About Bees, Culture & Curiosity

Behind commercial beekeeping are beekeepers managing colonies, replacing losses, providing pollination and trying to keep their businesses viable.  In this episode of About Bees Culture and Curiosity , Ron welcomes Connie Phillips, Executive Director of the Canadian Beekeepers Federation , for a conversation about the people, policies and practical challenges shaping Canadian beekeeping.  Connie d...

A little Halloween history, a little honey, and some little bees at the door. This short episode chats about the origins of Halloween, honey as a Halloween treat, and dressing unfortunate little children as bees for trick-or-treating. A short, seasonal listen with a bee-themed twist. Season 10 Episode 7:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – A Little Halloween Buzz Support this Podcast!  Like...

Season 10 Episode 6:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Honey Bump and Pumpkin Bust with Joe Support this Podcast!  Like, Follow, and buy me Gallons of Coffee here: ko-fi.com/miksha  What makes a great honey year? And why can the same season be difficult for pumpkins?  Joe McShaw, owner of Honeymoon Acres in Wisconsin, joins his brother Ron Miksha for a conversation about farming, beekeepi...

Season 10 Episode 5:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Yellow-Legged Hornets: Why Bees Stop Foraging A hornet hovers outside a hive. It catches a bee. Then something less obvious happens: fewer bees leave to forage. The flowers may still be there, but the colony's food supply begins to falter. The bees have been watching and are paralyzed by fright. In this episode of About Bees, Culture,...

Season 10 Episode 4:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Why Join a Bee Society? Scott Steinfeldt on WAS What does a bee society offer when beekeeping advice is already everywhere online? Scott Steinfeldt, president of the Western Apicultural Society of North America (WAS), joins me, Ron Miksha, to discuss trusted information, practical education, and the value of a beekeeping community. Sc...

Season 10 Episode 3:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – More Sugar, Less Protein: Rising CO₂ in Plants and Pollen   More carbon dioxide helps plants grow.   But does more plant growth mean more nutritious food?  In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , we look at what rising atmospheric CO₂ may be doing to plant chemistry. And to the food eaten by people, insects, and bees. ...

Season 10 Episode 2:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Why is a Turkey a Turkey?    Why is a bird native to North America called a turkey ?  The answer takes us from Mexico to Spain, Africa, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), France, England, and eventually back across the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Along the way, an American bird gets mistaken for an African one, the English name it after Turk...

Season 10 Episode 1:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Killing the Drones   As autumn arrives, worker honey bees turn against the drones they fed and tolerated all summer. But what triggers their eviction? Is it cold, shorter days, dwindling forage or something else? We explore the strange seasonal ritual known as the killing of the drones, including what happens in tropical colonies and...

Season 9 Episode 12:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Building a Better Bee: Brother Adam to DNA   Brother Adam spent his life trying to build a better bee. Thirty years after his death, we can sequence bee genomes, scan more than 100,000 genetic markers and even edit honey-bee DNA. But have we actually made the bee better? This episode follows the journey from Buckfast Abbey to CRISPR —...

Season 9 Episode 11:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Getting Rid of Confusion in Beekeeper-Speak    What exactly is a bee colony?  The answer seems obvious. Until beekeepers, scientists and computers all need to agree.  In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , we explore an international effort to create a common language for bees and beekeeping. Researchers working with...

Season 9 Episode 10:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Bees, Climate Change, Catastrophe     The tables are turned.  Instead of asking the questions on About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , I become the guest on Brady Podloski's Catastrophe podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about honey bees, native bees, climate change, insect decline, agriculture, and ecological collapse.  Are honey...

Season 9 Episode 9:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Helicopters, Varroa, Tech Transfer, and a Life with Bees     In today's episode, we interview Matthew Polinsky, Manitoba's Bee Technology Transfer lead. Matthew grew up around commercial beekeeping in Saskatchewan. His father kept bees, his brother keeps bees, and his grandfather Derek Alen was part of an earlier generation of Prairie...

Season 9 Episode 8:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The Autumn Flower: Goldenrod: not really too stinky.   Goldenrod is a keystone species for plant, animal, and ecological survival in a huge part of North America. It is also suffering from an unexpected problem, which is hurting bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. That's this episode's bonus - the collapse of human civilization. ...

