It's always a joy to get together with friends
to either visit a new place, listen to someone's story or face a new challenge,
it''s always an exploration
of a new territory that gets me excited and leaves me inspired!
One of my friend recently became a beekeeper and invited a bunch of us to watch hime assess the hives and taste his honey.
First we had to get equipped, this is Hazel getting bee-proof.
Here's a type of hat that you might want to wear if you're going to be near disturbed bees...
...or at least that what we thought.
As for the scenery, these bees are pollinating in paradise.
Their hives are situated in a garden where chicken peck away under abundance of flowers, where ponds are creating a cool contrast against the heat of greenhouses.
It's an amazing gardener's self sufficient wonderland.
Ok so there were a lot of informations
and I forgot the name of this plant,
but bees love it.
Here.
So our bee-keeper checked his hives, all went farely well until some bees got under his hat!
he got stung a few times on his face (brave, right?) !!!
and then it was time to finish the harvest.
When he came back
he cut chunks of freshly harvested combs
and dropped huge chunks in our hands,
for us to eat.
Wait. What?
That's right,
we ate it straight from the hive
where a few seconds ago the honey was being kept at a perfect temperature
by some seriously busy bees.
I will never forget this moment.
The honey was still warm, exploding with flavours and sweetness.
I felt connected to the bear within me,
who just found a hive and tasted raw honey for the first time in her bear life.
Thinking : "this is worth all the hibernations in the world"
I didn't even want to spit out the wax, really.
There was also some darker part in the hives, where the bees store some pollen.
I popped one pollen bead right out:
It tasted good too.
Christoph kept cutting through the buttery textured honey comb,
Filling up a mason jar with chunks.
Then he screened it and tapped another mason jar on top of the first one.
Flip the whole thing upside down to let the honey drip through the screen.
Then a Bear grabbed it!
Only to take it outside and let it do its magic in the warm sunlight.
Then it was time for our brunch
Crêpes, blueberries and whipped cream with tons of honey all over it.
That's when I got so overwhelmed with happiness that I actually stopped taking pictures.
Thanks you for this experience Christoph, it was incredible!
Your patience, calm and wise bee education are unforgettable.
Thank you Hazel & Toumbi for lending me some beekeeping gear
and helping me to feel brave enough to get close to the bees.
Thanks Bear for not running away with the honey jackpot.
