Beehives, Vesely Kopec, Pardubicky kraj, Bohemia (CZ), 2013

Beekeeping is widespread in Bohemia, and has been for centuries. This is less surprising when you consider that farming communities depend heavily on bees for pollination of their crops, and often bees are kept by farmers on the side (even today) to ensure an adequate supply of them. That doesn't just go for Bohemia, but America as well. However, the beekeeping display a Vesely Kopec seemed more extensive than usual. I only photographed some of what they had on display. I found this building especially interesting. Each of those boxes that you can see inserted into this building is one hive, and each can be serviced separately, with the option of removing each one and replacing it with another, if desired. It's also possible to service the hives from behind, inside the building (see the next shot). In addition to pollinating crops, obviously if you keep bees then you harvest the honey, and there are a number of other bee products that you can make from it. One of the most popular honey-based products in the Czech Republic is Medovina, or Mead in English, which is a sweet alcoholic drink popular historically with Catholic monks. In fact, some of the producers of Medovina today are still monasteries. It hasn't been so popular in America, but I've noticed it here and there on recent visits, so this may be changing with globalization.