
Tammy is the author of the following books - available wherever you buy your books:
- Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation (2005);
- Beeconomy: What Women and Bees teach us about Local Trade and Global Markets (2012);
- Flower Power: Establishing Pollinator Habitat (2019), and
- Work I Knew I Must: Reminiscences of Forty-One Years of Factory Life (2021).
