The busy bee

In the early 1900s, beekeepers played an important role in both rural and some urban communities. Their main tasks included caring for bees, harvesting honey and beeswax, and managing beehives to maintain a healthy bee population.

A beekeeper’s primary responsibility was to care for bee colonies. This involved keeping the bees healthy, preventing and treating diseases, and ensuring they had enough food, especially during winter or poor blooming seasons.

For many, beekeeping was a side job alongside their main occupation, such as farming or laboring. In rural areas, it was common for farmers to keep a few beehives as part of a diverse farm, providing extra income and helping pollinate their crops. However, in some cases, especially when practiced on a larger scale, beekeeping could be a full-time profession.

Today, bees are kept in beehives, but in the past, beekeepers wove beehives from a type of grass called “pijpenstrootje,” which grows on heathlands. Its official name is bosbeemd, but it is commonly known as bunt.

Honey and Beeswax: Valuable Products

Beekeepers primarily earned money by selling honey and beeswax. Honey was a popular and valuable product, used as a sweetener and sometimes for medicinal purposes. During summer, bees collect pollen and nectar from a variety of flowers, simultaneously pollinating them. The type of flowers determines the honey’s flavor, with well-known varieties including clover, buckwheat, linden, rapeseed, and heather honey.

Honey from the beekeepers of the Boerenbondsmuseum is available for purchase at Hove Vogelsanck.

Beeswax was used to make candles, ointments, and in wood and leatherworking. Some beekeepers also provided pollination services for farmers, an essential service for growing many types of fruits and vegetables.