Category Archives: Culture, or lack thereof
Hobby Beekeepers Get an Extra Hour
Most folks I know reset their clocks last night. This is great for hobby beekeepers who race home after work to don gaudy bee suits and ignite smoker fuel, hoping to beat the setting sun. Not so fast, Beekeepster. You … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, History, Humour, Reblogs
Tagged Arizona, Ben Franklin, Hutterites, Saskatchewan, Savings Time
5 Comments
Presidential Bees
In the USA – and probably no place else on Earth – today is Presidents Day. When I was a kid, we called it Washington’s Birthday and got the day off from school, though Lincoln’s birthday seemed to be somehow … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged famous beekeepers, Jefferson, Obama, White House
4 Comments
Rotten: Lawyers, Guns & Honey
I’m invariably cautious – even cynical – about beekeeping movies. But I just saw one that breaks the mold and restores faith in the potential for delivering a great story about the honey industry without lies and exaggeration. The one-hour … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Movies, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged bee documentary, Honeygate
33 Comments
Americans eat four cents of honey every day. Wow.
It’s January. Here in Canada, that’s usually the coldest time of the year. Time to eat some honey. A healthy, quick energy treat that’s not too bad to feast upon. Especially good mixed with whiskey and lemon juice if you … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged honey consumption, statistics, sugar
10 Comments
2017: The Year in Bee Review
As 2017 draws to a close, let’s look back at the year’s best beekeeping stories. With lower honey prices in 2017, some beekeepers left the business and colony counts fell a little. Back in 2016, I reported that honey bees … Continue reading
Posted in Apitherapy, Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Diseases and Pests, Friends, History, Hive Products, Honey, Honey Plants, Killer Bees, Movies, Outreach, People, Pesticides, Pollination, Queens, Save the Bees, Science
Tagged blogging
6 Comments
The Man Who Discovered that Bees Can Think
You probably know that Karl von Frisch figured out how honey bees use their waggle-dance to communicate. He won the Nobel Prize for that and for other studies of bee behaviour. I think it was well-deserved and his experiments withstood … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People, Science
Tagged bee communication, Charles Henry Turner, honey bees, Karl von Frisch
16 Comments
Langstroth: The Great Christmas Gift
I’m repeating a blog which I post each Christmas Day, Langstroth’s birthday. He is often considered the inventor of modern beekeeping. He invented the modern beehive, making it easier, more productive, and less stressful for bees. However, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Hives and Combs, People
Tagged Langstroth
7 Comments
National “I Love Honey Day”
I’m not sure how serious this is, but someone somewhere has declared December 18 to be national I Love Honey Day. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do. But here’s an idea: Go out and buy some honey. Even … Continue reading
Walden Publishing: Helping New Beekeepers
A few months ago, Walden Publishing printed a beginning beekeeping article which they asked me to write: When to Harvest Honey. It can be found here. Then I was asked to produce a more general piece on beekeeping, which is … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach
Tagged beginning beekeeping, Walden Publishing
9 Comments
They Got Me – on the Kiwimana Podcast!
Just a short blog post today… If you’ve been curious about my voice (which has been described as dull and boring), you have a chance to hear it in its full-depth vibrato. I was in conversation with Gary Fawcett of … Continue reading
Bad Beekeeping Blog 