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| Andrea Paternoster, beekeper, and the honey bees of Borgoluce apiary |
I spent a morning with the honeybees.
I visited the apiary of Borgoluce farm, and the guide was Andrea Paternoster, skilful beekeeper whose love for his work and these animals is so pure and powerful you can’t help but be enchanted.
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| the beekeeper opens the beehive |
“a beekeeper is the translator of the insects’
language”, he told us, “he is a bee shepherd who follows the flowers blooming instead of
the grass seasons”.
a beekeeper follows a particular flowering, and
once the swarm has started collecting the nectar from one kind of flower, it is
faithful to it. the nectar is like the price that the flowers pay to
the bees, for the labour of the pollination, and a thank you for their loyalty.
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| who ya gonna call? |
to make 1 kilo of honey, 6 million of flowers
are needed. 6 million of small touches on the petals, 6 million of small
touches on a territory.
that’s why non-industrial honey is considered as the most
representative product of a specific geographical area. it's like a picture of a
territory. instead of 6 million pixels, this photo has 6 million flowers.
the honey tells a story, mad of fruit trees,
blooms, woods, meadows.
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| the beehives of Borgoluce's apiary. the hives have different colors so the bees can find the right home more easily |
at Borgoluce’s apiary, three kind of honey are
made, three different photos of the land: wildflower honey, acacia honey and
woodland honeydew honey (my favourite), which are the sweetest representation of the
local flora.
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| before opening the beehive, Andrea used aromatic smoke to calm the bees down |
info & contacts
Borgoluce2 Musile district
31058 Susegana (Treviso)
Italy
www.borgoluce.it info@borgoluce.it
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| welcome to the bees home! |
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| working working working |
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| Andrea Paternoster presents the honeycomb, that represent both furniture and pantry of the bees home |
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| the honeycomb |
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| about 60 thousands bees live in the beehive. 2 or 3 thousand of them are male. |
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| one beehive may produce from 15 to 30 kilos of honey |
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| Andrea showing us the Queen Bee |
Fascinating photos and story! I love the warm yellows!
ReplyDeletethank you Polly! i used your beloved Kodak Ektar 100 :)
Deletegreat photos. I tried to go along with a friend who has bee hives this summer, but it didn't work out in the end. I find them and the whole honey making thing [for lack of a better word] fascinating. what abundance...
ReplyDeletethank you Petra! the whole honey making thing (nice definition) is super fascinaring indeed. their accuracy is what dazzled me the most.
Delete