The great return of wild beehives - How to achieve sustainable food production for increased profit and well-being

Photo courtesy of Krzysztof Heyke, Poland 2013

Zeidler = tree beekeeping hive
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Zeidlerei/

Polish forests

Honey produced in tree hollows contains more pollen, wax and tree resin than the honey from man-made beehives. For centuries, harvesting wild honey was more profitable than hunting or trading timber. Poland has attempted to restore wild beehives in its forests.

Archaeological sources indicate that in the Polish lands, wild honey harvesting was already known 2000 years ago. This branch of agriculture flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Back then, wild honey was so valued that harvesting it was a more profitable activity than timber trading and hunting. This situation continued until the nineteenth century.

According to Dr. Beata Madras-Majewska, head of the Beekeeping Laboratory at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the development of agriculture and associated massive deforestation has resulted in a significant decrease of the number of forest bee habitats, contributing to the gradual disappearance of wild honey harvesting. The tsar’s ban on beekeeping in the woods in the mid-nineteenth century played a decisive role in the disappearance of the centuries-old tradition of production of wild honey. This resulted in a decrease in honey bee populations, including native Central European bees, and changes in forest ecosystems.

“In our latitude, the forest was a natural habitat for honey bee, which adapted to those conditions over thousands of years of evolution. It was a part of the natural fauna and, at the same time provided invaluable services, pollinating the plants in the area. The activity of honey bee thus supported biodiversity in the forest environment and the stability of this ecosystem” – explained Dr. Beata Madras-Majewska, quoted in the WULS-SGGW release.

Poland has attempted to restore wild honey harvesting in its forests. The most important project in this area is “Traditional beekeeping to save wild bees in the forest”, which is supported by Norwegian funds and carried out by Forest Districts: Augustów, Supraśl, Maskulińskie and Browsk in cooperation with honey harvesters Bashkiria. Since the project has many aspects, including the economic ones, the State Forests have requested the support of the scientists from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

The attempt to restore wild honey harvesting in Poland is primarily aimed at restoring the insect-pollinator populations – at least locally – in the economic forests and national parks. It is also an opportunity to restore the primitive native Central European bee in the forest ecosystems.

“Bees are an important link in the biocoenosis of the forest, and they contribute to the increase in the number of seeds produced by many species of trees, which is conducive to the natural regeneration of tree stands. The pollinated flowers of the trees and the forest shrubs increase the yields of their fruits, which constitute the food of many species of birds” – said Dr. Madras-Majewska.

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Polish and Belarusian tree beekeeping added to UNESCO list of cultural heritage

The tree beekeeping culture of Poland and Belarus has been added to UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It becomes the second Polish tradition recognised by the UN agency, and takes its place on the list alongside the likes of Cuban Rumba and Chinese calligraphy.

The practice of tree beekeeping, records of which date back to the 13th century, seeks to create natural living conditions for the bees in tree and log hives, with as little human interference as possible. Hives are often deliberately located in hard-to-access places to keep them isolated.

According to UNESCO, tree beekeeping culture is based on knowledge acquired through lifelong contact directly with the bees and their environment, and is traditionally passed on within families. It also includes an array of culinary and medicinal traditions.

“Tree beekeeping fosters a sense of community belonging and a shared awareness of our responsibility towards the environment,” according to a statement by the organisation.

The Belarusian foreign ministry hailed the recognition as the result of cooperation between the culture ministries of Belarus and Poland, local beekeeping communities on both sides of the border, and UNESCO, reports Belta, Belarus’s state-owned news agency.

UNESCO has up till now only recognised one other piece of Polish intangible heritage: the annual tradition in Kraków of making models of nativity scenes (known in Polish as szopki krakowskie).

The practice, which dates to the 19th century, sees craftsmen and amateurs compete every year to create miniature constructions that embed the nativity scene within features of Kraków’s architecture.

The works often have references to social and historical events – this year, inevitably, many figurines wore facemasks. In early December, the competition jury met online and the best works will now be displayed in hospitals around the city, rather than being shuttled off for travelling exhibitions as was the custom in past years.

