Join Heyday author Krystle Hickman as she helps kickoff Season Four of the Nature Nerds at Find Out Farms.

From the Agile Longhorn Bee to the Zone-tailed Banded-Mining Bee, The ABCs of California’s Native Bees is Krystle Hickman’s primer on the Earth’s premier pollinators.  It is a love letter to these busy bodies and a clarion call for their conservation.  Through her diligent observations and inquiry, Krystle has been able to include six never-before-photographed bee species and unearths new scientific discoveries in her book.  

Interviewing Krystle will be the wildly skilled science communicator, and host of the podcast Golden State Naturalist, Michelle Fullner!  With Michelle’s highly adept talent at asking compelling questions, we are certain that we are all going to get some insights into California’s diverse pollinators and what it means to be a Nature Nerd.

Krystle Hickman is a National Geographic Explorer and community scientist based in Los Angeles. With a passion for nature and an eye for artful photography, Hickman strives to elevate awareness of the decline of native bee species and shed light on their intricate and biodiverse ecosystems. Hickman’s commitment to conservation takes her across the globe, documenting rare native bees without resorting to any form of lethal collecting. Hickman’s influence extends beyond the lens: She has graced multiple television and online broadcasts including PBS Nature and Vox Science, been interviewed on podcasts such as Ologies, presented at the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia, and lectured at colleges such as Harvard, UC Irvine, UCLA, and more. Learn more about her work at beesip.com.

Michelle Fullner is an educator, California Naturalist, parent of two woodland sprite daughters, and host of the Golden State Naturalist podcast, which is now ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally. Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Comparative Literature from San Jose State University and a Master’s in English: Composition and Rhetoric, from California State University, Sacramento. As an educator, she taught middle and high school English in California public schools for ten years before transitioning to her life as a full-time admirer of acorns, California newts, redwood sorrel, and tide pools.