The importance of bees to food and life.
by Daniela Zenari
There are so many fat, fuzzy bumblebees dancing around the apple blossoms in my backyard in the spring, Their black-and-yellow stripes pop against the light pink petals. The hum sounds like an electrical box. Their buzz? Music.
video by Daniela Zenari
I had to know more about bees and the indispensible role they play in our lives.
Honeybees (Apidae Apis mellifera) are smaller, golden brown and less hairy than their cousin, the bumblebee (Apidae Bombus). There are 300 different species of bees in Alberta, but the honeybees here produce more than a third of all of Canada’s honey.
“I think many people wouldn’t even know that honeybees are different from bumblebees,” says the Bee Lady, Patty Milligan. Patty kept bees and sold honey for over a decade, then spent another 12 years talking and teaching about bees and honey. “My role is agriculture education, but I would say my heart is with educating people about bees and honey and pollinators in general.”
All types of bees have one thing in common: pollen.
Their pollen obsession is what makes bees stand out from other pollinators (like beetles, butterflies, birds and bats). Others pollinate as a second thought, brushing against plants and flowers, in their search for nectar—and they’re picky too. Bees evolved specifically for pollination, and they are not picky, pollinating whatever is available in their area. For agriculture, that means money. In 2021, honeybee pollination contributed to an estimated $808 million in Canadian fruit and vegetable production alone.
The hungry bees pollinate vast fields of clover, alfalfa and canola—their primary sources of nectar in Alberta. (Ever notice those white bee boxes in the yellow canola fields around Edmonton?) But don’t discount dandelions, thistle blossoms, fireweed, wildflowers and your own garden as food for bees.
If Patty is the Bee Lady, Dustin Bajer is the Bee Guy. He’s a local legend in the bee community—an educator, urban farmer, writer and eco-inspired cities builder. Dustin also started BeeComm: the bee community, which offers community and resources for small-scale and backyard beekeepers, including an online beekeeping certificate course—a valuable service since Edmonton amended its bylaws to permit backyard beekeeping in 2014
From left: Dustin Bajer inspects a hive; a new queen bee is introduced to a queenless colony; Dustin displays honey-filled combs in a backyard hive.
Dustin manages five beehives for Explore Edmonton and the Edmonton Zoo, a role he took on after Patty. He invited me to the roof of the Expo Centre for a hive inspection.
We put on our beekeeping suits and go to the hives, which look like little white houses, with bees buzzing around the small two-inch opening at the bottom—a smaller entrance than most beekeepers use. “Research shows that bees prefer a small entrance and small hives, because it’s easier to defend,” says Dustin. The bees had their work cut out for them, with wasps teeming around the hives. Dustin carefully pulls off the roof of the hive to reveal another wooden-framed box filled with insulation.
“I call this a quilt box; it’s not a normal piece of beekeeping equipment, but it’s extra insulation. It keeps them cool in the summer and warm in the winter.” Under the quilt box is a super—a rectangular box that houses the comb frames. Dustin builds his hives with eight frames, which are narrower than conventional deep ten-frame hives. The honey-filled frames inside made it surprisingly hefty. “There’s quite a bit of honey in there. By fall, we want the frames to be absolutely jam-packed,” he says.
“I’ll use my hive tool as a little bit of a lever to pull out the frame,” he explains as he wedges the thin piece of metal between the frames. “The bees have glued everything together with propolis, so without a hive tool there’s not much chance that you’d be able to get in here.”
The first frame comes loose, revealing a sheet of little hexagons, “all natural honeycomb. The bees have built this on their own,” Dustin explains. Some beekeepers use foundation to start their hives, but Dustin prefers a foundationless frame. “When you’re using foundation, you’re sort of forcing the bees to build workers. But they can decide where they want to build their worker and their drone brood.”
Some cells are filled with honey, a brownish-golden layer, dulled by the wax caps that cover them. Others have yellow pollen, larvae, capped brood (wax-covered pupae), or eggs that look like tiny grains of rice at the bottom of the cell. The clustered placement of capped brood and newly-laid eggs means the queen is strong and healthy. I noticed a bee emerging, its head poking through while its mandibles chewed through the cap covering it.
Dustin points out how the bees fill the frames: “They will start building comb from the middle and work their way out. And then they tend to fill honey from the outside in, keeping the brood in the middle, where it’s the warmest.”
By the second hive, the bees grew more agitated. Even so, we didn’t need to use smoke to calm the bees because Dustin’s colonies have been pretty docile. (Smoke calms bees because it masks the pheromones they use to communicate a threat to other bees in the hive.)
As we finished the inspection, I watched a battle between bees and wasps near the hive’s entrance—wasps compete with honeybees for nectar sources and steal their honey. I noticed two honeybees surrounding a small dead honeybee, taking the pollen off its legs, something Dustin had never seen before.
