In late July, at the foot of Yanshan Mountain in the northeast of Beijing, Wang Quansheng, the "second generation of bees" who has been engaged in the industry for 32 years, and his wife were still "fully armed" when they worked outdoors, and the cause of beekeeping was also painful and sweet for them. At present, the couple has shaken out a new batch of thorn honey and is waiting to sell it for a good price. In fact, in the whole of Miyun, there are more than 2,000 beekeepers like Wang Quansheng, busy with this sweet cause with more than 110,000 bee colonies; there are also cooperatives that have obtained green food quality labels for 8 years, leading nearly 1,000 beekeepers to create a sweet life. Once upon a time, when Miyun was mentioned, people knew that there was Beijing's "big water basin" Miyun Reservoir, but at present, with the fluttering of hundreds of millions of bees and the sweat of beekeepers, the fame of Beijing's "natural bee farm" is also growing.
"Bee second generation" Wang Quansheng and his wife. Beijing News reporter Geng Ziye photographed
More than 8 million bees accompany him to "watch the sky and eat"
After the heat, the temperature in Beijing continues to soar above 35 °C, and even in the mountains of Miyun in the far suburbs, you can still feel a bit of burning by the sun. It was hard to wait for a large cloud to cover the scorching light, and Tian Shuge, who was wearing a bee hat and long clothes and pants, stood in front of the hive and breathed a long sigh of relief, "This cloud covers up, and it will be cool immediately." This is the most pleasant moment for her and her husband Wang Quansheng, who is also a bee farmer, the summer wind blows into Longtangou Village, Taishitun Town, I don't know if it is because of the relationship adjacent to the Miyun Reservoir, the wind in the shade is always a little cool.
This occasional coolness is fleeting, after all, feeling the heat of the roast is the daily routine of beekeepers. For Wang Quansheng, the more hot the weather, the more the best time to check the hive, "Why aren't bees afraid of hot days?" As the temperature is high, the bees are less active, and it is more convenient to check the hive. ”
Under the "name" of Wang Quansheng's two sons, there are 400 beehives hiding in the Miyun Mountains, all of which are Italian bees with strong reproductive ability and fast honey production. According to the calculation of 20,000 bees per hive, the total number of bees raised by Wang Quansheng at this stage exceeded 8 million at the peak of the bee colony, and they were all placed on the hillside of Longtangou Village, which was also the "workbench" of Wang Quansheng and Tian Shuge. The color of the hive is divided into four kinds of yellow, blue, white and green, and Wang Quansheng said that the reason why the different colors are listed is to look good, and it is also to facilitate the bees to "recognize the family".
The four-color beehive is convenient for bees to "recognize home". Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong photographed
Of the country's 300,000 beekeepers, about half have a fixed site like Wang Quansheng. This means that they can rely on the advantages of local natural conditions without having to travel thousands of miles to "chase the flowers" in different seasons of the year. But at the same time, it also means that beekeepers and bees will be constrained by the local climate environment and need to "watch the sky and eat" very purely.
In 2019 and 2020, the Miyun region experienced dry weather for two consecutive years, which reduced the production of nectar of wattles by a lot. The honey produced by Wang Quansheng's family is "natural mature honey", that is, natural honey with high concentration and no deep processing that can be eaten directly, without secondary blending and blending, and the honey has its own floral fragrance. The most direct impact of the climate drought on Wang Quansheng is that the bees produce less honey. "If the wind and rain are smooth, a beehive can eventually produce 40 pounds of honey." Wang Quansheng said that when the situation was good, he and his wife would be busy from spring to autumn, and their income would reach nearly 200,000 yuan.
Unfortunately, the weather and rain are after all a minority, before catching up with the heavy rainstorm, the rain washed the earthen platform, the above beehive was directly washed down the mountain, the bee colony suffered heavy losses, for this Wang Quansheng quickly strengthened the earthen platform with concrete, and the beehive was all placed on the heavy alloy shelf. "This year it's catching up with the drought again, and the rain is all down in the city, the flowers are less, the honey production is not so much, and the bees are no longer useful."
Career for 32 years, the pain is also sweet
Wang Quansheng, 49 years old this year, has been a professional beekeeper for 32 years. From another point of view, Wang Quansheng can be called the "second generation of bees", and he has been accompanied by bees in his life so far. "Beekeeping is a family craft, and as long as I can remember, there have been beehives in the house, but not as much as they are now."
