Category Archives: Culture, or lack thereof
A Cold Canadian Wedding
I’ve been preoccupied. My oldest son’s wedding was on the weekend. I’m sharing a couple of pictures. The bride’s family came from Colombia. Because of work, they were only able to visit for a week. I was disappointed that we … Continue reading
Eating the Vomit of Slaves?
This headline showed up in my beekeeping news feed this morning. It’s a disgrace to the cause of fighting against the abuse of animals and it shows total stupidity of the subject on the part of the PETA writer responsible. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach, Save the Bees
Tagged animal abuse, PETA, slavery
7 Comments
International (Bee-)Women’s Day
Today (Wednesday, March 8) is International Women’s Day. Women have always played an important role in beekeeping. In developing parts of the world, it is usually women who tend hives and produce honey for their families’ food and cash. In … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Outreach
Tagged bee blogs, Calgary Bee Club, Eva Crane, women in beekeeping
9 Comments
Golf Magazine Calls Bee Study “Frivolous”
A magazine dedicated to knocking a ball into a hole in the ground is calling a bee study frivolous. I can imagine no greater authority on frivolity than a magazine called Golf Digest. Here’s a link to their flippancy. While … Continue reading
Bee My Valentine
(Adapted from my 2015 Valentine post . . .) Beekeepers are not sentimental. For most of us, Saint Valentine’s Day is a day of intense panic when male beekeepers rush out to buy something special for some darling or pigsney. … Continue reading
First View of a Bee’s Innards
Today’s birthdays include two notables whom you’ve likely heard of (Lincoln and Darwin, both born on the same day in 1809), and one luminary you’ve perhaps not encountered: Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680), also born on February 12. Though we have Darwin … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged bee anatomy, Jan Swammerdam, microscopy
6 Comments
Painting the Bees
Let’s celebrate bees – and enjoy a really cool art project at the same time! Matthew Willey, an energetic and talented artist, is highlighting beauty and nature with a series of gorgeous honey bee murals. It’s an ambitious project. Willey’s … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach
Tagged bee art, Carrboro, Matthew Willey, North Carolina, The Good of the Hive
4 Comments
This Cat Don’t Eat Honey
Humans can taste one drop of sucrose (table sugar) diluted in 150 parts water. A honey bee outranks our sugar sensitivity six-times over: about one part in a thousand and the bee is on it. What about Puff, the cat? … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Honey
Tagged cats, fructose, glucose, honey sweetness
5 Comments
155th Anniversary of a Botany Professor
Just a short post today, and though it’s about genetics and botany, bees (my usual blog subject) are mentioned only indirectly. It’s the 155th anniversary of the birth of Carrie Derick – one of the world’s first geneticists. Derick was … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Genetics, History, People
Tagged Canada, Carrie Derick, famous beekeepers, McGill
3 Comments
The Center (of beekeeping)
In the 1800s, states tried to place their county seats near the county center. The county seat usually hosted the county government, the county court, and (conveniently) the county jail. Being equidistant from all villages, it seemed fair. In my … Continue reading
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