Honeybees are among many livestock that have been domesticated to the point where humans need to manage them to thrive, and in Alberta winters, they need it to survive. Bees have a way to keep themselves warm—they form a bee ball or a winter cluster, buzzing together for warmth—but hives still have to be winterized. They are wrapped for insulation or brought inside until the spring. Even with winterizing, hive loss occurs.
Bees are a unique livestock. When happy, they choose to stay in their hives. If not, they swarm to find a new home. “Bees make the perfect environment to keep the queen happy, raise their brood, make honey and collect pollen. They are biologically designed to maintain happiness in the hive, so if something is off, if they are upset, they do everything in their power to make a change,” local bee hobbyist,Karen Calhoun (A Cappella Catering), tells me.
Beekeeping has only become more complicated due to Varroa mites, a shifting climate, dwindling food sources and ever-increasing annual hive losses. The financial implications of a complete hive loss are almost impossible for a commercial producer to recover from, but they take a different toll on the backyard beekeeper. “It’s just heartbreaking, because you do your best. It’s about contributing to the environment, but also, you make a connection with the bees,” says Karen.
Clockwise from centre top: Good Morning Honey beekeepers Amber and Richard Ozero; a jar of their white honey; a bee at work.
“You really have to pay attention to the science behind bees, and the health of your bees,” says Amber Ozero, co-owner of Good Morning Honey (GMH), with her husband Richard. “You know, I often joke with Richard that we’re not beekeepers, we’re bee doctors. Our job is to keep the bees healthy.”
I visited GMH in Parkland County, about 45 minutes west of the city, while they were extracting honey from the frames. With 5000 hives, they are considered a medium-sized honey producer, but it felt like a massive operation to me.
The ample warehouse is filled with conveyor belts, giant tanks and pipes running high above our heads. One belt fed the frames into a machine that slices off the capping, “so the honey can flow freely,” says Amber. From there, the frames go along the conveyor into a giant round metal tank. “It loads 120 frames at a time, and it spins them for 10 minutes. The centrifugal force pulls the honey out of the honeycomb.”
Another machine separates the wax from the honey. The honey goes into a tank to settle out twigs, bees and anything else that shouldn’t be there. After another 24 hours of settling, the pure, unfiltered honey is moved to large blue barrels.
Meanwhile, the wax goes into the wax melter. “Any impurities will come out in these two barrels,” says Amber. In one barrel? “That’s dead bees, which can be used for shoe polish.” And the other? “That’s a tiny bit of honey that comes out of the wax, called melter honey.”
Richard went to pour the wax, so I followed him to a smaller tank with a valve and spout and a wax-covered plastic sheet on the ground around it. “When you first pour beeswax, you have to sort of unclog it, so just stand back because it likes to spray everywhere, and I don’t want to get wax all over you like I get on my shoes there,” he chuckles. “The first one’s messy,” he adds, as he pours the wax into the one-pound moulds laid across the table.
“What do you do with those blocks?” I ask. “We sell them. You can make candles out of them. Lip balm, face cream, art, it seals wood, there are all sorts of uses for beeswax.”
I left GMH with a few jars of honey and the same feeling that I had after my hive inspection with Dustin—a call to do everything in my power to help bees and other pollinators. I challenge you to do the same.
“The bees are dying, and if there are no bees, there’s no food.” Grade 10 science class was where I learned the importance of bees to food and life. My first existential crisis, which sparked my desire to become a bee advocate.
Did you know that dandelions are the first food source for hungry bees in the spring? This May (and every May after that), don’t mow your lawn. Leave the dandelions. Let your garden grow free.
Bee wild.
Want to keep bees in Edmonton?
Over 100 beekeepers (hobby and commercial) are members of the Edmonton District Beekeepers Association (EDBA), a local non-profit that promotes honeybee awareness and education: edmontonbeekeepers.ca.
Visit BeeComm
This is the place to find your bee people: bee.community.
City of Edmonton rules and regulations
edmonton.ca/city_government/initiatives_innovation/food_and_agriculture/urban-beekeeping#stack9995.
For information on all Alberta bees visit
www.albertanativebeecouncil.ca/albertas-native-bees.
Got a swarm?
If you find a honeybee colony where it shouldn’t be, you can report it, and one of the swarm catchers will capture the bees and relocate them. Report the swarm on Dustin’s website.
Want to try mead?
Chinook Arch Meadery
Near Okotoks, was among the first in Alberta to commercially produce and sell mead (in 2007). Cherie and Art Andrews closed their on-premise retail shop in 2023, but they are still producing award-winning meads at chinookhoney.com.
