lot of work getting honey, From Mr Isoard
you just took it. The sawmill (Mayor of Auzet)
at Barles provided the
planks, for furniture or for You are interested in the
hives, just as ordered, there family beekeeping traditions?
was no need to nail The highest point was in the
anything. eighteenth century. The
houses with wall hives wereThe bees came to us all by
built around 1700. At Auzetthemselves. You didn’t buy
there are 80 inhabitants and them! You didn’t feed them!
160 houses which areNo, of course not.
second homes. The Auzet
From Mr RV community has created a
pedagogical centre for young The bees are protected from
people who come here tothe cold in the houses. They
study nature, art anddon’t sting and having them
beekeeping (to the agreedwhere they are is very
National Syllabus). practical for the honey
harvest. Swarms occupy the CONCLUSIONS
hives as they wish – it is The beekeeper of old in this
their free choice! region saw nothing amiss in
Several exits share an alighting board on this cottage wall We had lavender growing carrying out a normal life
everywhere. Land was with his bees around him.
Barles. There was no need sealed with plaster. The rented in plots and Who wouldn’t wish to be
to do anything, they window was left open which allocated at auctions. You there in the midst of such
repopulated the empty allowed the bees to leave could see who wanted the uncomplicated enthusiasm
hives without the beekeeper the house and return to the best plots! Beekeeping was and acceptance? But here
having to lift a finger. hive. The honey was taken fine until about 1960 but we are faced with a
In those days, no-one immediately to the kitchen nowadays there is hardly nostalgia that clashes head
attempted to curb the bees’ where the women were anything left – all the land on with modern practice.
natural inclination to swarm. waiting. It was the women is being invaded by pines Future generations will liveand bushes.
It was an expected who dealt with the with a different concept ofnature, society and of
occurrence and no one honeycomb and who You must remember that inter-human relationships –
agonised over queens. undertook the job of tasting World War II was very good
and storage, work which dominated by science, forfor the honey market. WeHoney collection was brutal. better or worse.
took several days. suffered greatly, we noIn March the beekeeper
longer had anything to eat. One thing is certain, in thisclosed the door of the room to MEMORIES
But people came here from modern age, the beauty ofthe rest of the house, opened
Digne on bikes, right up the natural surroundings ofthe window and the wall hive. From Mr GM
here, looking for honey. these high-altitude hamletsHelped by his children or a My father was born in 1905.
Often they brought with and the hives of thefriend, he used a little smoke, He constructed wall hives in
them not only their animals Monges built into the wallsthen cut out the honeycombs his house. I decorated them
to summer pastures but are well worth a visit and, if to the right, or to the left, or in 1938 and by then I was
also their diseases. Before you are inspired, there isagain, those above the middle already passionately
this, illness was unheard of nothing to stop you reviving bar, according to his normal interested.
in the mountains. And the past and installing away of working.
I love bees, they don’t sting varroa – there isn’t any! It wall hive in your own room
The wall hive was then me. In the walls, they were has never got up as far as – it is not an impossible
closed up and eventually in the warm. There wasn’t a this. dream! z
Bee Craft digital December 2008 Page 17
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