Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Some Ambrosia
Ambrosia. n. nectar; food or drink of the Greek gods which confers longevity Break out the mead – it’s St. Ambrose Day! Ambrose is the patron saint of beekeepers, a task he’s had since the day in 340 when he … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged candles, honey in religion, Saint Ambrose
3 Comments
Bee Book Season
It’s holiday season. And if you’re normal, you’re thinking about beekeeping books for everyone you know. Even the non-beekeeps. I spent a few minutes today scanning the Amazon.com site to see what was bee hot. Not that the best sellers … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof
Tagged Bad Beekeeping, Books, gift ideas, Karl von Frisch
4 Comments
Bee Virus with a Cute Name
It will never end. But at least this one has a cute name: The Moku virus. Science Daily had a piece, A New Threat to Bees Worldwide, which gives us yet another bee story that may go viral. The Moku … Continue reading
Hate Nation’s Bees
I’m pretty fussy about the shows I catch. Unless they include bees – then I’ll watch almost anything. The folks over at the London School of Economics beekeeping site mentioned a British dystopian thriller, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Movies, Save the Bees
Tagged Black Mirror, dystopia, Hate Nation, murderous bees, Robobees
5 Comments
Lawsuits Amidst Toxic Allegations
Australia is having a food fight. Well, a honey fight, actually, and there are lessons aplenty to be found in it. First off, a Save the Bees gentleman, Simon Mulvany, of Melbourne, launched a name-calling campaign against Australian honey packer … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Honey, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Australia, Capilano, lawsuits, toxic honey
9 Comments
Ending the Senseless Roadside Carnage (of bugs)
Bugs impact windshields from time to time. You’ve scraped off the gooey result. A lovely dégustation if there’s ever been one. Placing a bee yard near a busy road makes you an accessory to the beeslaughter of millions. You are … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Ecology, Humour, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Ontario, roadkill, Vietnam
4 Comments
Money from Honey 101
I’m still exhausted from co-teaching last weekend’s beekeeping economics course here in Calgary. Judging from the evaluation sheets of the participants, our full-day seminar about the business of the bee business went well. In fact, most of the evalu-forms were … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Friends, Outreach
Tagged Money from Honey, teaching beekeeping
2 Comments
Beginners’ Bee Course
Calgary’s bee club does an amazing amount of work for our area’s beekeepers. It’s great fun being involved. The volunteer opportunities are enormous – mentoring, hosting visitors (Saturday at the Hive), catching city swarms, and bunches more. My contributions over … Continue reading
A Metaphysical Life
Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of my beekeeper-heroes, Professor Richard Taylor. He was an early champion of the round comb honey system, a commercial beekeeper with just 300 hives, and he was a philosopher who wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comb Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged Comb Honey, famous beekeepers, Richard Taylor
5 Comments
Teaching Bees and Beekeeping
I like to teach. If I could rewind and whitewash my life’s failings, I’d be standing in front of a chalkboard on some small campus right now. That won’t happen. I’m not a professional teacher, but I seldom pass up … Continue reading
Posted in Outreach
Tagged Benny the Bee, Calgary Bee Club, school outreach, teaching beekeeping
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