In the 1990s, Wang Quansheng became acquainted with Tian Shuge, who was also a Miyun person, and coincidentally, Tian Shuge's family also had a beehive, and he was also familiar with beekeeping since he was a child. While the bees are diligently collecting pollen and honey, they also seem to draw a red line for the two. During the interview, the couple always smiled, worked sharply, and cooperated with tacit understanding. Some people call this a combination of the "beekeeping family" and the strong combination of the "second generation of bees", but Tian Shuge knows the hardships of this career. "It's not easy to stick to it, beekeeping in the early years is not very profitable, that is, in recent years, because of the requirements of green food standards, insisting on producing natural mature honey, it has really gained some benefits."
Stung is the most common thing for beekeepers. What surprised the reporter was that after so many years of beekeeping, Tian Shuge was still a little "afraid" of bees, even if the weather was hot, every time she approached the hive, she needed to be armed from head to toe, she was really a little afraid of pain. Wang Quansheng, who has officially taken beekeeping as his profession since the age of 17, said that he has produced "antibodies" to bee stings, "After so many years, now that he has been stung by bees, he is already only painful and not swollen, and he feels used to it." However, Wang Quansheng said that his nose and "among people" are still fragile, which can be called a weak rib life gate, "and then there are antibodies, as long as it is stung here, it hurts too much, it will definitely shed tears, and it cannot be controlled at all." So even with a big grin on his bare arms and ankles, he didn't forget to tie the protective net on his beehive tightly to his chest.
Wang Quansheng tied the bee hat tightly to his chest. Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong photographed
The culprit of the couple's most recent sting was a horse bee, and after more than a week, there was still a shocking needle eye mark on Tian Shuge's wrist, "The horse bee's lethality is much greater than that of the bee, when the wrist was swollen into a large bag, the pain felt from the bone slit." ”
Even with the pain that comes with the wind and rain and the pain of being stung, the couple still feels that this is a "sweet career", which is also the WeChat name that Tian Shuge has used for many years. In her WeChat circle of friends, she did not complain about the dry weather, only happy for the good rain and season; did not show the sting wound, and always applauded and praised her own diligent little bees.
Indicators of the environment are industrious and fragile
Pointing to the distant mountain, Wang Quansheng's tone was full of pride, "My family's bees sometimes have to fly to the back of the mountain in order to collect honey, and the honey collection range of the bees can reach five kilometers in a straight line, and when they come back from collecting pollen nectar during the day, they will hurry up to process in the 'beehive' at night, especially diligently." ”
However, bees are very fragile organisms, can not withstand pesticides and environmental pollution, even pesticide smell can not stand, bee swarms around the water quality soil, honey source plants are very picky, in other words, where there are bee swarms active, must be green water and green mountains, superior environment, pesticide extinction, flowers blooming. Therefore, bees are also known as "indicators" of the natural environment.
After so many years of beekeeping, Wang Quansheng still has to treat bees carefully. The walnut and chestnut trees planted near their homes did not dare to use pesticides at all, and the peach trees planted on the hillside only played a shading role. Wang Quansheng said that the bees' requirements for the environment are too high, even this year's wattle flower pollen is small, the couple did not dare to choose to buy pollen to feed the bees, "mainly not at ease, afraid to bring the pathogen back." ”
The latest batch of honey in Wang Quansheng's family has begun to be harvested, and the honey shaking workshop at home is stored in the shaken honey workshop. In the workshop, several tin barrels more than one meter high were filled with honey, Wang Quansheng scooped up a scoop and poured it into the barrel from a high place, and the honey pulled out a long streamline, "Only naturally mature honey can always be silky." Wang Quansheng told reporters that no matter how long the pull is, it is not easy to break the wire, which is the characteristic of natural mature honey.
Look at the beeswax in the hive. Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong photographed
Wang Quansheng's family's batch of honey, in a few days to save more, the cooperative will take away. In 2004, Beijing Jingchun Beekeeping Professional Cooperative was established, and Wang Quansheng, who has been beekeeping for generations, is one of the first members of the cooperative. Wang Quansheng told the Beijing News reporter that after joining the cooperative, the honey produced at home is finally not worried about sales, the cooperative purchase price is stable, the number of purchases is guaranteed, as long as it is good honey, basically how much can be sold.
110,000 bee colonies cover miyun one, two or three births
Miyun now has more than 2,000 beekeepers and more than 110,000 bee colonies, accounting for nearly half of the total bee colonies in Beijing, and the cooperative that Wang Quansheng joined has more than 60,000 bee colonies.
