The old ways of doing things can be so entirely fascinating. People sure were a lot tougher back then!
At the bee market in Veenendaal, Holland the principal buyers are the bee-farmers of the Veluwe, living near buckwheat fields and the heath. When the season is favorable, and the buckwheat gives honey (which it does not do always), the skeps may be filled in two or three weeks. In case they are entirely filled up with buckwheat honey they are emptied before the heath begins to flower. If not, the partly filled skeps are brought to the heath in order to be completed with honey of the heath. The latter crop being over, the bees are generally killed, and the bee-farmers await the next market to buy new swarms.
At the Annual Bee Market at Veenendaal, Holland, a hive of bees typically sold for around $3. Once a sale is made, the deal is concluded with ritualistic handshake, beekeeper and customer smack hands together hard, first in high position, then in lower, repeating.
Posted by Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History on Monday, January 12, 2015
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