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 she built that bee farm, marketed the honey, and then moved on to research honey bees at the University of Alberta. Today, Tracey helps farmers (including beekeepers) produce organic food. She has quite a story to share!

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 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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com

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: miksha@gmail.com