Category Archives: Beekeeping

Bees Do Do-Do

Diapers for bees?  Some folks stopped me when I was leaving an apiary that I once had in a Florida orange grove. They didn’t own the grove, but their house was within fifty yards. They told me that my bees … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Falling Honey Price Makes National News

Something in the news caught my attention. The falling price of honey is now a national news item.  We noticed that prices began falling a year ago, when wholesale prices started their tumble from $2.25 to $1.25.  Now even the … Continue reading

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Dropping into Sunshine Valley

My hometown – Calgary, Alberta, Canada – is having a much needed wet spell. In fact, there has been some ghastly local flooding which I’ll cover in a future blog. Lucky for me, I am a few hundred kilometres farther … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Ecology, Friends, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Bad Beekeeping Competition

I came across a blog posting titled “Bad beekeeping” over at ScienceBlogs.com. I was concerned that someone had picked up on my nomen – not that I have universal rights on the bad beekeeping phrase. But I wrote the book … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Hives and Combs, Humour, Save the Bees | Tagged , | 4 Comments

African Beekeeping May “Save the Trees”

Rather than “Save the Bees”, it’s “Save the Trees” in central Africa. A story from Zimbabwe reminds us that beekeeping can be very, very good for ecology. Bees (and beekeepers) are saving Zimbabwe’s forests. The country of Zimbabwe, lest we … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Price of Honey

The price of honey has been falling for over a year. Honey is such a strange commodity. It’s agricultural. It’s ubiquitous (produced on all but one continent). It’s easily transported. Doesn’t need refrigerated. Doesn’t spoil (though quality may diminish with … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, History, Honey | Tagged , | 6 Comments

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 , , | Leave a comment

Honey Times in Oz

I’ve not yet travelled to Australia –  Oz, as some here in Canada call it. We who have never seen Oz can only picture the place with the same sense of awe that the scarecrow had for the Emerald City.  … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, History | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Packages Arrive in Calgary!

Calgary has a hyper-active bee club. Members help members with all manner of thing. Equipment exchanges, educational programs, disease control. The latest big event was the arrival of 160 packages of bees from New Zealand. By the way, 160 packages … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Friends, Outreach, Queens | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Weird Spring

We are having weird, weird weather here in Alberta. It’s dry as a desert and almost as hot as one. Since January, our temperature has stayed well-above normal. Ten  degrees above normal, in fact. And that’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing because … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Climate | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments