Mid-70s is just too younger to cross over to the opposite facet. However that was once the destiny for Kim Flottum, 76, who gave up the ghost Sunday, December 10, 2023, after a brief struggle with most cancers. The intense and adventurous bee grasp, editor, and writer was once primarily based in Medina, Ohio. Kim was once the editor of Bee Tradition mag for 33 years, retiring in 2019. He was once firstly from central Wisconsin. It adopted simply that he would earn his bachelor’s stage in horticulture from the College of Wisconsin. Following commencement, he labored as a researcher on the USDA Honey Bee Analysis Lab in Madison. His paintings involved in pesticide problems, crop pollination, and nectar-producing vegetation, particularly for the house gardener.
Maximum people knew him as editor of Bee Tradition mag – a task that saved him engaged and a professional about bees and beekeepers. However previous, his occupation took him to Connecticut the place he was once elected president of the Connecticut Beekeepers’ Affiliation. Later, as Publications Supervisor for Bee Tradition, he created a brand new mag, Beekeeping: Your First 3 Years. This new mag helped Kim train new beekeepers on the time that beekeeping was once all of a sudden increasing as a interest. Through the years, Kim served because the Chairman of the Japanese Apicultural Society, president of the Ohio State Beekeepers’ Affiliation and president of the Medina County Beekeepers Affiliation. Kim retired in 2019 however persevered conserving yard bee colonies, writing beekeeping books and articles, and co-hosting podcasts.
I first met Kim in Eire at Apimondia-2005 the place I gave him my deep thank you for the sort accolades that he gave my Dangerous Beekeeping e-book. He stated that I’d written a vintage (and he repeated that declare in Bee Tradition mag – feedback that touched me, making an allowance for the supply) – nevertheless it was once he who was once the grasp of writing. I personal a number of of the books that Kim Flottum wrote or co-wrote, together with The Yard Beekeeper; In Industry with Bees; The Yard Beekeeper’s Honey Manual; First Time Beekeeping; Higher Beekeeping: The Final Information to Protecting More potent Colonies and Fitter; Extra Productive Bees; Honey Gourmet (written with Marina Marchese); Beekeeping for Dummies (by means of Howland Blackiston with the Foreword by means of Kim Flottum); Commonplace Sense Herbal Beekeeping (with Stéphanie Bruneau); The New Beginning Proper With Bees (with Kathy Summers); and, Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Sicknesses (with Roger A. Morse). I like to recommend all of those books as just right, informative reads and treats.
My ultimate assembly with Kim was once in August 2023 when he and Jeff Ott interviewed Etienne Tardiff and me for the Beekeeping As of late Podcast. I had no concept that he was once unwell. I don’t suppose somebody would have guessed that he’d be long gone in a couple of months. Jeff has posted a heart-felt tribute to Kim and Kim’s affiliation with Jeff and the podcast – you’ll be able to learn it right here.