Bad Beekeeping (Paperback)

~ Ron Miksha (Author) "Bright summer afternoon. Alfalfa and wild clover blooming..." (more)
Key Phrases: Val Marie, Swift Current, Big River (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A million pounds of honey. Produced by a billion bees!

This memoir reconstructs the life of a young man from Pennsylvania as he drops into the bald prairie badlands of southern Saskatchewan. He buys a honey ranch and keeps the bees that make the honey. But he also spends winters in Florida swamps, nurse-maid to ten thousand dainty queen bees.

From the dusty Canadian prairie to the thick palmetto swamps of the American south, the reader meets with simple folks who shape the protagonist's character - including a Cree rancher with three sons playing NFL hockey, a Hutterite preacher who yearns to roam the globe, a reclusive bee-eating homesteader, and a grey-headed widow who grows grapefruit, plays a nasty game of scrabble, and lives with four vicious dogs.

Encompassing a ten-year period, this true story evolves from the earnest inexperience of the young man as he learns an art and builds a business. Carefully researched natural biology runs counterpoint to human social activities. Bee craft serves as the setting for expositions that contrast American and Canadian lifestyles, while exemplifying the harsh reality of a man working with and against the physical environment.

About the Author

Ron Miksha had 2,000 hives of bees twenty years ago. He produced over a million pounds of honey in Saskatchewan and sold thousands of queen bees in Florida, one of only a handful of people to have kept bees in both countries, hauling hives thousands of miles every year. Ron's interest in beekeeping stretches back to his childhood and his family's farm in the eastern USA. As a teenager, he was the youngest apiary inspector for the state of Pennsylvania. Ron kept bees there, but soon moved his hives to Florida, where he raised queens to sell to other beekeepers. A chance meeting led him to Val Marie - a desolate, windy prairie town in Saskatchewan, Canada, where he bought a small honey farm and expanded it into a large business. He produced queens in Florida during the winter and extracted honey in Saskatchewan during the summer. The adventure lasted ten years. Then a series of hot dry summers, small crops, and low prices convinced Ron to sell the farm and retire - at age 32!

After his beekeeping career ended, Ron decided to try university. He chose Earth Sciences as his second career, won seventeen excellence scholarships at the University of Saskatchewan and graduated with honours in Geophysics. Now Ron Miksha is president of a seismic geoscience company. Ron is a father, a scientist, a member of Mensa, and a licensed engineer.

Ron still keeps bees - as a hobby. His fifteen hives are on a grassy meadow in the Rocky Mountain foothills near his home in Calgary. Today, Ron is president of the Calgary Beekeepers' Association. A well-known and controversial figure in the beekeeping industry, Ron Miksha writes extensively for bee journals around the world. Bad Beekeeping is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412006279
• ISBN-13: 978-1412006279
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #272,130 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing "Bad" about it!, November 3, 2004

By	V. Terzic "Rusty Wise" (N.Yorks UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Nothing bad about this book, Ron has given the beekeeping world another cracking good read. There is every thing here, history fun information and entertainment. Also a very good read for those people who do not have the insanity to employ millions of buzzing workers, with potentially very hot tails! An excellent book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Honey of a Tale!, August 29, 2004

By	Colleen Maier "Colleen and Gerhard" (Calgary Canada) - See all my reviews

The author's account of his career as a beekeeper will appeal to a wide variety of readers. It is a delightful blend of both humorous and sobering personal anecdotes and exhaustively-researched facts about honey. You can't help getting drawn into Ron's life and the diverse personalities he encountered across North America. His engaging writing style makes this book one you'll want all your friends to read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book in Ages, January 4, 2006

By	Tad Brown "Tad" (Victoria, Canada) - See all my reviews

Bad Beekeeping is not a bad book at all! It is hilariously funny and packed fun of really neat things everyone would like to know. It's all about bees and beekeeping, but all about lots of other things, too. This is such a great book, I started on Friday evening and read all weekend long. Couldn't put it down. Best book I've read!