Philosopher-Beekeeper Richard Taylor
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 6 Episode 5: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Philosopher-Beekeeper Richard Taylor Dr. Richard Taylor's 106th birthday memorial is this week. That's as good of an excuse as any to open up his best-selling book, The Joys of Beekeeping, and chat about his life as a commercial beekeeper and philosophy professor. We look at his life and explore his thoughts on being a better beekeeper and a better person. Enjoy! Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 2025. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast website: ...
info_outline
Brother Joe: Bees & Greenhouses
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 6 Episode 4: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Brother Joe: Bees & Greenhouses Joe and I talk about neonicotinoids (and other poisons), problems with wax worms, the greenhouse business, our oldest brother, David, and innovations, a BrainPopping drink, politics, economics, and "Why be good?" Hope you enjoy this episode. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in October 2025. Honeymoon Acres: BrainPop - New Age Drinks: Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast website: About Ron Miksha: Finally: email your...
info_outline
A Halloween Shorty
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 6 Episode 3: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – A Halloween Shorty Do you celebrate Halloween? Beekeepers should. Listen to find out why. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in October 2025. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast website: About Ron Miksha: Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: miksha@gmail.com
info_outline
Down in October
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 6 Episode 2: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Down in October It's October and things are shutting down here in North America - at least the part of North America that's north of Mexico. Just before it all ends, there are a few final bursts of flowers to treat pollinators of all shapes and sizes. Today, we talk about Asters, the stars of fall, and Brazilian Pepperbush and Melaleuca, the intruders of Florida's deep south. All three of these plants give a little end-of-season honey and support before winter to your bees and to wild pollinators. ...
info_outline
Apimondia 2025
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 6 Episode 1: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Apimondia 2025 Ron is back from Apimondia Scandinavia 2025. If you missed this world bee event, listen up as we walk through the Global Honey Bar, hundreds of posters, the mega-exhibition hall, and the heart of the conference - the presentations. This is not an exhaustive review, but this overview will give you a sense for the dizzying amount of bee knowledge on display in Copenhagen at Apimondia 2025. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in October 2025. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We...
info_outline
The Autumn Flower: Goldenrod. Plus a bonus - the end of human civilization
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 5 Episode 12: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The Autumn Flower: Goldenrod. Plus a bonus - the end of human civilization Goldenrod is the 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 civilzation. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in October 2025. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast...
info_outline
Bright Shiny Bees
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 5 Episode 11: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Bright Shiny Bees Our guest today is Ilan Domnich of the . We dig deeply into the care and appreciation of native bees in North America. Bright green bees, yellow-faced bees, bees that make cellophane (sort of), mine into the sand, plus tiny, tiny bees. Bees that turn their blood into wine? This episode is a trip. We talk about taking care of native, wild bees and helping them help us. Bee hotels? Maybe they do more harm than good. Sticks and leaves? Your excuse to let your garden go wild in the fall....
info_outline
Apimondia: The World's Bee Meeting
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 5 Episode 10: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Apimondia: The World's Bee Meeting This short introduction to Apimondia will be of interest to all beekeepers, whether attending Apimondia 2025 in Copenhagen or not. I hope you are among those going to the conference! Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast website: About Ron Miksha: Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: miksha@gmail.com
info_outline
Beekeeping along Canada's Sunshine Coast
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 5 Episode 9: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Beekeeping along Canada's Sunshine Coast Canada has a sunshine coast. That's where I met up with my friend Steve Clifford. Steve is a honey producer (mostly Himalayan blackberry honey) and he produces and sells queens and nucs. It's a really different part of Canada - a rainforest where it seldom snows, but summers can get hot and sunny. This episode was recorded in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, in September 2025. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your...
info_outline
Chile for Avocado Pollination, Queen Production, and Adventure
About Bees, Culture & Curiosity
Season 5 Episode 8: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Chile for Avocado Pollination, Queen Production, and Adventure Today's guest is Francisco Rey, a Chilean beekeeper and avocado farmer. We talk about the country of Chile, Francisco's 43 years of beekeeping, queen breeding, Francisco's friendship with researcher John Kefuss, Francisco's family-run bee farm, avocado pollination, avocado honey, exporting queens, and we talk about why you should visit Francisco in South America.. This episode was recorded in August 2025. Francisco Rey's Chilean Bee...
info_outlineSeason 4 Episode 5: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Alberta Native Bees in Trouble
We chat about the troubles facing native bees with Alberta Native Bee Council (ANBC) Executive Director Megan Evans. Pollinators of all sorts are essential to the health and success of our environment. Understanding the habitats and lifecycles of the 371 known species of bees in Alberta is the first step towards ensuring the prosperity of these pollinators. This is part of ANBC's work.
Learning about the issues that hinder bee success is necessary before remedies can be found. Megan discusses climate change (bees can’t survive if flowers finish blooming before the bees have raised their brood); habitat loss (due to human encroachment and invasive plant species expanding into native vegetation); invasive species spreading diseases; and the impact of pesticides. To help native bees, there also needs to be enhanced awareness of the difference between wild native bees and managed bees.
Among many projects, ANBC is developing a Living Lawns App to help homeowners create or restore native bee habitats – starting with a goal of one square meter (or one square yard) of landscape for the bees. A million homes following this model would add a million square meters (or yards) of living space and floral resources for native bees.
We also look at calls to action that everyone can implement: learn the difference between native and managed bees; work on ecological literacy; create habitats for native bees; and get excited (bee watching is an actual event)!
Finally, it was reassuring to learn that Megan, who dedicates her work to helping native bees, wasn’t always comfortable around bees. She overcame her reluctance (fear) of bee encounters by becoming curious about pollinators. Listen to this episode to see how that happened!
Visit Alberta Native Bees Council to learn more. https://www.albertanativebeecouncil.ca/
This episode was recorded in June 2025.
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-bees.org/about-ron/
Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: ron@aboutbees.net