Iron Hive
A relatively new mead company founded in Edmonton by four Canadian military veterans. They rent space at the Towne Square Brewery and buy honey from True North Apiary, “but we plan to have our own hives this summer,” says co-owner and brewmaster David Camellini. Frostbite is the dryer high-proof style, the blackberry mead called Pioneer’s Blood is the best seller and Gold Rush is the traditional classic. ironhive.ca.
Fallentimber Meadery
In Water Valley, has expanded past traditional meads into sparkling flavoured meads and a line of honey-kissed sodas. fallentimbermeadery.ca.
Where to buy Alberta Honey
You may get a gift of honey from a backyard beekeeper. Or you may buy honey from one of the smaller-scale producers you find at the various farmers’ markets. Or:
The Italian Centre Shops
Stocks several local honeys such as Peace River, Drizzle and Honey Time from Yellowhead County.
Bon Jour Bakery
Look for Olivia May honey sourced from organic pasture just north of Morinville. It’s made by bakers Kenny Chartrand and Maksym Yasko and named after their daughters. Try their new sourdough honey rye loaf as well.
Good Morning Honey
Buy at one of their retail partners or direct: goodmorninghoney.com.
Drizzle Honey
Is the born-in-Calgary/Dragons Den international success story founded by Aja Horsley. She started bee keeping while at culinary school (“we put up the hives at SAIT in 2014”) and developed a network of beekeepers. Aja saw a need for high-quality Alberta honey in fresh modern packaging. Drizzle was born. The company sources a large proportion of its honey from northern Alberta, “because of the wildflowers.” drizzlehoney.com.
Peace River Honey
Organic honey from primarily clover and red alfalfa by the Wolfe beekeeping family. Find at major grocery stores across Canada.
Bee Maid Honey
A consortium of Canadian beekeepers who sell honey under the brand Bee Maid across the country: Beemaid.com.
the Italian Centre Shops carry a wide variety of Canadian honey; Good Morning Honey; Peace River and BeeMaid honeys; Aja Horsley of Drizzle Hone
SWEET EATS
Honey lends an earthy sweetness to whatever it touches, making it ideal for dressings, marinades, roast vegetables or glazing salmon, chicken or ham, as well as granola. Check the label to make sure you are buying raw Alberta honey as there are a lot of fakers on the market.
Pecan Honey Granola
Maybe you make your granola with agave or maple syrup. Try honey instead. Cinnamon honey would be delicious in this easy granola recipe.
| 3 c | rolled oats (not instant or steel cut) |
| 1½ c | pecans (or almonds or walnuts) coarsely chopped |
| 3 T | unsalted butter, melted |
| ⅓ c | Alberta honey |
| ½ t | kosher salt |
| ½ c | seeds (flax, pumpkin or sunflower), optional |
| 1 t | ground cardamom, ginger or vanilla extract, optional |
| 1 c | dried fruit (unsweetened berries or raisins, or chopped figs, dates or cherries), optional |
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Combine oats, pecans, butter, honey, salt and any optional ingredients (except for the dried fruit). Mix well and tip onto the baking sheet. Spread in an even layer and bake until the oats are lightly golden, about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Add the dried fruit when you take the granola out of the oven. Let the mixture cool completely on the baking sheet. Once cool, the granola can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for 3 weeks.
Makes 4-5 cups depending on add-ins.
Honey Bang Bang Shrimp
Adding honey to a simple bang bang sauce adds flavour and complexity. If you love coconut shrimp, just add 1 cup shredded coconut to the panko mixture.
For Shrimp
| 2 c | panko breadcrumbs |
| 2 c | extra virgin olive oil |
| kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper | |
| 2 lg | eggs |
| 1 c | flour |
| 1 bag | wild Argentine shrimp, tails on, peeled and deveined |
| freshly chopped cilantro, for garnish |
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a shallow bowl, stir the panko and oil (and coconut if using) together and season. In another bowl, whisk the eggs.
Put the flour in a third bowl. Dip the shrimp in flour, then egg, then the panko mixture, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue until all shrimp are coated.
Bang Bang Sauce
| ½ c | mayonnaise |
| 3 T | sweet Thai chili sauce (or to taste) |
| 4 T | Sriracha (or to taste) |
| juice of 2 limes | |
| 1 T | Alberta honey |
| kosher salt | |
| chopped cilantro for serving |
Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a clean bowl and scatter chopped cilantro over.
To serve: Place the shrimp on a large platter around a bowl of bang bang sauce. Dip away!
Serves 4-6.
Honey Butter
Your basic honey butter is equal parts creamed or liquid honey with unsalted butter. Use on roast chicken, with good buns or sourdough, especially nice at brunch. Here are ways to zhuzh it up.
Cinnamon Spice Honey Butter
| ½ c | cinnamon honey |
| ½ c | unsalted butter |
| ¼ t ea | ground cardamom, ginger, fennel and black pepper. |
Cream together and place in a bowl or roll into a log and refrigerate until firm.
