Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Bees on Leashes
Back in November, the City of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, accidentally made it illegal to keep bees. Or wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and fire ants. (What? No more pet fire ants?) Now they are trying to amend the prohibition … Continue reading
Posted in Outreach, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Halifax, illegal beekeeping, Nova Scotia
Leave a comment
Investigating the Crime Scene
A few days ago, I read an interesting American Bee Journal article by Tammy Horn (et al.) and it made me think differently about something. Although I know that poisoned bees represent a real crime, I never really thought of … Continue reading
Posted in Pesticides, Save the Bees
Tagged American Bee Journal, dead bees, honey bee poisoning, lawsuits, Tammy Horn
2 Comments
Sound and Honey (as seen in BeesCene)
The editor of BC’s BeeScene bee magazine picked up an earlier blog post of mine. Last month I wrote about my 13-year-old’s science fair project where Daniel used ultrasound to liquefy comb honey. The results were promising, but not overwhelming. … Continue reading
Posted in Comb Honey, Honey, Outreach, Science, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged BeesCene, granulation, honey, science fairs, ultrasound
Leave a comment
Flow(TM) Hive Wins Design Award
Our favourite Surfer Dude and his Retired Dad are the folks who invented the 21st-Century honey-on-tap bee hive. They have now won artistic recognition. You know their hive – it’s the revolutionary, earth-shaking innovation that has inspired thousands of lazy … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Humour, Save the Bees, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged bee hives, crowd-funding, Flow Hive
Leave a comment
A Kardashian and her Honey
This caught my eye today. I know it’s junk news, and with honey bees everywhere going extinct and dying or maybe just disappearing and hiding and not dying, or whatever, it’s refreshing to know that Kourtney Kardashian uses honey. To … Continue reading
Posted in Apitherapy, Culture, or lack thereof, Hive Products, Honey, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged honey, Kourtney Kardashian, manuka
Leave a comment
Sweet Sweet Clover (part 2)
Yesterday, I couldn’t say enough good things about sweet clover. The magic honey plant is just starting to bloom here in southern Alberta. In a few weeks, it will yield so much nectar that bees will plug supers with fine … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Honey Plants, Save the Bees
Tagged Grasslands National Park, invasive species, Lise Perrault, Saskatchewan, sweet clover, Val Marie
7 Comments
Sweet Sweet Clover (part 1)
Every June there is a wash of yellow along the edge of almost every highway and trail in North America. The yellow is from sweet clover that grows and blooms all across the continent. It’s wild and it has been … Continue reading
Too Close?
Today I have a photo essay for you. These are fantastic close-ups of honey bees – maybe too close for some people. All of these pictures are from the United States Geological Survey. As such, they are in the public … Continue reading
May 20: World Bee Day
There’s a small country in Central Europe, a very beautiful alpine country, called Slovenia. Slovenia has only about two million people, but this tiny country is very big in beekeeping. Tucked between Italy and Austria, it has both mountains and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Outreach, Save the Bees
Tagged Anton Jansa, honey bees, Slovenia, World Bee Day
13 Comments
Drawing the Bee
Not long ago, Scientific American had a piece about drawing. The story, written by a biology professor, encourages us to look at nature and draw it. The case is made that drawing helps you understand what you are observing. But … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Science
Tagged efficiency, honey bees, Jennifer Landin, scientific drawing, The Little Prince
7 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 