Beehive of the Millennium Beekeeping Museum |
For twenty-three years now, thousands of people have been coming to Stroze in order to celebrate the day of beekeeping.
They are professional beekeepers, as well as, amateurs. Year after year, more and more honey lovers arrive with the aim of doing shopping and also meeting apitherpay specialists. Small wonder, since in our every day hectic life, we tend to lead rather unhealthy diet and frequently suffer from typical civilisation ailments. When we do, we almost invariably reach for some artificial medicine, forgetting that the best medicine derives from nature, particularly from bees.
Let us now have a look how did the fist day of 'Biesiada” at Bartnik go.
This year scientific conference was yet again entitled “Help bees, they will help us”. It was organised by the owner of the “Sadecki Bartnik” Beekeeping House – Janusz Kasztelawicz and with the traditional cooperation of the General Veterinarian of Malopolska District – Dr Krzysztof Ankiewicz. These annual conferences have become so popular that this year additional seats had to be provided.
A lot of participants bought special materials that contained all the speeches and the latest publications of the Publishing House “Sadecki Bartnik”. These past few months there have been some books and films published, that can be purchased in our online shop http://sklep.bartnik.pl/
The honoured guest of this year conference was Prof. Jerzy Woyke, mentor of Polish beekeeping and internationally acclaimed expert in this area (more about the Professor can be learnt in our next articles). Suffice it to say that Prof. Woyke was awarded with "the Commandor Cross" distinction in 2004 and has been frequently praised by his pupil – Prof. Jerzy Wilde.
Prof. Jerzy Woyke appeared to be quite moved by the warm welcome he received at the conference. He thanked everyone for their recognition. He also gave special thanks to Janusz Kasztelewicz, the Chairman of the Beekeeping Association, and to Prof. Jerzy Wilde.
The conference started pleasantly, but some topics discussed were were more serous.
Prof. Pawel Chorobinski tackled the most pressing problem of American foulbrood and the question of treating it or eliminating it. Prof. Rajmund Sokol discussed the issue of less known diseaseses that attack mammals, birds and insects that later infect bees with Nosema ceranae. Igor Pawlyk presented more information on the usage of Chmara queen excluder. Guests from Italy confirmed the effectiveness of this beekeeping equipment, event after only six months. They promised to share their experience next year.
The beekeeping part of the conference ended with the speech of Dr Zbigniew Lipinski who stressed the importance of knowledge concerning the physiology of bees and their eating habits in the era of restrained growth of tress, bushed and plants in general.
Prof. Slawomir Bakier presented some professional systems of keeping bees and revisited the subject of comb foundations. Prof. Ryszard Czarnecki spoke of growing tradition of using pharmacological medicine while the knowledge of more natural alternative, which is apitherapy, is still embarrassingly limited in the 21st century. Prof. Walerij A. Isidorow presented a lecture relating to the topic of homogenate of drone maggots, a bee product almost unknown in Poland. Prof. Bogdan Kedzia discussed the application of bee products in treating cancer. Saturday afternoon, went past in a more entertaining manner, especially while having meals in “Bartna Chata” restaurant.
For those who arrived with their families to unwind a little, there were a number of occasions to pass the time. One can sample some honey varieties, take part in various competitions and watch some traditional folk performances.
Saturday came to an end with “the Night of St. Ambrose” - an annual outdoor show organized by Jerzy Hojda and Franciszek Palka with the help of “Labareda” dancing group.