JULIAN'S LOG

Twelfth Post

“SPRING HOLIDAYS”

“When sugar was hard to come by, there wasn’t a Slovene farm that didn’t keep bees alongside other domestic animals. Honey was the only sweetening agent and wax an indispensable material for making candles…”

FOCUS ON SLOVENIA, HONEY AND BEE KEEPING

Slovenia has a rich beekeeping tradition and the colourful beehives can be seen in many meadows and gardens. The Gray Bee, Carniolan Bee, has adapted to the alpine climate and is well known for its gentleness, hence the hives often being seen on peoples’ balconies. The home of Mihael Ambrozic is here in Mojstrana. He was one of the first exporters of this Gray bee and his property used to be home to thousands of bees, the walls of the house still have plaques depicting the export destinations.





The Bee Museum in Radovljica is excellent and presents the history of apiculture and current beekeeping in an interactive and interesting manner. Bees were kept in low wooden beehives and the museum has examples of old wooden logs that were used initially by farmers.
In the mid eighteenth century, a unique folk art of painting the beehive fronts with religious, funny or folklore tales began, and a range of such fronts can be seen at the museum and locally in Dovje.

Honey is an important food here in Slovenia. Slovene beekeepers collect 2000 tonnes of it annually. It can be seen for sale at many markets, and honey products are popular gifts for tourists to take home. The flower meadows and forests provide excellent foraging for the bees, which results in a variety of “pollen flavour” honeys: flower, fir and spruce, wild cherry, alongside propolis and Medica (honey liqueur)

Hope you’ve enjoyed this edition. Next Blog focus will be on
HIKING AND TREKKING