Interview with Mr. Arkadiusz Sadowski - the founder of the Pasiek of the Sadowski family
1.Where is your beekeeping passion come from? When did you start to be interested in beekeeping? Did you have anyone you could consult?
The history of the Sadowski Family Apiary does not go back generations. The company was founded by Arek Sadowski, who, as a fresh graduate student, found himself in a local beekeeping farm in search of a seasonal job.This activity turned into a great passion and love for bees. By watching the more experienced, reading heaps of books and learning from his own mistakes, he learned all the secrets of this noble work. In 2010, he purchased the first five hives. He convinced his family and closest friends to his activities. Thanks to their support, in the next few years he developed an apiary, which currently has about 1,800 hives, located in the areas of northern Mazovia and Kujawy.
"Miodziar" - because this is what its co-founders Arek Sadowski, Kuba Wilgosiewicz, Łukasz Michalak and Tomek Barski say about themselves - every day they look after bees, providing them with friendly living conditions and ensuring their good condition. Hence, they place particular emphasis on ecologically responsible behavior. In apiaries, they do not use chemicals or antibiotics, they sell honey only in glass jars, which in many households then gain a second life and are repeatedly used, for example, to store preserves, and all products are shipped to customers in biodegradable packaging, without the use of plastic.The packages of honey are also exceptionally beautiful - their extraordinary beautiful design was created by Iwona Jasińska, an artist at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
2. Which honey is the most popular among your customers?
Honey is characterized by a very large variety of taste and aroma, but how many customers, so many tastes! Since the beginning of the beekeeping adventure, customers have taken a special liking to linden honey, which is intense in taste and delicate multi-flower honey. Along with the establishment of new apiaries, we also started to acquire honey that is more specific in taste, such as buckwheat or honeydew. Due to the more spicy taste, these are honeys that perfectly suit the tastes of connoisseurs. However, our honeys with additives are the most popular. In their preparation, we mix multi-flower honey with dried spices and fruit. Sour combinations in honey with raspberry or currant won the hearts of the largest number of customers.Honeys with cocoa, cinnamon, black cumin and elderberry also have staunch supporters, as well as honey with ginger and garlic, and honey with turmeric and cayenne pepper, which work great in the kitchen. This is a completely new quality and new flavors. We are happy that more and more customers are reaching for these surprising and delicious honeys.
3. What methods do you use in your apiary to fight parasites?
Parasites living on bees are one of the greatest threats to their he alth. Varrosis is especially dangerous for apiaries. It is an extremely aggressive mite which, in the absence of appropriate treatment, can destroy a he althy bee colony in less than a year. In our apiaries we use only natural remedies to fight it. Combining several ecological methods throughout the year is much more labor-intensive and requires selective action that involves the elimination of parasites without detriment to the he alth and condition of bees.However, thanks to this, we can be sure that the bee colonies will not suffer, and the quality of the obtained honey will be flawless.
4. What is the condition of your bees and how do you deal with the constantly decreasing population of these insects?
Thanks to true love for bees and persistent work with attention to every detail, our pupils have had a good winter and are ready to pollinate fields and meadows in the spring! Unfortunately, the general situation of these insects is poor. Diseases and parasites damage the he alth of bees and worsen the condition of the entire population. In a world where monocultures dominate and chemicals are poisonous to bees, they are no longer able to live in the wild without the care of a beekeeper. But even with our help, winter declines in the number of bee colonies can be large, and restoring to their original state requires a lot of effort and is not always fully possible.For this reason, we are glad that our work is paying off, and the bees in the Sadowski Family Apiaries are he althy and full of strength.
5. Could you say unequivocally - honey crystallizes every time? Is it influenced by filtration and how to distinguish the real one from sweetened with sugar?
The crystallization process of honey is natural and typical of honey. Depending on the species, it lasts from a week to a year from the honey picking and is characterized by good-quality honey. In order for the crystallized honey to regain its liquid form, it should be gently heated, remembering that it retains its valuable properties only up to 40 degrees C. When buying honey, it is difficult to assess whether it is of good quality and whether it has not been too heated before. So it's best to rely on proven suppliers, such as a trustworthy local beekeeper or a well-rated beekeeping company that sells the tested product in he alth food stores or in their online store. At a time when every customer can leave an opinion in the browser and on a social profile, let's choose those whose quality is confirmed by numerous satisfied customers.However, we should definitely avoid honeys from mixtures of unknown origin, marked as: "a mixture of honeys produced in the EU and non-EU countries". Let's choose Polish honey known for its high-quality and clearly labeled. In addition to the obvious taste and he alth values for which it is worth doing, we help local nature and small entrepreneurs in this way. This is all the more valuable to us in the current crisis.
6. Do you recommend establishing flower meadows on plots and in gardens, and if so, what flowers to look for?
Anyone can help bees by providing them with at least a piece of space in which honey plants will bloom. Therefore, each year, until the end of June, we include a package with seeds of such plants as: phacelia, black cumin, white clover, melilot, cornflower and borage to our orders. It is enough to sow them in the period from March to June to create a mini meadow in the garden, on the lawn or in a pot, which will be used by bees and other pollinators.
7. What can gardeners / garden enthusiasts do to protect bees and what spraying to avoid so as not to endanger the work of insects?
The best that any garden enthusiast can do is include honey plants in their plantings. It's best to choose a variety of shrubs and trees that bloom between April and September. By introducing plants that bloom at different times, our garden will be beautiful throughout the season, and bees will have a constant supply of food while they are active. However, it is important that in caring for our greenery, we use only substances marked as harmless to pollinators and only according to the instructions on the leaflet. The time of day when spraying is also important. Most often, it is recommended to perform them only after the flight of bees has ceased, i.e. at the earliest approx. 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
