Podcast #16 · Frank Golbeck · Honey Mead, Saving Bees

Frank is a Southern Californian who spent his youth hanging out in nature. He pursued a career in the Navy until, on a prompt from his wife, realized that he needed more in his life. Today, he is the founder of Golden Coast Mead, a small meadery based in Oceanside California that supports healthy bee populations by buying organic honey from regenerative farms. Frank is a deeply thoughtful and deliberate guy and we really enjoyed the opportunity to learn from him!

Read our article about regenerative agriculture helping bees here.

We had the pleasure of hanging out with Frank at his meadery in Southern California. It was a rather fun and joyous episode, in no way due to the delicious and unique organic mead we were tasting along the way  Here’s what we covered (oh and sorry about the beeping!):

• A cheers to the audience over coffee mead tasting and a brief explanation of what mead actually is (~01:10)
• Frank’s background, growing up in Southern California near his family’s apple ranch and a glimpse into the Californian lifestyle (~02:45)
• Frank’s studies in economic development and then… the NAVY! (~04:20)
• Running a ship aground, how the idea of Golden Coast Mead was born and Frank’s transition from the Navy to running his own business (~08:15)
• Why Frank cares about nature and the incredible magic of sunshine, plants and bees (~13:00)
• More on how amazing bees are including the organizational structure of the hives and how the bees’ choice of flower changes the taste of the mead (~18:00)
• The true inspiration for Golden Coast Mead… Frank’s Grandpa’s mead… and how the seed was planted for Golden Coast Mead (~19:30)
• Frank’s realization that he wasn’t happy and needed to make a change (~22:15)
• Courage, support and following your passion (~23:30)
• An overview of Golden Coast Mead, why bees are so important to us as humans and how Golden Coast Mead helps protect bees (~25:15)
• How industrial operations use rented, mobile bee hives to pollinate the crops that all of us depend on (~27:00)
• Why we’re facing bee colony collapse disorder (~29:20)
• Why agriculture is failing today and what the future could look like with better, localized Agroforestry and other holistic approaches that encourage biodiversity and eliminate the need for fertilizers (~30:00)
• How Patagonia has a food company and wants to transform the food industry into a regenerative industry (~34:15)
• An overview of the “Regenerative” concept (~34:30)
• Growing awareness amongst consumers in Southern California (~37:00)
• How being a little bit better is much more empowering than the overwhelming concept of being perfect (~39:00)
• The Golden Coast Mead product range and the desired effect on customers (~44:35)
• What’s next for Frank and Golden Coast Mead in 2018 (~51:45)
• The mead community all over the world (~53:45)
• Frank’s words of advice for anyone looking to make a jump onto a more meaningful path (~55:45)