Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Ireland’s Native Black Bees
Good news: the indigenous black honey bee is making a come-back. The native honey bee was deemed extinct in some parts of Ireland, but in 2012, researchers found it in various pockets in Ireland and throughout the British Isles – … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Genetics, Travels
Tagged Apis mellifera mellifera, black bees, Galtee Queen Breeding, Ireland, Senator Bill Graham, South Carolina
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M&M Honey
In France, bees started producing some colourful honey – blue and green, actually. Seems they gained unauthorized access to a biofuel ‘plant’ which was firmly rooted in the green concept of converting left-over candy pigments from a nearby Mars factory’s … Continue reading
Turning it over
This year’s blog didn’t describe my own beekeeping very much. I wrote a little about other beekeepers. And I wrote a lot on thoughts and ideas I’ve had with bees in mind. But not much on the wholesome good fun … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping
Tagged Alberta, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan, Summit Gardens
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Melting
Are we melting? When I was a kid, I learned that the world was heading back to another ice age. The argument was reasonable enough. Evidence in charts, graphs, and photos showed that the 1970s were the tail-end of a … Continue reading
Jacques and the Bees
Our friend Jacques died today. I hadn’t seen him in a few months – I had been recovering from back surgery gone seriously wrong and Jacques was in poor very health himself. So our repeated plans to meet up, to … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, Outreach, People
Tagged Jacques
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John’s Locusts and Honey
Yummy. The on-line feeder blog, The Daily Meal, has a provocative article this month: Beekeeping Out; Locust-Keeping In. The short article extols the virtues of chewy bugs as alternative food sources for desperate folks in Saharan Africa. It does not … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hive Products, Honey, Humour, People, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged carob, honey in religion, locusts
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Backyard Fireweed
We had some lovely fireweed growing beside the deck this month. And we didn’t even need to burn any grass to get it. I’m not sure why this lover of scorched earth decided to sprout gratuitously in our undisturbed backyard, … Continue reading
Posted in Honey, Honey Plants
Tagged Calgary, fireweed, Honey Plants of North America, John Lovell
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Bee Stings and Bathtubs
Well, the bees are getting a bad rap in Britain. Here’s a headline from a Herald Sun newspaper this month that shouts, “BEE stings kill as many people in the UK as terrorist attacks do”. We don’t doubt the veracity … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Stings, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee stings
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May Swarming
A friend sent this to me: “Spring has sprung, But the bees are not swarming… Could this be due to global warming?” I like this little ditty – it works on so many levels. It’s May. Here in Calgary, finally, … Continue reading
Package Bee Express
In my meagre effort to stay informed about bees, beekeeping, and beekeepers, I occasionally creep around the internet, stalking new ideas, and sometimes marveling at the bad beekeeping I find in cyberville. Here is an amazing statement from a hobby … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Mazda RX7, package bees, wastefulness
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Bad Beekeeping Blog 