Our Bee Blog

Last winter someone found a cat that had been left in the cold and brought it to a local Waupaca Veterinarian.  The cat’s front paws were severely frostbitten and they thought they were going to have to amputate them.   Before amputating, the vet's office had a jar of Dancing Bear honey in their kitchen.  They used the honey as a wound dressing, applying it and wrapping the cats paws.  The cat made a complete recovery. Thanks to our local vet for thinking of the healing power of honey! Due to privacy concerns, we hired an actor cat to stand in...  Read more

We just returned from checking on our bees in California. Our honeybees take part in the greatest migration of honeybees in the world. California has one million acres of almonds that require two colonies per acre to pollinate. These bees are critical for the trees to produce nuts. Over two-thirds of all honeybee colonies in the United States help out the almond growers including our bees. This also allows our bees to bypass the Wisconsin winters that can cause colonies to die. The bees arrive back here in Wisconsin at the end of March ready to go! I had the...  Read more

Congratulations to Milwaukee PBS/Outdoor Wisconsin segment producer Jeff Kelm who won a first place AGLOW Award for Excellence for his segment “Honeybees in Peril”. Said Jeff Kelm, "I enjoyed producing the segment on honeybees, which we shot at Dancing Bear Apiary in Waupaca County with Wisconsin Honey Producers Association President, Kent Pegorsch. I am a honey producer myself, and the information Kent provided was a real eye-opener." We were honored to be part of the special segment on honeybees produced for Outdoor Wisconsin.   You can follow this link in this photo to watch the segment.    Read more

As a beekeeper and as part of my responsibilities as President of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, I attended Ag Day at the Capital this past week in Madison.  The event is sponsored by the Farm Bureau and is designed to give agriculture a day to voice concerns to legislators. The started off with a general assembly where we heard from agricultural lobbyists regarding issues in the industry.  After lunch, Governor Tony Evers spoke to the group. The assembly ended with a panel discussion of six State Senators.  It was a good example of how these elected officials are trying...  Read more

Every year in early January, the American Beekeeping Federation holds its annual conference.  The ABF is the national organization representing beekeepers and honey packers of all sizes from hobbyist to commercial. This year the conference was in Schaumburg, Illinois. The conference runs Tuesday through Saturday and includes speakers, workshops, social events and culminates in the Saturday night banquet. The keynote presentations include the best speakers in the industry.  This year those speakers included Dr Samual Ramsey. Dr. Ramsey shook up the beekeeping world by proving that our biggest challenge, the Varroa mite, feeds primarily of honey bee fat body tissue and...  Read more