470-How Insect Allies Shape Human Culture
5/21/202650 min
Gardeners often have a love-hate relationship with insects — loving the bees and ladybugs and hating the aphids and flea beetles, for example — but all insects have value, even if it isn't always apparent to us. To discuss how insect allies are important partners in gardens and elsewhere, joining me this week is entomologist and artist Barrett Klein.
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First 90 secondsJoe Lamp'l· Host0:00
Hi everybody. I'm Joe Lamp'l, the Joe behind Joe Gardener, and welcome to The Joe Gardener Show. My guest today is Dr. Barrett Klein, an entomologist, artist, and professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He studied entomology at Cornell and the University of Arizona, earned his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin working with honeybees, and he spent decades exploring the intersection of science, art, and culture. His new book, The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture, is the kind of read that makes you wanna walk outside and see your garden and, honestly, your whole world differently. From silk and honey to soil and pollination, Barrett makes the case that insects haven't just shared our planet, they've shaped our civilization. I'm really glad to have Barrett on the podcast today, and I think you will enjoy his fresh perspective on growing an appreciation for insects and the vital role they have in this world. So let's get started, and as we do, thanks to our sponsors for today's episode, Soil Cubed and Dramm. You probably know by now, having access to high-quality compost is my not-so-secret weapon for the success of everything I grow in my garden, and that's why I'm so proud to be partnering with Soil Cubed. If you live in their delivery zones within Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, most of Alabama, and for some of my Texas listeners, Soil Cubed is now in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so this message is for you. Soil Cubed compost is OMRI listed for organic