blossom honey from the Lower Rhine
Imkerei am Niederrhein
We are in off-season.
The project
Adopt {publicVariety} from the apiary "{farmName}" in {cityfarm} ({countryFarm}) and receive your harvest in the form of {production} at home. The Farmer {farmerName} will take care of your adoption and take its picture. Also, you will be able to download the adoption certificate and, if you wish, plan your visit to the farm. As the production coming from one {variety} is big, the adoption is shared among various people. If you wish to have a bigger share, you may adopt more than once. You do not enter into any long-term commitment: once you receive your harvest and you enjoyed the experience, you may decide to renew and extend the adoption.
What do you adopt?
Adopt {publicVariety} from our apiary in {cityfarm} ({countryFarm}).
Adopt one of my bee colonies from the beautiful Lower Rhine (Niederrhein) and support my beekeeping. For the bee breed, I chose the Apis Melifera Carnica. She is a gentle bee. Gentleness is important for working with bees, but especially for the people living in the neighborhood. As in organic beekeeping, my bees live in natural wooden hives that are treated with linseed oil. For feeding, I always leave the bees part of their collected nectar in the bee colony, but I also feed them with sugar syrup. It is important to leave the bees with nectar as it is part of their required winter reservoir.
A bee colony pollinates an area of around 10km² if the climate and flora provide the ideal framework. If the conditions are suboptimal, i.e. less dense flora in the immediate vicinity, it can be up to 20km². Emerging colonies and swarms of bees can strengthen the colonies that have shrunk over the winter or form new colonies. A bee colony renews itself every six weeks during the season: summer bees are 6 weeks and winter bees up to 6 months old. Since bees always die outside their hive, they serve as food for birds and other insects and the natural cycle closes.
Each {variety} bears an average of 24kg per season. Each {variety} is adopted by 12 CrowdFarmers who receive a box with {masterUnitsMax} kg of {production}.
What will you receive?
Each season we will send you a box with:
4 x__ blossom honey from the Lower Rhine__ (each approx. 500g, screw jar)
Enjoy my real Niederrhein honey with its taste, which ranges from sweet to fruity, depending on where the bees have collected their nectar. In addition to blackberries, maple, sweet chestnuts, many other flowering and by-plants are typical of the region, e.g. Phacelia, marjoram, sunflowers, lavender, dandelions, mixed silphia, rapeseed and asparagus. The peculiarity of this honey lies in the local manual production, careful processing and natural filling.
I will send you the honey in a sturdy, recyclable shipping box without additional plastic. Keep in mind that honey should always be stored in a cool, dark place, and is actually perishable under these conditions, even if its properties can change. It is not suitable for infants under the age of 12 months.
When will you receive it?
Please, check the deadline for participating in this project (deadline for adoption) below. As of this date the Farmer will start preparing the orders that are to be shipped.
You may select the delivery date of your box as suggested by the Farmer at check-out.
Why should you adopt?
* Learn who produces your food, how and where. Receive your food in a conscious manner.
* Buy directly from the farmer. Help to generate wealth and better jobs in the rural areas.
* Plan ahead and enable the Farmer to produce on demand. This way we can avoid overproduction and fight food waste.
* Reward Farmers who make an effort to use environmentally-friendly packaging and cultivation techniques.
How does it work?
Meet the Farmers
Adopt and plan your harvest
Let the Farmer and nature work
Receive your harvest at home
Stefan Loth
The Imkerei am Niederrhein originated from the idea of a business IT specialist (me): My name is Stefan Loth, by profession I am now a beekeeper. The only thing I regret about the decision to become a beekeeper is that I haven't made it 10 years earlier.
A little over 10 years ago, relatively late for a beekeeping of this size, I came to beekeeping after my considerations at the time. With initially 5 bee colonies as a hobby, other bee colonies were added in the following two years. This quickly turned a hobby into a sideline and, after buying a suitable site, a agricultural business. In order to put my beekeeping on a sound foundation, I passed the journeyman's examination for professsionel beekeeping after many courses and trainings. I am currently preparing for the next training level to get a master beekeeper.
