We’ve all been there – trying to have a nice family barbeque, or a little family get together when an unwanted visitor decides to drop by. This unwanted guest might be like your dodgy Uncle Rodney, who obnoxiously helps himself to your food and talks to close too your face, or it might be an […]
Bees in the Classroom
Over the past several months I have been visiting school classrooms to speak to the young students about bees. We talked about honeybees and how they play an important role in food production – not just by producing delightful honey, but by doing the very important work pollinating flowers. We talked about Bumblebees and how […]
Crystallized Honey and The Power of the Crystal
Everyone knows that crystals are special rocks that are formed when normal rocks absorb too much magical energy, but not everyone knows what crystals have to do with honey. What is crystallized honey? Why does honey crystallize? Is it still good ? What magic powers will it give me after I eat it? Don’t worry, […]
Cooking with Bees
Most interesting Chinese cooking show I have seen since ‘Wok with Yan’ stopped airing on the CBC. On second thought, Wok with Yan is still much better. Baking with honey is also much better than cooking with bees. E Bonus: Chow Mein
Spring Honey is here!
The bees have been out enjoying all the beautiful weather we have been here on Vancouver Island. They must have been working hard with all the sunshine as I was able to harvest some fresh spring honey. The honey is made from a blend of early spring flowers, like apple and cherry blossoms. It’s golden in colour and is sweet and floral […]
Mason Bees
Spring is in the air and the honey bees are out in full force. There is another type of bee buzzing around the yard as well though – the mason bee. Mason bees should not to be confused with Masonic Bees, (a special order of bees that hold meetings in a secret hive and have […]
Healthy Honey – Nature’s Medicine or Sugary Charlatan?
Give it to me straight Doc! Is honey good for you or not? Damn it Jim, I’m a beekeeper not a Doctor. But it is a well known fact that honey has been used to enhance people’s health as a natural remedy for thousands of years. The first written reference to honey, a Sumerian tablet writing, […]
February 11th is St. Gobnait’s Day
Happy Saint Gobnait’s Day – the patron saint of bees and beekeepers!
Saint Gobnait was an Irish saint who lived in the 5th or 6th century and February 11th is her feast day – the day when her life is celebrated.
How honeybees created Halloween. Also, Zombees and scary pictures.
Did you know that honey bees are the inspiration for Halloween? The concept of trick or treating originated from dutch farmers in the 16th century. The farmers spent all summer toiling in their fields and they watched the bees travelling from flower to flower, collecting sweet nectar at each stop. Inspired, at the end of […]
Sticky Fingers
I recently returned home, having been away for a good chunk of the summer. I visited the bees and oh boy have they been busy this summer! It was time to take some honey from them – one of the balancing acts of beekeeping is taking the right amount of honey from the hives. The […]
Hey, Honey!
Rejoice! Spring honey is here! Quantities of our fresh Victoria honey are limited, so send me an email (esbeesbuzz@gmail.com) or leave me a comment if you need some spring sweetness! We will sell out quick, so make sure you sign up for the newsletter and next time you will be the first to know! Stay […]
Swarming Season
Swarming is the natural means of reproduction of honey bee colonies. In the process of swarming the original single colony reproduces to two colonies. Basically, the queen is like, “yo, it is way too crowded in here am I right? Let’s blow this joint and find a place where we can chillax with a bit […]
Getting Buzzed
Bees don’t really care about drugs, they just want some sugar. Depending on the situation, they are either happy to help the authorities, such as in the case in New York City, where bees eating maraschino cherry dyes led to the biggest marjuana bust in the city’s history. On the other hand you have some Russian […]
Why Beekeepers always wear white
Chances are, if you think of a beekeeper, you get a mental image of someone in a big, white suit with a little mesh veil – one hand prodding an open beehive and a smoking metal canister in the other. There is a reason for that. In the wild, bees live in hollow spaces in […]
Holy Moly! I’m on the internet
Now what to do? A picture perhaps?