In the Name of the Bee: An Ecosustainable Project To Elect the Guardians of the Environment

Spring has finally arrived, the perfect time to rediscover a matriarchal society, that of bees, which is very important for the environmental balance and for our health. The bees are at the centre of this new conservation project “Nel nome dell’Ape” of Castello di Meleto and Viticola Toscana, with the aim of tripling the existence of these insects in the area in the next period. Inviting private individuals and their members to adopt a hive, the company aims to encourage a wider return of this precious insect to the territory of Gaiole in Chianti and neighboring areas.
The protection of the place is one of the peculiar aspects on which the company bases its work, always trying to move beyond what are the company's aspirations linked to the processing of the material, for a return to disused methods and practices, of maintenance according to a thought that aims to protect man and the landscape. For this reason Castello di Meleto presents the special project In the name of the Bee, a title borrowed from Emily Dickinson.
At a delicate time like today, when the risk factors are many and everyone's health is at risk, especially that of those who don't have sufficient defences to overcome major inconveniences, the project “Nel nome dell’Ape” captures the desire to facilitate the growth of pollinating bees, which have a positive impact on the immune defences of man. The opportunity of fostering a hive wants to promote a current message in a precise direction: on the one hand, to return to the good practices of rebalancing that are also necessary for everyone's environmental education; on the other hand, to cultivate an awareness in citizenship and build a future of conservation.  For those who decide to become custodian of a hive will allow it to grow and develop; in this way they will take care of it at a distance and will be involved in its growth step by step.
The name of the investor will be affixed to each hive taken into foster care with a donation of €250 and 2 kg will be extracted from the production of each site for 5 years of foster care, for a total of 10 kg.
The 20 hives of the property provide a quality organic honey and it is the intention to triple the number of families in the near future, in order to support the biodiversity of the territory and a global heritage of sustainable development.
The initiative is part of a context of renewed attention. After a decade spent verifying the residues of a harmful environmental impact at a global level, with traumas that came from the 1950s - as revealed by an article published in Sole24Ore in 2013 - since 2018 the European Union has decided to stop the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which were decimating the beekeeping heritage of member countries. Again since 2018, 20 May has been declared World Bee Day, in order to restore a habitat suitable for the life of these insects.
Over the last few years, the attention paid to apis mellifera and apis cerana - which can be bred by man - has allowed the production of honey of various qualities and other products such as pollen, propolis and royal jelly, which are very popular to be re-evaluated. And that's not all: according to a recent intervention by the National Consortium of Beekeepers Conapi "the bees will save the world" since pollination is closely linked to the production of fruit and vegetables, and 70 plant species out of 100 depend on the fundamental action of bees.