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More: https://donnagawell.com/2017/06/12/the-fascinating-history-of-polish-honey/

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Videos

Belarus

nest box, bees, honey, nature, apiary

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The main dimensions and features for the manufacture of a board / deck.
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Russia

FRANCE

GERMANy

Videos in German only.

Norbert Poeplau, biodynamic beekeeper from the Fischermühle training and experimental beekeeping, presents his new Zeidler block hive.

Zeidlerei – in the Middle Ages that was the name for forest beekeeping. Will this original beekeeping help our bees today to become more robust and healthy again? Moderator Axel Weiß takes a look at a Zeidler research project in the Mellifera association near Freiburg and learns how to make a tree house for bees.

OMAN

Traditional beekeeping in Oman has been part of the Omani culture for centuries. During the 17th century, Imam Saif bin Sultan, the 4th of the Yaruba dynasty (1692-1711), also known as an apiarist (beekeeper), raised different species of bees at the gardens of his fortress in Al Rustaq, Oman.

There are two main bee species in Oman: Apis mellifera, known as Common bee, and Apis florea, also called the Dwarf bee and is smaller in size than Common bee. The Dwarf bee is usually found or used in the northern region due to the mountainous landscape found in places such as Salalah (Dhofar), Rustaq and Nizwa. The Common bee is used across the whole country.

There are two main types of honey: Sidr (ziziphus-spina-christi) and it is light coloured and flavoured honey, and Simr (Acacia tortilis), which is thick and dark honey. The Sidr season is in the winter (October-November) and the Simr season is in the summer during the months June-July.

Traditional Omani bee-hunters are very skillful when it comes to tracking a wild bee colony. The bee trackers usually start to follow the bees from their water sources. This leads them to the trees or caves located in the mountains. The Common bee method include beehives that are built in hollow date palm logs called (tubl). Hollow logs are considered perfect vessels that give protection and maintain the right temperature for a bee colony.
Source: Report published by FAO

The dwarf bee’s honey being collected – video in Arabic only

POLAND

Spain

The traditional cultivation of bees in cane arnas to obtain honey and wax is hardly practiced in the pre-Pyrenean mountains. In 1994 we had the opportunity to learn about this work thanks to some neighbors from the La Ribagorza region, in the province of Huesca.

In Spanish only:

In the town of Lanjarón, the members of the Granada Beekeepers Association decided in 2011 to reproduce some of the activities related to traditional beekeeping that had already passed into oblivion. For this they began by making an old reed hive and they showed us the entire process of caring for bees and transporting the hives.
More complete documentaries on lost trades, traditional construction, musical instruments, clothing, popular festivals, recipes, etc. on my YouTube channel: Eugenio Monesma and at www.documentalesetnograficos.es.

UNITED KINGDOM

Website: https://beekindhives.uk/

Short film about “Rewilding the honeybee with log hives”. Making Log Hives for wild bees with Matt Somerville. The course took place over a weekend at Tangley in Hampshire in March 2017. Beekindhives.uk

USA

Apis Arborea – the Ancient Craft of Tree-Apiculture & Log Hives

http://www.gaiabees.com

Over the course of the last hundred years, the health of the bees has been challenged on many levels – conventional beekeeping with its mechanical and alienated approach, increasing exposure to pollution (pesticides, electro smog), a dramatic shift of the entire landscape and worlds ecosystem (loss of habitat, climate crisis), introduction of the varroa mite, and the spiritual crisis of the human heart.

The challenges for the well being of the bees only reflect our own struggle in our striving for health and happiness. A systemic approach is needed to prevent an unfolding of extinction cascades.

Apis Arborea redefines our understanding and relationship with honeybees, and creates a new paradigm of caring for bees. It unites biodynamic apiculture principles with ancient and traditional ways of apiculture, in particular the craft of the “Zeidler”, who used to take care of bees in living trees. Apis Arborea combines old and new designs of bee nests, creates indigenous honeybee habitat to fosters health and life vigor.

For more information, you can contact Michael at michael@apisarborea.com – or go to Apis Arborea