Thursday, July 2, 2009

Old Lady Svendsen's Honey Shack

Here's Old Lady Svendsen's honey shack, eight miles or so from my home. This is where she keeps her seperator and all apiary-related paraphernelia.
Mrs Svendsen has developed an intolerance to not only electricity, but to candles and kersone. And ultimately to bee stings too, so she doesn't do beekeeping any more.
The only other beekeeper in the area I know of only kept a couple of hives, but he developed an allergy too. He switched to chickens.
But Mrs. Svendsen knows a lot about how bees behave and forage in the forest, and has even written pamphlets about the subject, respected in the beekeeping community I am led to understand.
She used to keep bees all around the forest. I would see her tending her hives here and there, but they're all gone now. I liked seeing her bustling about, I liked seeing someone working in the forest, doing something else but sawing stuff down. If you're going to manage a forest, you need to cut trees, I understand this. It's just that it's nice to have diversity.
There are still active hives on the other side of the path from the honey shack, though. No idea who manages these now. Should do some sleuthing.

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