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.
May 31 2023:
A 2nd hive is implanted with Le Comptoir Local®! The activities around the visit of the apiary and the extraction of honey are so requested, that new dates of activities are proposed.
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® thus wishes to promote 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 public events. In exchange, Le Comptoir Local® agreed to use the revenue 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.
The latter took place at the Comptoir Local in 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.
Le Comptoir Local organized the promotion of these visits as well as the ticketing. The profits from these workshops were entirely used to finance a new hive. Thanks to the 29 participants in the beekeeping workshops in the summer of 2021, 114 euros were collected. To enable the purchase of the new hive, Le Comptoir Local® topped up the sum by 54 euros.
Following the enthusiasm for these events, they continue to be offered each year to local residents and holidaymakers passing through Aunis Marais Poitevin. A second hive will be set up in May 2.
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 at Le Comptoir Local®
promised thing...
…Done! The first hive arrived at the Comptoir Local in Surgères, where it remained on display for a few months while waiting for the good weather.
When spring arrived, she was placed in an apiary near Saint Mard, in the middle of a walnut plantation, in order to welcome her first queen and her first colony of bees.
We had the pleasure of inaugurating this first hive on Tuesday March 29, 2022 and we wish it a wonderful life! The 2nd hive was inaugurated on May 31, 2023.
Portrait of beekeepers
Jean-François BOUYER and Laurie BARBEAU are the two beekeepers of the apiary “ Oh Miel Marsais ».
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!
What's next? They plan to market honey-based products (gingerbread, mead, etc.). Other projects related to environmental preservation are underway, such as partnerships with farmers to replant hedges or cultivate honey-producing fallow land. Laurie will soon take over from Jean-François and has just obtained her Professional Certificate in Agricultural Operations Management. 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!
