An overview of the Urban Beekeeping Year 2023 in 12 pictures
Although weather conditions in Slovenia over the past year were not favourable to beekeeping, we can look back with satisfaction upon the work done and focus on new challenges... To begin with, we highlight some of the more important urban beekeeping moments of 2023.
1. Damir Škraban wins the competition for best technological solution in beekeeping
Long-time member of our Urban Beekeepers' Association Damir Škraban has in the past successfully developed a number of innovations and accessories that help beekeepers, such as, for example, the bee corridor that prevents other bees from robbing a hive. With our member Dejan Pečnik they also collaborated on the long-term development of a portable gas oxalic acid vaporiser, used in ecological treatment for Varroa mites.
In addition to the vaporiser, in 2023 Damir Škraban submitted his electronic stability control (ESC) for honey extractors to the Slovenian Beekeeping Association’s technological innovation competition. The ESC solves the problem of movement and shaking during the extraction process. Both inventions were among the winners. Congratulations!
2. Berlin-Ljubljana-Berlin
As part of the 2023 Slovenian Cultural Days at the Berlin Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK), the museum put up an exhibition titled ‘Buzzing Slovenia’, showcasing both the tradition of beekeeping in Slovenia as well as innovations in the fields of urban beekeeping and sustainable design. In July the museum organised a guided tour of the exhibition with urban beekeeper Gorazd Trušnovec and contemporary artists Saša Spačal. The guided tour was moderated by curator Sofia Botvinnik, and the guests offered a number of interesting insights into urban beekeeping, people’s attitudes to insects, and inspiring beekeeping projects. The exhibition is open in Berlin until April 2024.
In September we were happy to take up an invitation by the Sonic Tomorrow collective to participate in the Situated Ecologies festival in Berlin, where we organised a workshop at the Floating University site on urban beekeeping and the role of pollinators in contemporary cities. Many thanks to SKICA Berlin & Sonic Tomorrow – we look forward to further cooperation!
3. Presentation of the AuO bee watering station
At the height of the season, a bee colony might need up to 1 litre of water every day, and a conscientious beekeeper makes sure their workers have access to a 'fresh drink' at all times. The hygienic portable AuO bee watering station (3 x 5 litres) was developed in cooperation with architect and metal designer Tomaž Čeligoj (tojo.i.to).
Over a number of seasons, the original watering station successfully passed its test on various urban beekeeping locations. What makes it special are its minimalistic design approach and use of sustainable materials. It was presented to the public in the autumn of 2023 and can also be ordered on our website.
4. Providing a home for a colony of bumblebees
In the autumn of 2022 the nearby nursery school came to visit our headquarters and they brought us a present – a wooden nesting box for bumblebees. We installed and arranged it according to instructions (thank you Danilo Bevk) and in the spring of 2023 a bumblebee queen settled in the box. Very soon we had an entire colony of tree bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum) thriving inside the nest and it is wonderful to observe these extremely industrious and peaceful pollinators throughout the season...
Talking about sustainability, we need to pay more attention to the fact that honey bees are only one of many important pollinators in urban environments and in general.
5. A visit from Jeff Pettis
At the end of September 2023, the Slovenian Beekeeping Association marked its 150th anniversary and on this occasion Dr Jeff Pettis, President of the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations Apimondia, visited Ljubljana. He spent a large part of the day before the celebration with us. We presented the association’s activities and chatted about co-responsibility for pollinators other than honey bees.
Among other things, we also visited the prison on the outskirts of Ljubljana, where we run the Prison Honey project – empowering prisoners through beekeeping, and the roof of the Cankarjev Dom Cultural Centre where we maintain a number of hives. Discussing the possible directions into which beekeeping might develop in the future, we also examined the colonies on the roof terrace of Hotel Park.
6. Cooperating in the Insignia Research Project
As urban beekeepers, we often face concerns over pollution. This was also why we were happy to participate in the large-scale EU project Insignia with two hives at our headquarters. Locally, the project is coordinated by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia. It involved a number of beekeepers from various locations in all 27 members of the EU.
In a year or so, after the laboratory analyses have been completed, a representative pattern of environmental pollution with heavy metals, pesticides, dust particles, organic pollutants and microplastics as reflected in beehives and products such as honey and pollen, will be available.
