For several reasons, I have never collected pollen from my hives. I never considered pollen to be human food, it seemed like a lot of work to process, and I never wanted to steal it from my bees. But this past winter I’ve learned some things that caused me to re-evaluate the whole pollen-trapping idea. […] Read more
My readers let me get away with nothing; every statement I make is followed by another question. And that’s a good thing, the very best part of a blog. After reading my post on pheromones, Mark from New York wanted to know if the attraction between a Varroa mite and a honey bee larva is […] Read more
Once you fall in love with honey bees, it is easy to characterize them as intelligent, practical, even prescient. But in fact, honey bees do the things they do in response to pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical or mixture of chemicals that is released by an individual and affects the behavior or physiology of […] Read more
After my last post, wherein I stated that only men sent me thermal images of their hives, I received the following images, all from women of course. But it turns out that IR (infrared) photography is more than pretty pictures; it can be a real asset for hive maintenance. Once again, I present the photos […] Read more
Not once this week but twice, beekeepers have sent me thermal images of their overwintering colonies. Of course both beekeepers were both men—not once has a woman ever sent me a thermal image. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because men have more cents than sense! These folks remind me of soon-to-be new […] Read more
Folk medicine was never my thing. Being the child of a pharmaceutical researcher, I was carefully taught that “quack” medicine and “real” medicine had nothing to do with each other. In truth, I’m extremely grateful for modern medicine. At one point in my life I was told I would never walk again—not normally—but I walk, […] Read more
Several years ago I tasted some lavender honey and wrote, “The sample I tried was from Portugal. It was a beautiful medium amber color with almost no flavor other than sweet. It may have had a very slight citrus undertone. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this famous variety.” Recently, Dawn Tarin of San Diego […] Read more