Category Archives: History
Canada Day in the Land of Honey
Happy Birthday Canada! 149 years ago, the Fathers of Confederation signed the paperwork that began the Canadian experience. I always figured it was kind of those politicians to give us a summer holiday that suits a beekeeper’s calendar. Across most … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Honey
Tagged beekeeping, Canada, Canadian honey, Stompin Tom
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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
May 20: World Bee Day
There’s a small country in Central Europe, a very beautiful alpine country, called Slovenia. Slovenia has only about two million people, but this tiny country is very big in beekeeping. Tucked between Italy and Austria, it has both mountains and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Outreach, Save the Bees
Tagged Anton Jansa, honey bees, Slovenia, World Bee Day
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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 Australia, eucalyptus, record honey crop, Rob Smith
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Cuba’s Organic Honey
Long before the embargo and before the Castro brothers, Cuba was a beekeeper’s paradise North American gringos operating Cuban honey farms. Spain ruled Cuba for almost 400 years, but the United States took it as a trophy after the Spanish-American … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Ecology, History, Honey, Pesticides, Save the Bees
Tagged Cuba, organic honey, Pesticides
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Putin Likes Organic Food
Russia’s Vladimir Putin has suggested that anyone who sells or grows genetically modified foods on his turf should face a few years farming in Siberia. He has proclaimed Russia will be GMO-free and he’d like to see his farmers raise … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Genetics, History, Pesticides, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Charles Darwin, epigenetics, GMOs, Putin, Russia
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L.L.L. – The Christmas Gift
He invented modern beekeeping, yet the early life of Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was challenging, his mid-life was depressingly difficult, and his end life had just a bit of redemption mixed into an anguished mental landscape. However, he changed beekeeping to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged Langstroth, manic-depression, The Hive and the Honey-Bee
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How the Honey Bee Got its Stinger
This will sound like a Rudyard Kipling Just So Tale. But it goes back a lot further than the early 1900s. The Bee and Jupiter is credited to Aesop, of Aesop’s Fables Plus Punchline fame – and he lived 2,400 … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Humour, Killer Bees, Stings
Tagged Aesop's Fables
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Time and Time, Again
Most North Americans moved clock hands back last night. Others in the northern hemisphere did this a week earlier. Meanwhile, some folks in the southern hemisphere did the deed in the opposite direction. Others never changed to Daylight Saving Time, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, History, Humour
Tagged Arizona, Ben Franklin, Hutterites, Navajo, North Korea, Saskatchewan, Savings Time
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The Kentucky Bee Man
When you are the 8-year-old child of beekeepers and you’re helping stick foundation into frames, your pay is the soft translucent paper that keeps the wax sheets from sticking together. It was the closest thing to tracing paper that I’d … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged bee equipment, Clarkson, Kelley Beekeeping, Kentucky, The Bee Man, Walter T. Kelley, wax foundation
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