Citrus Honey Butter
| ½ c | honey |
| ½ c | unsalted butter |
| juice and zest of ½ lemon | |
| juice and zest of ½ small orange (blood or cara cara oranges make the butter a pretty pink color) | |
| pinch | kosher or flaky sea salt and white pepper. |
Whip all the ingredients together, then chill until ready to serve.
Honey Mustard Dressing
Slather on a ham sandwich, dress a cabbage and apple salad or use as a glaze for chicken or pork.
| 2 T | aged sherry vinegar |
| 2 T | extra virgin olive oil |
| 2 T | Alberta honey (or to taste) |
| 2 T | Dijon mustard |
| ½ t | wholegrain mustard (optional) |
| pinch | kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper |
Whisk the vinegar and oil until emulsified, then whisk in the remaining ingredients. Or shake all the ingredients together in a jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks; makes about ½ cup.
Carrot and Hot Honey Flatbreads with Basil Dressing
This delicious vegetarian flatbread is adapted from a recipe by chef Suzanne Cupps. Blanching the scallions and basil keeps their bright green colour. Make sure you have ice water ready to stop the cooking process. The basil dressing with its use of cardamom and cumin is similar to chermoula. Any leftover dressing can be used in a sandwich, with grilled meats or over a salad. Cut into smaller pieces to serve as a first course or as part of a meze.
Carrots
| 4 med | carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch-thick pieces |
| 1 T | extra virgin olive oil |
| 2½ t | kosher salt |
| ⅛ c | honey (or hot honey, if not using chilies) |
| 3½ t | chili flakes, or more to taste (optional if using hot honey) |
| 1 c | ricotta cheese, at room temperature |
| 2 lg | (about 8 x 6 inch) naan or Israeli (thick) pita, warmed |
| sea salt, grated lemon zest and black pepper, for garnish |
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Toss together carrots, olive oil and salt on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Roast until almost tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with peppers if using, toss to coat and continue to roast until the carrots are tender and glazed, for about another 8 to 12 minutes, stirring every 4 minutes.
Basil Dressing
| 1 T + ½ t | kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste |
| ½ bunch | scallions |
| ½ c | packed fresh basil leaves |
| 1 t | grapeseed oil |
| 1 t | fresh lemon juice (juice from approx. ½ lemon) |
| 1 t | cumin seeds, toasted |
| 1 t | coriander seeds, toasted |
While the carrots are roasting, make the sauce. Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan and stir in 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Slice white and light green parts of scallions into ½-inch pieces. Slice dark green parts of scallions into 1-inch pieces. Fill a medium bowl with ice water; set aside. Add all sliced scallions to boiling water; cook, stirring occasionally, 30 seconds. Add basil; cook 10 seconds. Drain and immediately transfer mixture to ice bath. Let stand 2 minutes. Drain well. Place the scallions and basil along with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt in a blender. Process until smooth, about 45 seconds, if it’s too thick add up to 3 tablespoons water, ½ tablespoon at a time, as needed. (It should be able to come off a spoon in a slow stream, not too stiff, not too runny.) Season to taste. Reserve.
Spread the ricotta over the breads, leaving a ½-inch border. Top evenly with carrots and any remaining honey mixture from baking sheet. Drizzle each flatbread with about 1 tablespoon sauce. Garnish with sea salt, lemon zest and a few grinds of black pepper if desired.
Honey-spiced Cucumber Salad
Adapted from a Bee Maid Honey recipe.
| 2 lg | cucumbers (sliced) |
| ¼ t ea | kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper |
| 2 T | Aberta honey |
| 2 T | rice vinegar |
| 1 T | soy sauce or tamari |
| 1 T | minced garlic |
| 1 T | sesame oil |
| 1 t | red pepper flakes |
| 1 t | minced ginger |
| ¼ c | fresh peanuts, chopped (optional) |
| sesame seeds and green onion for garnish |
Cut the cucumbers into thin slices and place in a large bowl. toss with seasoning and set aside for approximately 10-15 minutes to soften
In a separate small bowl, mix the honey, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger together. Pour the mixture over cucumbers and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
To serve: top with the peanuts, if using, and the freshly chopped green onion and sesame seeds.
Replace Sugar with Honey
Conversion Chart
| Sugar | Honey |
| ¼ cup | 3 tablespoons |
| ⅓ cup | 3 tablespoons |
| ½ cup | ⅓ cup |
| 1 cup | ¾ cup |
| 2 cups | 1½ cups |
If you are using more than 1 cup of honey, you need to decrease your other liquids by ¼ cup per 1 cup of honey.
Also decrease the baking temperature by 25ºF since honey browns faster.
