Getting lost in the pine forests of the far south of Lithuania, on the border with Belarus, we come across the village of Musteika. The bumpy road that leads there takes us along an old aquaculture complex that was dried up in 2003 because it was too expensive to maintain. The sight of the overgrown ponds with their rusty silos leaves us puzzled. An atmosphere of former Soviet country and abandoned industry. However, the hamlet, inhabited by about sixty people, has managed to preserve the traditions of the region. Here, the "Pirkia" (traditional house) is built in wood as in the old days and some are even still covered with a thatched roof.
This region, bathed by the river Niemen (yes, as in Normandy-Niemen the famous squadron for history lovers!), belongs to the Dzūkija National Park. Covered by 80% of forest, the aim of this park when it was created (at the restoration of independence from the USSR in 1991) was to preserve the pine forests, the landscape and the typical habitats of the region. Discovering Musteika we can confirm that the objectives have been achieved!
Photo. Museum of Traditional Beekeeping in Musteika
We came here not for the love of the outer edge of the European Union (especially at the moment!) but for an atypical discovery. We have unearthed the roots of modern beekeeping here! It was Romas who welcomed us to Musteika. Romas is beekeeper in the National Park and he maintains here an activity that has been established in the region for centuries: the honey harvest from hives installed in hollow trees! There are about 50 hive trees in the park, 16 of which have been classified as natural heritage objects of the country. In Lithuania, modern beekeeping has replaced hives in hollow trees, for which the work is much more arduous. Romas has a role to play in remembering and passing on the skills of the ancients. Romas runs a small museum of traditional beekeeping, where many tools and a wide variety of hives are on display, illustrating their evolution over the centuries. Today, young beekeepers come to train alongside Romas, proof that the beekeeping tradition of the country continues through the generations. The honey produced in the Park is sold at around 40€ per kilo: the price of memory and exceptional work!
Photo. Small beekeeper's equipment on display in the Musteika Museum
Photo. Alternative presentation of the hive in a stump.
Historically, the method of harvesting honey from trees was widespread in the forests stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Altai (south of Siberia). In Lithuania, the first written records of woodcutters and tree beekeeping date back to the 13th century. Woodcutters walking through the forest observed old hollow trees. If they identified the presence of a swarm in the tree, they would enlarge the opening and mark the tree with a symbol (a sign of their ownership), then harvest the honey when the time came. Humans, like bears, were predators for the colonies. From "honey hunters" to "beekeepers", the woodcutters soon made it a habit to leave some honeycomb in the hive so that the bees could feed themselves during the long Baltic winters. They also protected them from predators, especially woodpeckers, by installing spruce branches to hide the entrance to the hives. This is how simple woodcutters became woodcutter-beekeepers!
Photo. If you look up, you can see the entrance to the beehive in the tree trunk.
The hives were often located in century-old hollow trees, high up (sometimes up to 8 metres) and therefore difficult to access. Climbing required a "geinis" (a braided rope with a loop, a tooth to fix the rope to the tree and a bar to hold the position facing the hive). You also had to climb with an axe to open the hive, a knife to cut the honeycombs, a smoker, a net to protect your face and a container to collect the combs. A real balancing act!
The relationship between humans and bees became professionalized and was subsequently very controlled as it was written into the statutes of the Duchy of Lithuania. The idea was simple: anyone who destroyed a hive deserved to die...
Writings from the 16th century provide information on how the hives were managed:
"A beekeeper would choose a 30-40 year old pine tree to make a trunk hive. He would cut off the top of the tree, so that it would not grow any taller, but the trunk would become thicker. The top of the trunk was covered with a cap to protect it from rotting. The tree was then cherished, all trees and shrubs within a radius of 10 metres were cut down to give it space to grow. This tree became the property of a family and only after 100 years was it thick enough to be hollowed out to become a beehive. Such a hive was usually visited only twice a year: in the spring for cleaning after the winter and for harvesting honey in the autumn."
Photo. The hollow of the tree is arranged to host the swarm
At that time, it was usual to pay church taxes with honey and wax. In 1501, Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania enacted a law, in line with the beekeeping customs of the time, which legislated traditional beekeeping practices. Beekeepers were now exempt from their obligations to manors, and were paid to manage half of the manor's land in exchange for giving half of the honey and wax they collected to their master. Wax was one of the main exports of the Duchy and was of strategic importance. It was widely used for worship in churches and monasteries (candles), for the production of wax tablets (writing tablets) and above all for smelting metals (jewellery, bells, keys and cannons). This explains the crucial role of beekeeping and the privileges enjoyed by beekeepers in these times.
