NEWS FROM THE HIVE
Established in the apiary at the beginning of March 2022, we give you regular news!
May 6 2022:
12 kilos of honey for this first harvest for the Comptoir Local hive: they keep our little bees busy! A spring honey that we will soon be able to find on sale in our local counters.
Come and discover the hive during next events on June 11, July 9 and August 20 !
At the origin of the project…
The Aunis Marais Poitevin territory aims to be a green and gentle destination.
Its tourist office, the Comptoir Local Aunis Marais Poitevin wishes to enhance its art of living by highlighting accommodation in the countryside, committed restaurateurs, producers and craftsmen, but also by getting involved in the protection of the environment. However, in recent years, we have observed a significant increase in bee mortality.
The project was born from a partnership between the beekeepers of Oh Miel Marsais who agreed to share their passion and know-how through various events for the general public. In exchange, the Comptoir Local Aunis Marais Poitevin undertook to use the income from these events to finance the purchase of a hive.
Activities to finance this project
It is thus that during summer 2021, visits to an apiary in a beekeeper's suit were offered to families, as well as honey extraction workshops.
These took place at the Comptoir Local de Surgères. Visitors were able to participate in the extraction of honey and left with a jar of this precious nectar that they had filled themselves.
The Comptoir Local organized the promotion of these visits as well as the ticket office. The profits from these workshops were entirely used to finance a new hive. Thanks to the 29 participants in the beekeeping workshops for the summer of 2021, 114 euros were collected. To enable the purchase of the new hive, the Comptoir Local supplemented the amount of 54 euros.
We wanted to participate, at our level, in the reimplantation of these wonderful pollinators on our territory by financing a beehive and promoting local biodiversity.
Julie, director of the local counter
promised thing...
…Done ! At the beginning of December, the hive arrived at the Comptoir Local de Surgères, where it remained for a few months on display while waiting for the good weather.
Spring arrived, she has just been implanted in an apiary located on the side of Saint Mard, in the middle of a plantation of walnut trees, in order to welcome her first queen and her first colony of bees.
We had the pleasure of inaugurating this hive on Tuesday March 29, 2022 and we wish it a good life!
Portrait of beekeepers
Jean-François BOUYER and Laurie BARBEAU are the two beekeepers of the "Oh Miel Marsais" apiary.
After a long career at the Direction Départementale des Territoires des Deux-Sèvres, Jean-François wanted to fulfill his teenage dream of becoming a beekeeper. He has always been passionate about the world of bees but had never dared to take the plunge. In 2016, the dream becomes reality. Jean-François decides to create his apiary.
It was through her work that Laurie met Jean-François and discovered beekeeping. Their common will to act for the environment, by protecting the fauna, the flora and more precisely the pollinators, pushed them to work together. Laurie, a zero waste advisor by profession, works as an apiary assistant during her free time.
The first apiary was at a place called Beaumont, in Marsais. Since then it has grown considerably. It consists of 150 hives spread over 15 apiaries, located in the territories of Aunis and Deux-Sèvres. Last year they harvested 2,4 tons of spring and summer honey and sold almost everything!
The following ? They plan to market products derived from honey (gingerbread, mead, etc.). Other projects around the preservation of the environment are underway, such as partnerships with farmers for the replanting of hedges or the cultivation of fallow honey. Laurie plans to take over from Jean-François in a few years, which is why she is currently training to obtain her Professional Certificate in Agricultural Operations Manager. She should gradually take over from Jean-François, who will remain present to help and advise her. He waited a long time to become a beekeeper, he doesn't want to stop right away!
