Well, what a year for the friends of bees! I give thanks. First, for the bees. Then, my family. I’m also grateful that my body held out for another year. I feel privileged to have readers for this blog, too. (I’m looking at you. Thanks for looking at me.) This blog had over 100,000 views in 2018 and even made it into Feedspot’s top five bee sites. Readers dropped by from 176 different countries. Knowing that I have readers makes me want to write.
So, I’m sorry that I didn’t post more often. It’s not for lack of stories – I’ve got dozens of pieces queued up. There’s a lot happening in bee culture these days. My problem is the short days we have – just 24 hours isn’t enough to do the writing I need to do. I’ve been working on a graduate degree at the University of Calgary and have been busy with some volunteer activities in other areas. Also during 2018, I participated in a podcast interview with Andony Melathopoulos, wrote articles for American Bee Journal, BeesCene, and the Czech beekeeping journal. I somehow found time to teach beekeeping workshops with the Calgary & District Beekeepers Association, I went looking for bumble bees in Iceland, and I presented at the United Beekeepers of Alberta conference. But I didn’t find enough time to write much for the readers of this blog.
If you have been as busy as me, you probably missed some of my posts this year. So, here are my top-ten most-viewed blog posts from 2018, with the most popular at the top:
- Rotten: Lawyers, Guns, and Honey
- Have you lithium-chlorided your bees yet?
- Kicked out of a farmer’s market
- Dr Warwick Kerr, the “Man Who Created Killer Bees”, has died
- Crazy Russian Hacker lost all his bees!
- Why your honey gets hard
- Causes of winter losses
- Should you feed s tired bee?
- Nuisance-free beekeeping
- How to predict a honey flow
Those are the top ten out of 73 posts that I published in 2018. I won’t predict how much I’ll post in 2019, nor will I hazard any predictions about what the year will bring. Together, we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, hold on tight – the new year begins in just a few hours!
Bad Beekeeping Blog 
Happy New Year Ron – it’s quality not quantity that matters. And enjoying it too, we all need balance and rest in our lives.
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Those of us who lack quality try to make up for it with quantity.
Happy New Year, Emily
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Happy New Year Ron and thanks for the ideas you’ve shared with us: )
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Best wishes, Deb, and a happy new year, too!
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Ron , Thank you ! your contribution to all bee keepers has far more value than you think , most if not all of us look forward to your post , while typing these words I am very glad too to have seen another year ,
the Bees have given me a purpose and seriously wondering if the sting they gave me while defending their house actually did not contribute to my health improvement ,
they have become more used to me as I can harvest the honey in short and light tee shirt without bothering them with smoke .
My only “sour” point are the support for the AFB as some have taken the irresponsible point to shelter them in urban and semi urban area , who will they attack , the defenseless baby screaming in the crib , the old timer in a wheel chair , the gardener with his power tool and so on .
Keep on fighting as within yourself there is something that science cannot explain . Wishing you a great New year .
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Thanks you so much!
We will both continue onward.
Happy New Year!
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Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Have a happy and healthy 2019, both you and the honey bee’s (and we can’t forget your son!).
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Looking forward to more, Ron! I just realized, I wonder if you know my friend, Eliese Watson of ABC Bees in Calgary? Here is a story about her—-https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/how-calgarys-eliese-watson-and-abc-bees-came-to-be-leaders-in-the-urban-beekeeping-industry/article36034197/
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