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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, which involves minimal intervention (just 5 trips to the beeyard!). Joe focuses on efficiency rather than detailed management.  They also discussed the greenhouse business at Honeymoon Acres, including starting cuttings from around the world and preparing millions of plants for sale. The conversation touched on customer interactions (Joe asked if the customer is always right), the changing workforce, and the potential impact of automation and robots in the future. Ron wants a Robo-suit, Joe wants a full android robot! Joe's greenhouse business: https://honeymoonacres.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:  [email protected]

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.southernazbeekeepers.org/ Monica's YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkWNgs-ghd17D-QfKMIQbqw 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 Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

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 website: https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

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 Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

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 registration of agriculture chemicals, resulting in more pollinator deaths.   5. I predict pollinator restoration projects will be big. 6. I expect a new pathogen jump from honey bees to wild bees. 7. In 2026, I think that there will be bee stories regarding extreme weather. 8. I expect at least one article titled something like "Tiny robots are replacing bees as pollinators." 9. Not a wild prediction, but I think bees will be less common on social media in 2026. 10. Robotic androids will not replace beekeepers in the field during 2026. In 2026, I don't expect to see: Robots lighting smokers Robots reading brood patterns Robots making judgement calls about nectar flows, weather, and beekeeper intuition Or even Robots carrying deep honey supers to the truck 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 Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

Season 7 Episode 0: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – 2026 Short Trailer   This trailer, our introduction to Season 7, sets the stage for season 7, the About Bees podcast's next 12 episodes. Our winter season. A great time to get caught up. Enjoy.   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 Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 12 About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – 2025: Ten Bee News Stories  Links to our ten featured news stories from 2025:  62% Bee Losses Honey Bee Health  https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/survey-reveals-over-1-1-million-honey-bee-colonies-lost-raising-alarm-for-pollination-and-agriculture/ Washington State study on colony losses  https://news.wsu.edu/news/2025/03/25/honey-bee-colony-declines-grow-as-wsu-researchers-work-to-fight-losses USDA pinpoints reason for colony collapse  https://www.dvm360.com/view/usda-pinpoints-cause-of-recent-mass-honeybee-collapse Michigan State  https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/reports-of-high-honey-bee-colony-losses-and-how-farmers-and-growers-can-support-honey-bees USDA study shows virus magnification via mites  https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2025/usda-researchers-find-viruses-from-miticide-resistant-parasitic-mites-are-cause-of-recent-honey-bee-colony-collapses/ UBC Pheromone signalling reduced by viruses, leading to supercedure  https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/ubc-research-reveals-why-honey-bees-overthrow-their-queen/ Developmental and Caste Regulation (weak queen resistance to pesticides)  https://d197for5662m48.cloudfront.net/documents/publicationstatus/241858/preprint_pdf/b569fa5471ba21b61111b60552fd7aa0.pdf California Almond Growers PDF https://www.almonds.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/Cover%20Crops%20Best%20Management%20Practices%20BMPs_0.pdf Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems – natural mix of pollens leads to better bee success  https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1555238/full Engineered yeast provides rare but essential pollen sterols for honeybees. Nature   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09431-y First continent-wide bee strategy (Canada and USA) plan to protect bees  https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/NABS/ Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 11: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Bees or Greenhouses?   Bees or Greenhouses? Which would make more money as a business?  Ron chats with his brother Joe of Honeymoon Acres, a Wisconsin greenhouse business. We engage in a race to the bottom. I make the case that beekeeping is definitely the less profitable business. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 2025. Ricky Nelson's Garden Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60XTeHM9iLQ 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 10: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – A Langstroth Christmas   Let's look at the inventor of the modern North American beehive. It's Christmas and it's L.L. Langstroth's birthday. Hope you enjoy this!  Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 9: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – A Candid Chat with Alberta's (former) Agriculture Minister  In this episode, I enjoy a conversation with the Honorable Oneil Carlier, former Agriculture Minister of Alberta. Alberta is cowboys and ranching and enormous forests and wheat fields and wide-open spaces. Alberta, where I live, is also the biggest honey-producer in Canada. All of this is handled through the Agriculture Ministry which was directed by Oneil Carlier. We touch on Oneil's experiences growing up in the cowboy town of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, working in geosciences, helping workers through collective bargaining, and enabling agriculture in Alberta. Mr. Carlier is candid about his life and his job as the Honorable Minister. Hope you enjoy this! Stompin' Tom's Bud the Spud song   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtySGSuKZe8 Ian Tyson's Will James song   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u4vzZ4gO_w Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 8: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Buzz Pollination in the Greenhouse  I was looking around for something in bloom here in December to talk about on this podcast, but I didn't feel like stepping outside into the deep snow and arctic temperatures. Then I realized that greenhouses are full of blooming plants – pollinated by bumble bees, mostly. So, that's what we're doing on this short episode. We talk about the risks and benefits of bumble bee pollination inside greenhouses. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 7: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – What's it like to run 6,000 hives of bees?   What is it like being responsible for 6,000 colonies, a couple dozen employees, and 150 apiary locations?  And producing and selling over a million pounds of honey each year? Here's your chance to find out. We visit with Murray Hannigan of Hannigan Honey. The operation is in Saskatchewan, eight hours north of the US border. Honey crops in his area are usually big but depend on keen management. We discuss queen production, disease control, and crew management. Murray tells us what works for him. Whooping crane music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFzkXdZjQJM Hannigan Honey:  https://www.hanniganhoney.com/ Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 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:  [email protected]

Season 6 Episode 6: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Is All Manuka Honey Fake?   Is all manuka honey fake? I used to think that manuka is overrated. Not much there, there – if you know what I mean. Yes, of course I'm a cynic, or at least a skeptic. But follow along with this episode and see why I changed. It's a path of discovery. We will cover the fraud fights, the discovery of manuka's antibacterial qualities, how honey kills germs, and my conversion to an appreciation of this amazing honey. How does it work? What does it taste like? You'll have to listen to find out. Recorded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 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:  [email protected]

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: https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About Ron Miksha: https://about-bees.org/about-ron/ Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst:  [email protected]

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: https://honeymoonacres.com/ BrainPop - New Age Drinks: https://newagedrinks.com/ 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:  [email protected]