7. Honey bees are not becoming extinct!
In the past there was a lot of misinformation about honey bees becoming extinct – in fact, there has never been as many honey bees in the world as there are now, and in Slovenia their numbers doubled (!) in merely a decade. However, other wild pollinators and insects really are under threat, affected by climate change, environmental degradation, and competition for natural resources – with honeybees…
Over the past two years, a number of studies have been published about the negative effects of overpopulation with honey bees, and in August 2023 The New York Times published a high-profile article which looked at the example of Ljubljana and Slovenia as a starting point.
8. A successful professional excursion
When, years ago, our association first organised a professional excursion, we borrowed a van from friends and it was driven by the association’s president. Less than 10 years later, in kind cooperation with the Slovenian Academic Beekeeping Association, we set off on specialist excursion to Friuli in Northeast Italy, guided by beekeeper, photographer and author Mr Franc Šivic.
And we managed to fill the entire coach. A small step for Slovene beekeeping, quite a big one for our association...
9. Developing an AI supported beekeeping system
We are happy and honoured to cooperate with the EU development project AIBeeSystem, which is being set up in partnership between the young, innovative Slovene company Senso4s d.o.o. and the Jožef Stefan Institute. The aim of the project is to develop an AI supported beekeeping system that monitors a number of parameters inside and outside the observed hive.
The purpose of the system is to offer beekeepers support in decision-making related to seasonal interventions and give them information about the objective state of the bee colony and what is going on in the vicinity of the hive. Through optimising work, it is possible to reduce stress in bee colonies which significantly affects their state of health and productivity. It also reduces the carbon footprint of beekeeping.
10. The book The Year the Bees Came almost sold out
In 2022 we co-published with KUD Sodobnost International the Slovene translation of the YA (urban) beekeeping novel, the bestseller by German author Petra Postert, The Year the Bees Came. The thrilling adventure also has an educational side to it – we follow the month by month biological development of a colony of bees.
Just over a year later, the book The Year the Bees Came is almost sold out; a few copies are still available only at the Urban Beekeepers' Association and it is simple to order it on our website. Delivery within Slovenia is free. Enjoy the read!
11. The bustle on the roof of Hotel Park
In 2023 the rooftop terrace at the B&B Hotel Ljubljana Park was livelier than ever – four beehives in one of the most central city locations attracted numerous visitors from all over the world, from the USA to Portugal, from the Czech Republic to a delegation from Mongolia, not to mention the numerous TV crews...
We will also be glad to host you at our urban beekeeping locations in the centre of Ljubljana in the future and give a unique experience with an unusual view of the bustling town (and bees). Feel free to drop by – you are welcome!
12. We continue planting melliferous plants
Among the 120 local beekeeping associations in Slovenia, we were one of a handful that, in addition to the spring term, also applied for the autumn session in support of planting melliferous trees and perennials. Of our own initiative we also ordered saplings of an ever-flowering sub-species of willow (Salix triandra 'Semperflorens'), that will provide more food to pollinators all year round in the vicinity of our hives. Thank you Matjaž Levičar for this hint!
Slovenia is one of the European countries most exposed to the consequences of climate change – in line with this, we remain committed to the mission of improving grazing conditions for bees and other pollinators in the city.
and also ...
Ljubljana urban honey celebrated by poets
In July 2023 Croatian-Slovene cultural studies scholar Aljoša Pužar published a wonderful epic and very personal poem O pčelama i ljudima (On Bees and People), in which he, among others, also highlights (and praises) urban honey from Ljubljana.
...
I now praise the honey of the urban beekeepers
in which shine the roofs of Ljubljana,
the unmown lawns of Tivoli,
and the gentle white dust of cemetery stonemasons.
...
Amazing...
We hope that our work with a sustainable approach to bees and other pollinators in town will contribute to a better and more pleasant environment for all of us. We invite you to join our activities, information about which is available on this site and on our official Facebook page; If you are a taxpayer in Slovenia, you can also help us at a personal level or as an institution by donating the fixed percentage of your income tax you are allowed to allocate to a charity of your choice to our cause (costing you nothing, meaning a great deal to us), or you can choose to support our work symbolically by joining the Urban Beekeepers’ Association as one of our members. Many thanks!
Wishing you happiness and health in 2024 – and Naj medi! (May the honey flow!)
Gorazd Trušnovec, translated by Gregor Timothy Čeh