The hives in the trees are made only in pine trees, the most present tree in the region. Today the hives are dug out with a chainsaw, but for a long time they were dug out by hand. One thing is certain, it took a lot of elbow grease to create a trunk hive! Romas also cultivates the land around his hives, sowing sunflowers, buckwheat, clover and phacelia, all of which will provide flowers for the bees to collect in the spring. To admire this, we will have to wait a little... It is November and it is freezing at night in this region. The swarms are in a ball shape in the hives, maintaining a temperature of 28°C to survive the winter. The bees will only emerge from the hive at the end of April, when the snow will have melted.
Photo. Cultivation of land near the hives (on the right you can see a pine tree topped with a hat to accommodate the hives)
In hollow trees as in modern hives, bees are subject to the same predators: varroa mites and hornets. The bees here are also subject to the diseases common to European hives. In partnership with the Lithuanian Institute of Animal Sciences, the National Park's beekeepers are carrying out a project to reintroduce the local bee: the black bee. The black bee is a subspecies of the "honey bee". With its scientific name, Apis mellifera mellifera, the black bee is adapted to the European climate. While the Italian or Caucasian subspecies of bees have been selected by man for a better honey yield, the black bee has retained its "natural" genetic heritage. In fact, today it is more resistant to disease and climatic hazards than its melliferous cousins. Its character is like its genetics: "crude"! And this doesn't only have advantages: the black bee can be aggressive, which is why it has been abandoned by modern beekeepers in favour of the more docile and productive subspecies. Today, the black bee is back in the spotlight, and that's just as well: an excellent pollinator, frugal, resistant, with a longer life expectancy... It has many qualities!
Image. Lithuanian collector's coin depicting the work of the beekeeper in the hollow trees (Edition 2020).
Did you know?
- In France also we have pollinators!
The website https://pollinisateurs.pnaopie.fr/ has been put online by the French office for insects and their environment. It presents various actions implemented to maintain territories favourable to pollinators in France. You will also find free documentary resources and a "What can I do?" tab to act at your level. For example, do you know Spipoll? It's a very interesting participatory science programme! In short, as it is so well said on the site: "Swarm, talk about it around you!"
- For the conservation of Lithuanian breeds
In the village of Baisolaga (in the centre of the country), a historic building from the end of the 19th century houses the Institute of Animal Husbandry of the University of Animal Sciences. Rūta Šveistienė heads the Department of Animal Genetics Research there and manages the Lithuanian Centre for the Coordination of Farm Animal Genetic Resources. During a car trip with Rūta, we went to meet the local Lithuanian breeds hosted by the Centre: Žemaitukai pony (historically a military pony used during the crusades), grey cow (close cousin of the Latvian Blue cow), white-backed cow (which can be safely likened to the Nordic branch next to the Swedish Fjäll), coarse-wool sheep, Lithuanian goat and goose, white and native Lithuanian pigs... The centre's mission is to preserve the genetics of local breeds, which are currently not or hardly represented in the farms. In Lithuania, 4% of farms hold 54% of the total agricultural area. Most of them are huge farms, heirs to the kolkhoses, whose production is mainly devoted to exports. This means that in this agricultural setting, low-yielding local breeds are of little value. Although small family farms account for 42% of agricultural holdings and constitute a reservoir for the breeding of local Lithuanian breeds, the sustainability of the latter is threatened for two major reasons: there is no market for distributing the products of small producers and increasingly restrictive health regulations are encouraging the cessation of family breeding. For example, the African Swine Fever health crisis is leading to the disappearance of the Lithuanian Native Pig and the Lithuanian White Pig in the countryside. Traditionally, native and white pigs were raised for their back fat. The smoked back fat is a traditional product that is still loved by Lithuanians today.
Photos from left to right. 1. Žemaitukai Pony. 2. Coarse wool sheep (Lietuvos vietinės šiurkščiavilnės avys). 3. Lithuanian White Goose (Vištinės žąsys). 4. Grey cow (Lietuvos šėmieji galvijai). 5. White-backed cow (Lietuvos baltnugariai galvijai). 6. Native Lithuanian pig (Lietuvos vietinės kiaulės - photo from the institute's website)