Category Archives: Honey Plants
Podcast: Chilean Beekeeping with Francisco Rey
Francisco Rey, left, with Ron Miksha. This photo, from 2012, was taken at one of my apiaries in Alberta, Canada, while Francisco was visiting here. Today’s podcast episode – Chile for Avocado Pollination, Queen Production, and Adventure – talks about … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Friends, Honey, Honey Plants, Podcasts, Pollination, Queens, Travels
Tagged Avocados, beekeeping, bees, Chile, honey, pollinators, Queen production
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Podcast: A Beekeeper’s Journey – Cameroon to Calgary
Season 1 Episode 7: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Cameroon to Canada – Patrick’s Bee Journey In this episode of About Bees, we are joined by Patrick Tefouet Tonlio, who was an agriculture community organizer and teacher in the … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Ecology, Friends, History, Hives and Combs, Honey Plants, Podcasts
Tagged beekeeping, bees, Cameroon, hive equipment, honey, honey bees, honeybees
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Podcast: America’s other weed
Season 1 Episode 6: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Sweet Clover: America’s other weed Legal. Illegal. Legal. Illegal again. Sweet clover has quite a history. Introduced into North America from Europe about 300 years ago, farmers were once … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Ecology, History, Honey Plants, Podcasts
Tagged Australia, beekeeping, Grasslands National Park, honey bees, Saskatchewan, Val Marie
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Bees flying high
Almost every time I teach a beginning beekeeping course, a student or two comes forward to whisper: “If I move my bees to a patch of cannabis, will I get weedy honey?” I tell them that cannabis buds don’t secrete … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, History, Honey, Honey Plants, People, Personal, Podcasts, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Books, cannabis, Charles Butler, Eva Crane, hallucinogenic honey, honey, Joe Rogan, mad honey, Michael Pollen, Nepal, psychedelics, rhododendrons
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Early Pollen?
A couple of days ago, on March 22, we had sunlight and heat. Honey bees were gathering pollen. I don’t remember such a rush of pre-season pollen in this area. It’s a lot earlier than expected. I figured their goodies … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Honey Plants
Tagged Alberta, Calgary, feeding bees, honey bees, pollen, urban beekeeping
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Northern Spring
When will spring start? I’m in western Canada, near the Rockies. We have long, cold winters. Spring comes late. So, I’ve always kept honey bee hives wrapped late into the spring. That used to be a real chore 20 years … Continue reading
Posted in Climate, Ecology, History, Honey Plants, Science, Uncategorized
Tagged cherry, climate change, Spring, winter, wintering bees
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Should you feed pollen supplement?
In mid-March, Stevo Sun, a Calgary resident, sent some gorgeous pictures of honey bees foraging on silver maple. Maple is an ornamental here, at our elevation and latitude. But for less than $250, you can pick up a young tree … Continue reading
A rare seed guy
You know how the mention of a name from long ago can bring back memories that you thought had slipped away forever? I had that experience recently. Browsing American Bee Journal, this ad caught my eye. It was from the … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Honey Plants, People, Personal, Pollination
Tagged crownvetch, Ernst Seeds, native plants, Pennsylvania, podcast
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Where poppies grow…
In much of the old British Empire, November 11 is commemorated as Remembrance Day. The warring parties, which had sent their young people into trenches to shoot each other, finally created a cease-fire. It was set to begin at 11 … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Honey Plants
Tagged Flanders, McCrae, poppy, war
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Canada Goes Legal (Wait ’til you taste the honey!)
Yesterday, October 17, 2018, Canada legalized possession and consumption of weed, pot, grass, cannabis, marijuana, or as my father called it, Mary-Ja-Wanna. Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion proposed by the justice minister a year ago. It took … Continue reading
Posted in Honey, Honey Plants, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Canada, cannabis, marijuana, nectar
13 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 