Vlasotince · Svođe · Čemernik

You can taste the altitude.

A family apiary that follows the flow. Three times a season the hives move higher, from Vlasotince up to the slopes of Čemernik. Extracted by hand, never above 40 °C.

See the honeys Why we move
A row of painted hives on a meadow at first light, a beekeeper in the distance.
The slopes of Čemernik — the morning before extraction

Čemernik · summit 1 638 m

The season goes uphill.

Three stops in one season. Each is higher than the last, so the same blossom runs late there — and the season lasts longer than any single place could give.

The whole route
  1. ~270 mVlasotinceFirst acacia · late April
  2. ~500 mSvođeSecond acacia · mid May
  3. ~1 200 mSlopes of ČemernikVlasina and forest · June–August
AcaciaVlasinaForestGift box5 kg pail
You can taste the altitudeVlasotinceSvođeČemernikVlasina

Index

Everything that goes in a jar.

01Acacia honey May–June · Vlasotince and Svođe 02Vlasina honey June–August · the slopes of Čemernik 03Forest honey July · beech and fir honeydew 04Gift box All three honeys · cut to a hexagon

The collection

Three honeys, three colours.

The colour follows each honey everywhere it appears. You recognise it before you read the name.

The method

Extracted flow by flow.

One extraction per flow instead of one big one at the end of the season. More work and fewer kilograms, but the jar keeps whatever the label says.

The full method and what we never do
  1. 01We wait for the capping

    Extraction happens only once the cells are capped with wax. A sign the honey is ripe, not a date.

  2. 02Hand-cranked extractor

    A four-frame extractor. Slower, but the comb does not break, so it goes back into the hive.

  3. 03No pressure

    Through a sieve, then left to settle for a few days. The pollen stays in the honey.

You can taste the altitude.

Six walls, a little wax, three stops.

Season 01

May lasts ten days.

Acacia flowers briefly. So we follow it uphill: when the bloom is over down below, it is only starting at Svođe. Ten days turn into nearly three weeks.

Hives lined along a slope, acacia in bloom above them.
10days of bloom
A canopy in bloom against a clear sky
Acacia
An open hive with wild comb and bees.
Working a hive with a smoker
230metres higher
A frame of pollen.

Numbers

Numbers that hold.

  • 0stops in a single season
  • 0extractions, one per flow
  • 0the ceiling, never crossed
  • 0sugar syrup during the flow

Small things from the apiary

Open a cell.

Nineteen cells, each holding one small thing from the apiary: an altitude, a month, a temperature, a word from the notebook.

0 / 19 open

Gift

A whole season in one box.

A box cut to a hexagon, with a card inside naming each jar in handwriting. All three honeys, from the lowest stop to the highest.

Build a box