We brought a couple of hives on the island. As befits a virgin island with no farming, very basic infrastructure, no big hotels and a tradition for simple Mediterranean life, we have kept things simple with bees too.
Our aim is to keep bee's life as natural as possible:
Rather than migrating the hives from one pasture to another, we keep the bees in one place. This creates much less stress for the bees making them healthier at the expense of having less honey.
We use exclusively organic wax (if not derived from the bees), organic treatments for varoa* and nosema* and collect the product that is not processed in any way to make sure all nutrients are intact.
Our honey is varietal honey that consists all locally grown wild medicinal plants like thyme, lavender, rosemary, heather. Honey is made only from the plants that bees choose to harvest.
We are entering our second year in the project and it seems that bees have adopted very well. We left most honey to the bees to make sure their communities grow strong for next season when we expect to have our first small harvest.
One of our designer friends was moved by the story and made the label. In the spirit of keeping things simple and remembering the ancient tradition on the island we call the honey Mellitus.
Honey is sold exclusively on Molat Island and if you're passing by and would like to sample it, drop us a line or give us a call.
* Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks the honey bees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. The disease caused by the mites is called varroosis.
* Nosema apis is a microsporidian that invades the intestinal tracts of adult bees and causes nosema disease, also known as nosemosis. Nosema infection is also associated with black queen cell virus. It is normally only a problem when the bees can not leave the hive to eliminate waste (for example, during an extended cold spell in winter or when the hives are enclosed in a wintering barn). When the bees are unable to void (cleansing flights), they can develop dysentery