In Miyun, there are many beekeepers who join the cooperative like Wang Quansheng. The cooperative trains scientific beekeeping technology, recycles and processes honey, unifies brand sales, and the beekeepers who join the cooperative have less to worry about, and the beekeeping industry is better than before. According to Li Suxia, the head of the cooperative, at present, there are more than 800 cooperative members, not only involving 104 natural villages in 16 townships in Miyun District, but also radiating to many beekeepers in Hebei. In view of the breeding characteristics of miyun area, the cooperative hires bee breeding related experts every year to train beekeepers in breeding technology, pest control, etc., which reduces the breeding risk of beekeepers while ensuring the quality of bee products.
From Wang Quansheng's house, walk down the road to the lower reaches of Bailongtan, not far from the Bee World, where the Jingchun Cooperative is located. The shaken raw honey, after passing the inspection, is posted by the cooperative and recorded retrospectively, and stored in the storage warehouse. According to the production plan, it is the supplier of bee products of COFCO Group by processing and packaging in the processing workshop and selling it through Jingdong's own brand through Jingdong self-operated stores or agricultural and sideline specialty stores in major cities.
On July 23, the reporter saw in the honey processing workshop that after honey melting, filtration and other processes, honey was bulked into small bags, and the packers wearing white overalls had to be weighed from time to time to ensure that each bag was boxed. Li Suxia said that nowadays such small packages are more popular with consumers because of their convenience, "it is enough to drink water directly in a bag at a time, but do not take the boiled water bubbles, the water temperature should be lower than 50 ° C, otherwise the nutrition will be destroyed." ”
Honey processing workshop. Beijing News reporter Geng Ziye photographed
At the booth of the Bee World, there are different specifications of honey products, and even lipstick, lipstick, handmade soap, etc., visitors can not only understand the knowledge of bees, but also experience the fun of making a piece of honey handmade soap here. In recent years, with the continuous development of the industry, the business of the cooperative has also developed bee product processing and sales and bee culture tourism on the basis of bee breeding, covering the first, second and third industries of bees.
Natural factors create a "honeypot" in the suburbs of Beijing
Wattle flower, this is generally purple and white wildflower, widely distributed in the mountains near Miyun, compared to other honey source plants, wattle flower vitality is more tenacious, flowing honey is relatively more, with the help of these natural honey sources, Beekeepers in Miyun District no longer have to look for honey sources alone, which is also a natural factor for Miyun District to become the hometown of Chinese bees.
As a native of Miyun, Wang Quansheng's family lives under the bee farm with bees, and he is very confident, "Miyun has a good ecological environment, wattle flowers grow, no pesticide chemical pollution, especially suitable for bees to collect honey." ”
Beijing's near-"harsh" green food certification is enough to support the confidence of Miyun beekeepers such as Wang Quansheng. Zhou Xubao, senior agronomist and senior inspector of green food in Beijing Agricultural Green Food Office, explained that bees are the indicators of the ecological environment, and when it comes to green food certification, soil water quality, honey source plants, bee breeding, testing and processing, storage and packaging, management level and other aspects of honey production areas must continue to undergo high standards of review, "Bees are most afraid of pesticides, beekeeping is most afraid of mites, beekeepers can only meet green food requirements if each link is in place." ”
Farmed bees. Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong photographed
In the Jingchun Cooperative, in addition to ordinary beekeepers, there are 100 standardized bee farms that carry out high-standard green honey production like Wang Quansheng. The so-called green honey production, that is, the cooperative for bee farmers to carry out unified procurement of means of production, unified introduction of excellent varieties, unified standards, unified training, unified testing, unified processing, unified brand and unified sales, eight unified management runs through the product production and processing sales chain to ensure the quality of green bee products.
Zhou Xubao said that at present, there is not much honey in Beijing that can obtain green food certificates, and now it is concentrated in Miyun, and some of the cooperative's products have obtained green food mark license certificates, which are naturally mature honey.
It is reported that as a representative of Miyun honey, in recent years, the cooperative has improved the quality level and product reputation of the cooperative through green food, and increased the income of bee farmers, among which a large number of low-income farmers have been lifted out of poverty through bee farming. Guarding Beijing's vital "basin of clean water", it is impossible to develop any industry and planting and breeding industry that may produce pollution around the Miyun Reservoir, but the "sweet cause" in the green water and green mountains on the side of the reservoir, the thorn flowers that spread over the mountains and the busy little elves make the farmers in the reservoir area look forward to hard work and prosperity every year. The good ecology of green water and green mountains provides unlimited possibilities for Miyun characteristic agriculture and under-forest economic development, and the golden signboard of "bee sheng honey uniform" is getting brighter and brighter.
Beijing News reporter Tian Jiexiong Geng Ziye
Edited by Zhang Shujing Proofreader Yang Xuli
Source: Beijing News