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 honey bees remain essential to get the job done.

Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in February 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-bees.org/about-ron/

Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: miksha@gmail.com

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 colony health and management, and also Global Bee, Digest a Substack newsletter that aggrandizes current news and research in bees and beekeeping.

Links for Herman

Beekeeping Innovations: https://www.beekeepinginnovations.ca/

BeeCube: https://www.beecube.io/

The Global Beekeeping Digest: https://globalmobility.substack.com/

Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in February 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-bees.org/about-ron/

Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: miksha@gmail.com

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 tight space and excess CO2 can be to success wintering, you need to listen to this podcast.

Etienne's North of 60 Beekeeping: https://www.northof60beekeeping.com/

Hypoxia-Controlled Winter Metabolism in Honeybees
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0300962996000825

Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in February 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-bees.org/about-ron/

Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: miksha@gmail.com