The Imkerei am Niederrhein is located in the district of Kleve, in my place of residence, Goch, in one of the landscape conservation areas there. I have been able to acquire 1.5 hectares of forest and meadows over the past few years. A large part of my bees found a home next to two log houses for beekeeping. Other bee colonies are housed at a year-round stand on an organic farm. I only work with beehives all year round. Because traveling with bees means a lot of work and time for me as a beekeeper and above all stress for the animals!
The area is only worked as far as absolutely necessary to be able to work on the bee colonies. The buildings were placed on the site in such a way that no trees had to be felled. The tree population was preserved. On the entire site, all areas that do not have to be walkable or passable are left to their own devices or even additional early bloomers are planted and sown as pollen suppliers.
My beekeeping doesn't have any organic certification. I work as a conventional beekeeper except for minor deviations according to the general EU organic standards.
There are no pesticides or pesticides in my beekeeping. I see every weed that grows as “food” for my bees.
In addition to the additional feeding in late summer, part of the honey harvest remains in the beehive so that the bees can spend the winter not only with sugar syrup but also with their own honey. The bee season on the Lower Rhine is from April to September. This time is high season for me, multiplication of bee colonies, capturing swarms of bees and harvesting honey. There are also guided tours, open days and training sessions to bring people closer to environmental problems from an insect perspective. Outside the season, the bee colonies are only intervened in an emergency. As a beekeeper, I use the time out of season to process the harvested honey, to market it, to continue my training with courses and also to plan the coming bee year.
At the apiary, I regularly use the opportunity to discuss beekeeping, flora & fauna and the environment with visitors and to raise awareness, not only for bees, but for all pollinators and insects. I hope that I can achieve this via CrowdFarming too! I am also happy to bring you CrowdFarmers the taste of Lower Rhine home in the form of honey!
Stefan Loth
"The bees impress me every day with their fantastic achievements. They are extremely important to the global ecosystem, not because of their honey, but because of their pollination services."
Imkerei am Niederrhein
Imkerei am Niederrhein
Our region is rural: Due to the proximity to Duisburg, Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, many commuters live here who enjoy the quieter country life in their free time, for example when cycling here, which is very popular here. On a bike tour through our area you will discover numerous farms and rest yards, one and two family houses as well as only a few residential complexes but no industry. It is worth discovering ...
In 1998 I came to the Lower Rhine for family reasons and stayed here. In 2005 I started with the hobby “beekeeping” and set up 5 bee colonies in the garden. In the course of time the 5 bee colonies became more.
In January 2012 I officially founded the “Imkerei am Niederrhein” from my hobby beekeeping in my home town of Pfalzdorf. At the beginning, my apiaries were housed in small groups in private gardens. In 2015 and 2018 I acquired a total of 1.5ha of forest, meadow and forest area in the local landscape protection area in two steps. After many negotiations with local authorities, I got approval for two buildings that house the beekeeping's technical infrastructure. The local flora can almost be described as wild: Large parts of the area are unprocessed, natural forest and green areas with wild blackberries, which offer bees and pollen in spring. In addition to blackberries, maple, chestnuts, birches and oaks, an unbelievable number of other flowering and auxiliary plants grow on this area, e.g. Phacelia, blackberries, marjoram, sunflowers, lavender, dandelions, streaky silphia.
In order to provide the bees with pollen early in the spring, over the past few years, hundreds of crocuses, daffodils, tulips and other onion flowers have been planted in the meadow at the bee's location, which is mowed by hand twice a year. This is a wonderful sight in spring!
No synthetically manufactured chemical products are used on the entire site to combat by-plants or pests. Flora and fauna are more or less left to their own devices. To support the bird life, food and nesting opportunities are offered all year round. We use solar energy to generate electricity. I work in beekeeping all year round and in special activities such as "Day of open doors" my two daughters support me.
The honey harvest can be easily controlled so that nothing has to be sorted out. The reject criterion is the water content of the honey. Should this be too high, the honey can be used as baking honey or for feeding the bees. Old honeycombs are melted down and processed into wax candles. Wax from the honey harvest is used to make new honeycombs and cosmetics (creams, lip balm ...). Old frames that are not suitable for further use are used as fire lighters. Green waste occurring on the site is composted. Tree pruning can be found as filling material in a Benjes hedge on the property.
Technical information
Address
Imkerei am Niederrhein, Goch, DE
Location