Beekeeper in a protective suit beside the hives

Vlasotince, the upper Vlasina valley

Forty-six harvests chasing the same flow.

The first colony was bought in 1980, in a crate, at the market in Vlasotince. It was not a decision to start a beekeeping business — the house needed honey for winter.

By the nineties there were about twenty. Then one winter took more than half, and it started again, this time with queens raised at home.

Today the hives move three times a season, each time higher up the Vlasina. Nobody is employed. Whoever is free that day is the one up the hill.

  • 1980First colony, bought at the market
  • 1994A winter takes half the apiary
  • 2003First move up to the Vlasina slopes
  • 2011Blending flows into one jar stops
  • 2026The forty-sixth harvest

Who is up there

Four people and one mountain.

  • R
    Radonjić seniorExtracts. Never hurries.
  • M
    The beekeeperKnows where every queen is, without notes.
  • S
    The sisterWrites the lids and keeps the waiting list.
  • K
    The youngestDrives the pickup at night, up the track.

Names and portraits go in once the family sends photographs.

From the notebook

14 May
2019

Rain, third day. Acacia lost. We are not touching last year’s jars, let them stand. Better none at all than just anything.
That year no acacia honey went on sale. The notebook has been kept since the first season, and it records the years that failed too.