Category Archives: Culture, or lack thereof
Canola – a tasteful upgrade
Canola is in peak bloom here this week. The cultivated oil-seed crop is a phenomenal honey producer. Canadian farmers plant just over 20 million acres of the crop each year. It yields about 100 pounds of honey per acre. If … Continue reading
Posted in Comb Honey, Culture, or lack thereof, Honey Plants, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged canola, rape seed, Saskatchewan, Tisdale
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Hives for Humans
I had not heard of “Hives for Humanity” until yesterday when I stumbled upon an article that talked about a garden in Vancouver where an outfit calling itself “Hives for Humanity” has placed bees. The article goes on to say … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Humour
Tagged Hives for Humanity
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An indoor hive
I can’t even begin to imagine the clever wit that went into designing this revolutionary beehive. What you see to your right – if you are looking at the hive-gadget rather than the demonstrator – is a new hive design … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Strange, Odd Stuff, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Urban beehive
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Alberta deadline
Sorry I was late posting this. Hope you are not in big trouble now. But Albertans who keep honey bees or who own beekeeping equipment are required – by law – to register as a beekeeper by June 29 of … Continue reading
Glow-in-the-dark bees
Finally! Glow-in-the-dark honey bees! We’ve all been waiting for these glow bugs to complement our glow-in-the-dark radium-painted wristwatches and glow-in-the-dark jelly bean collections. Now you can have the complete set of things you probably didn’t know existed. Researchers at Germany’s … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Queens, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee genome, Christina Schulte
4 Comments
Going native
A Calgary University professor has this to say about urban beekeepers: “It is not as rosy as they think. Every jewel* of honey that they get on their plate or in their jars is a jewel that has been robbed … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology
Tagged invasive species, Native Bees, Ralph Cartar, urban beekeeping, Xerces Society
2 Comments
Running for Betty
This weekend is Calgary’s ALS benefit. Calgary-area readers of this blog are invited (urged!) to head over to North Glenmore Park and “Run for Betty.” 20 years ago, Betty died from ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She was an avid … Continue reading
Did I goof up, or what?
Last week’s blog post drew a few interesting responses. Not from Monsanto, whom I expected would be outraged because I wrote that it is perhaps justifiable to vilify “the huge multinational for all manner of environmental ills.” Instead, incredibly, the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Pesticides, Save the Bees
Tagged Bayer, corn, Monsanto, neonicotinoids
1 Comment
The bees’ funeral
Dead bees are back on the evening news. Last night our national news broadcaster, the CBC, had relatively extensive coverage of a honey bee funeral in Toronto. These Canadian heroes, encountering death in the line of duty, were celebrated with … Continue reading
The Empty Beekeeper
At first it felt a bit creepy when my wife texted this picture of an empty beekeeper holding my book. Then I was flattered. My wife was attending the Calgary Science Fair where our son’s entry (a behavioural-science study) was … Continue reading
Bad Beekeeping Blog 