About Bees, Culture & Curiosity

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...

Season 8 Episode 7:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – World Bee Day, No Mow May, and Do Bees Dream?   It's No Mow May, World Bee Day is coming up, so, of course, I was wondering if bees dream. Recorded in Calgary, May 2026 Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation.   Podcast website:  https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About Ron Miksha:  https://about-be...

Season 8 Episode 6:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Tupelo Honey: Swamps, Bees, and Southern Taste   In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity , we travel into the flooded river forests of Florida and Georgia to explore the remarkable story of tupelo honey - one of the rarest and most celebrated honeys in North America. Produced mainly from the blossoms of the Ogeechee tupel...

Season 8 Episode 5:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Wild Bee Care in the Spring  This podcast episode featured Ilan Domnich , the native bee stewardship specialist with the Alberta Native Bee Council , discussing how to support native bees in spring.   Ilan explained that Alberta has 370 species of native bees, with 70% overwintering underground and 30% in plant stems or elsewhere, emph...

Season 8 Episode 4:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Can Magnets Help Honey Bees Survive Winter?   In this episode, we examine the unusual controversial question of whether electromagnetic fields affect honey bees. We begin with the broader idea that the bees' world is surrounded by weak natural and artificial electromagnetic signals. The discussion includes Schumann resonance (the low-f...

Season 8 Episode 3:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – More than Packages   Bees can arrive in packages. Putting them into snow-covered hive boxes is exciting. We'll install packages and chat bees and more on this episode. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation.   Podcast website:  https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About Ron Miksha:  https://about-bee...

Season 8 Episode 2: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Dandelion: The Bee Plant That Doesn't Need Bees  Dandelions show up early. In many places, they're the first thing people notice in spring. Bright yellow, everywhere at once, and full of bees. It's easy to assume they are the first and best food source for honey bees. They aren't. Before dandelions bloom, bees are already working. Alder...

Season 8 Episode 1: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Apitherapy and the Joy of Bee Stings   Happy World Apitherapy Day , March 30, marked on the birthday of the founder of apitherapy, Filip Terč . Oh, and I heard that it's also Ron Miksha's birthday. Recorded in Calgary during March 2026 Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation.   Podcast website:  https:...

Season 8 Episode 0:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Spring 2026 Trailer and News Briefs    Starting off Spring 2026 with a preview of the season ahead plus some chat about 12 recent bee news stories.  From the United Kingdom, Bee brain model offers insights into next-gen AI. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/bee-brain-study-offers-insights-into-next-gen-ai/ Social encapsulation...

Season 7 Episode 12: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – March is Orange Blossom Month    Orange Groves, Honey Bees, and a Vanishing Industry Orange blossom honey begins in the groves—but those groves are disappearing. In this episode, beekeeper and writer Ron Miksha explores the history, biology, and quiet decline of North America's citrus landscape. From Florida's once-million acres of ora...

Season 7 Episode 11:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Bee Poop, Yellow Rain, and the Bee Gut    Honey bees refuse to defecate inside their hive all winter—and when the first warm day arrives, thousands of bees take a sudden cleansing flight. In this episode, we explore one of the stranger realities of beekeeping: the honey bee digestive system and the dramatic spring event known as the ...

Season 7 Episode 10:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – February means Almonds  Most California almond pollination takes place in late February and earlier March. In this episode, we look at the world's largest mass migration of livestock and the problems honey bees encounter during pollination season. We also examine how almonds are pollinated (looking closely at the flowers) and why hone...

Season 7 Episode 9: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The Apiary in a Box  I had a great chat with Herman van Reekum of Beekeeping Innovations and BeeCube . BeeCube is what it sounds like, a cube of bees, an apiary in a box. We discuss the advantages of the BeeCube as well as new developments that Herman is involved in - a beekeeper's app (Bee the Bee) for recording and analyzing bee colon...

Season 7 Episode 8: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Wintering at minus 50 in Singles!!  Let's go way up north to the Yukon with beekeeper Etienne Tardif . He experiments with wintering - in single storey hives - through minus 50 temperatures. His secrets, which he is happy to talk about, include carbon dioxide control guided by sophisticated monitoring. If you don't know how important ti...

Season 7 Episode 7: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Sylvia Plath, the Beekeeper's Poet   Today's podcast is more about  Bees and Culture , less about Beekeeping Curiosity. Today, February 11, is the anniversary of the death of a great poet, Sylvia Plath . The daughter of a bee scientist, Sylvia led a short life spent writing about love, loss, disappointment, and nature. Don't skip this e...

Season 7 Episode 6: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Organic Beekeeping on the Prairies   Tracey Smith , Executive Director of Organic Alberta , tells us about building up her beautiful Alberta honey farm, starting from two packages, and creating a sustainable farm and business over a ten-year period. Then, in three devastating years, viruses crashed all her colonies. We talk about how sh...

Season 7 Episode 5:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Start the Year with New Bees!     In this episode, Ron Miksha and his brother Joe McShaw discussed Joe's greenhouse business and beekeeping operations. They covered topics including making beeswax crayons, installing bee packages, and the challenges of wintering bees in northern climates.  Joe shared his simple approach to beekeeping,...

Season 7 Episode 4:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Arizona is Swarming    It's been a bit wetter than last year in Arizona and the bees are swarming. I know that because I chatted with my niece, Monica King , who is based just outside Tucson. We talk about swarming, some serious pesticide damage, swimming pools, and bee rescue work. Southern Arizona Beekeepers Association   https://www...

Season 7 Episode 3:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – What's Blooming in January?    What's Blooming in January?  Not much. Unless you're in the deep south, west coast, or Hawaii. We look at these places and we look at how to feed bees in colder areas. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in January 2026. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation.  Podcast...

Season 7 Episode 2:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast –  139 Ways your Bees Can Die  Enjoy this quick overview of 139 honey bee pathogens and pests that should be keeping you awake at night. Have fun! Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in January 2026. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation.  Podcast website:  https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About...

Season 7 Episode 1:  About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast –    Ten bee predictions for 2026 Here we go. I might be wrong more than right, but it's still worth a think. 1. I expect more bees declines, but not kept honey bees. 2. Honey bee colony numbers will surprise researchers. 3. Climate-driven phenological mismatches will dominate ecology news. 4. In the USA, lax rules will allow easier regi...