From Hive to Heart: Merlin's honey house
Donation protected
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In brief: I'm taking over an apiary and raise funds here to support me in the initial costs
Hey! I'm Merlin; a young apiculteur-to-be.
Not long ago I left the monastery in which I have been living as a zen monk for a couple of years. In the beautiful mountains of the Cévennes, surrounded by chestnut trees, I found a home in a little hut with my partner and our cat.
"It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder." —Leonard Cohen
Did you ever sit in the garden, observing the bees and butterflies collecting nectar and pollen? The more we learn about honey bees, the more I am marveled by them. How different is their way of perceiving this world; how graceful when they collect nectar. Did you know that they taste with their front legs? Or that the queen lays eggs in a spiral movement into the combs?
This summer I was offered the chance to establish myself with a little honey house, counting 60 hives and thousands of little worker bees, collecting nectar and making honey. Since then I have been in training with the local apiculteur, a school nearby, and online training.
It's an interesting process for me to learn the art of beekeeping. My vision is to learn both the traditional form of beekeeping as well as "alternative" forms and to create my own way of "balanced" beekeeping.
Now I want to bring my vision to life: Building a little bee-house, extracting honey and continuing a local heritage of beekeepers, dating back thousands of years.
To make this project real, I need to buy equipment and establish myself as a "micro-company". That requires a budget of 15k€ for the basics.
In this budget is counted the extractor (2.000€), the beehives (150€ per hive =9.000€), the honey chambers (3.000€) as well as many additional tools and materials.
After leaving the monastery I have but a little amount of money and can't afford the payment of those initial equipments by myself.
That's where your help comes in!
If you like this project and would like to support local beekeeping and honey harvested in an respectful, ethical manner, your financial contribution is of important help. This will provide me with the necessary means to begin.
For the start I set the target of this fundraising as to be able to purchase half the beehives. Let's see what else we can manage together!
Even a small donation can help. If you can’t contribute at this time, I completely understand. But you can still help.
It would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word. The more people see this the better! You can share the link on email, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and any kind of messenger.
If you have any questions or connections to others who may also want to share my fundraiser please let me know.
I'll also add a FAQ area beneath to answer your most stated questions :)
Thank you so much!
FAQ
Q: It seems that ssometimes the system of the website does not work with certain cards. In that case the donation can also be done via paypal ( or bank transfer. Please just contact me for the details.
Please also state in the reference if you'd like your name to be publicly stated or prefer a anonymous donation.
Q:What do you mean with "ethical" honey?
My aim is to get into balanced beekeeping. This means that rather than soley focusing on production, the health and welfare of the bees is priority. This includes several points. For example that honey is only taken if plentiful and appropriate, which means there will be a good amount for their winter reserve. There are many other aspects like the treatment of diseases, location of hives and care for the bees...
Important for me is as well that you receive only what is promised: pure honey and no preservatives, no sugar syrup, no added water and no mix of different honeys.
Organizer
Marius Merlin Klingbeil
Organizer
Chambon, A9