Season 9 Episode 7:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The American Honey Queen: Bees, Education and Advocacy     Delanie Craighead, the 2026 American Honey Queen, joins Ron Miksha on About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity for a conversation about honey bees, entomology, education, honey and American beekeeping.  Delanie's route to the American Honey Queen crown is an unusual one. She studied...

Season 9 Episode 6:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The End of the Honey Flow means Trouble   The honey flow is over. The supers have been extracted. We had a nice crop (300 pounds from 2 hives). More than we can eat at one time. Now the trouble begins. Robbing. Varroa. Wasps. Crowding.  End of the season blahs. This podcast was  Recorded August 2026 in Calgary.  Please subscribe, like,...

Season 9 Episode 5:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The 50% Honey Tariff: When a Market Disappears  The bees made the honey. Now who will buy it? A new 50% U.S. tariff on Canadian honey arrived just as Prairie beekeepers began harvesting the 2026 crop. The numbers reveal an uncomfortable imbalance: Canadian honey is only about 2% of U.S. honey imports, but the amount we send south is eq...

Season 9 Episode 4:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Too Hot for Bees? Arizona Heat, Drought, and Rescuing Bees  Southern Arizona is beautiful bee country, but it's tough on bees and beekeepers. Temperatures climb above 100°F, water becomes critical, drought can shut down forage, and the ground itself becomes dangerously hot.  In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , Ron t...

Season 9 Episode 3:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Sweet Clover: The Best Honey Plant?   Sweet clover is the best nectar-producing plant. Best honey quality; best for making lots of water-white mild honey. But not everywhere. Here's its story.  This podcast was  Recorded July 2025 and August 2026 in Calgary.  Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. ...

Season 9 Episode 2:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – No Bugs on the Windshield. Is it the Insect Apocalypse?  A summer drive from Calgary to Banff used to leave my windshield covered with insects. A few days ago, the same 250-kilometre round trip left just three bug splatters. Three. It used to be dozens. Is this simply better automobile design, or is it ssigns of an insect apocalypse? I...

Season 9 Episode 1:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – What if a Part of Canada Leaves? Who gets the bees?  What if part of Canada separates from the rest of the country? I take a deep dive into this subject because the province of Alberta has a hearty band of separatists who have been arguing for Alberta to leave Canada and either be a separate country, or more likely, become part of the...

Season 8 Episode 12:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The 3-in-1 Bee Tree: Linden, Lime, and Basswood  Discover why linden , lime , and basswood trees have been used and abused for centuries by beekeepers, herbalists, and woodworkers in this About Bees episode.  The basswood (aka linden and lime) is one of the world's finest honey trees. Join me, Ron Miksha , as we explore the tree's wei...

Season 8 Episode 11:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Joe's Greenhouse and Bees Philosophy   Today we visit Ron's brother Joe McShaw at Honeymoon Acres in New Holstein, Wisconsin. We'll explore his management philosophy, running a business with family, selling 3,000,000 plants, and working with 14 colonies of honey bees that live beside his 15-acre pumpkin garden. Honeymoon Acres Greenho...

Season 8 Episode 10:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Left Behind:  After the Honey Bee Rapture  What happens inside a honey bee hive after a swarm leaves? In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , Ron Miksha follows the parent colony after half the bees depart with the old queen. The story explores why bees swarm, how many bees leave, what remains behind, why swarm queen c...

Season 8 Episode 9:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Scotland through a Beekeeper's Eyes  Join me on a journey through Scotland as I explore Edinburgh, Inverness, the Highlands, Loch Ness, and the famous Scottish heather moors. What began as a visit with my daughter, who studies at the University of Edinburgh, quickly became an opportunity to see Scotland through the eyes of a beekeeper....

Season 8 Episode 8:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Black Locust: Appalachia's Gift to World Beekeeping  One of Europe's most famous honey trees actually came from the Appalachian Mountains of North America. In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , we follow the remarkable story of Robinia pseudoacacia , black locust, also known across Europe as "acacia." Originally a min...