Petya Ivanova – Bulgaria’s best beekeeper for 2010

published on 11/22/10 1:19 PM

Photo: Darina Grigorova

The mother of two children, a delicate and slender young woman with a strong charisma. This is Petya Ivanova from the small village of Ostrov, near Vratza, in Northwestern Bulgaria. But what sets her apart from everyone else? Perhaps this is the award for Bulgaria’s Best Beekeeper for 2010, a distinction bestowed by Bee and Beehive Newspaper and also her being the first woman to receive this award. Petya’s choice has been unanimously supported by the beekeepers’ club. In the opinion of Dimo Dimov, editor-in-chief of Bee and Beehive newspaper, this choice has been determined by the long years of hard work that the young woman and her family have invested in the beekeeping business. Petya has been a beekeeper for 15 years now. Ten years ago, she and her husband bought a caravan and refurbished it for the purpose of beekeeping – they needed a mobile platform for beehives which could easily to travel to places of good pasture. This method enables them to profit best from the possibilities for feeding bees in this region and to produce some 10 to 12 tonnes of honey annually. Here is more from Petya Ivanova:

“We live on the banks of the Danube and we have the opportunity to produce different types of monofloral, polyfloral and blended honey including honey made from acacia, sunflower, thistle, and rapeseed, as well as mildew honey. Our region is very rich and that is why have been engaged in mobile beekeeping for over ten years. We started with only four bee families, and now we have more than 700. The rich pasture оf flowers and the extremely beautiful region motivate us to keep doing this. Last year, we built a special facility which we have transformed into a beehouse, and now the honey extraction process is much easier”.

In her hard work, Petya Ivanova receives the assistance of her husband Lachezar, her son Milen and her daughter Iva who is only 11:
“For three years, I have been producing honey pollen. This is a very specific product that requires a special technology for drying to preserve its valuable properties and qualities. Thanks to the experience that I have accumulated over the years I am managing in some way to cope with difficulties related to raising a large number of bee families. In the active season, we have assistants to help us with loading and unloading stuff. It is not easy for me as I am also in charge of the production of honey as well as the drying and packing of the honey pollen, which also takes a lot of time. Our season starts in April when the first pasture for bees is blossoming and that is why we need to be fully prepared”.

Since 2006, Petya Ivanova has started participating in apiary exhibitions across the country where she has been earning various awards such as Queen of Honey in 2006 and Queen of Mildew Honey in 2010. Due to these exhibitions, she meets customers and receives many orders from the whole country. In 2010, she took part in a world apiary exhibition in Montpellier, France. For three years, she has been part of the National Beekeeping Program:

“Beekeeping is a science because you have to be skied also in woodcarving, accounting, and veterinary medicine because of the numerous bee diseases. Beekeeping requires complex knowledge and expertise in different fields. Otherwise, even if you have 10 or 20 bee families, they won’t survive long”, Petya Ivanova concludes.

With the exquisite quality and taste properties of the honey she produces, Petya manages to satisfy even the choosiest of customers. She admits that to her and her family the global economic crisis has never started.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova

По публикацията работи: Darina Grigorova

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Petya Ivanova – Bulgaria’s best beekeeper for 2010

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