Our beekeeper Janek Sarapuu talks about his story in the very interesting honey world.
“I went swimming with the boys back in the year 1993. We saw a swarm of bees up on a tree. At first we didn’t touch it but when went swimming again later in the evening the swarm was still there. We decided to take it down. It was a pretty crazy thing to do, we got stung multiple times. The swarm was some 4-5 meters high. It finally came down and we put it into a box. We brought it home and we just put it into a old box where we used to keep potatoes. And there it lived for one night. I checked them from time to time. It was interesting that they didn’t build any honeycombs there. . But then I got an old hive and we moved them. And that’s the story how the bees started living with us.”
Beekeeping experience:
29 years
Number of colonies:
200
Foraging area:
Elva, Tartu county
Main harvest:
wild raspberry (Rubus idaeus), rosebay willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium), white clover (Trifolium repens), herb gerard (Aegopodium podagraria), rapeseed (Brassica napus), willows (Salix)
Membership:
Member of Estonian Professional Beekeepers´ Association and Member of Estonian Beebreeding Association