Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along throughout the bee season! “This bee season 2023, we have re-designed the Gisou Bees Project. With this project, we show our support of beekeeping efforts through several initiatives such as cultivating bee gardens, collaborating with charities that promote like minded objectives, spreading education about the bees through workshops and online with our Bee Learning course, and gifting wildflower seeds that support bees on special occasions throughout the year. This is a special Gisou initiative in support of beekeeping practices and bee welfare to fight the declining bee population worldwide.” Cultivating our new bee garden This bee season, we have worked on one of our biggest initiatives: we cultivated our newest Mirsalehi bee garden, not far from our original bee garden. With this bee garden we continue our commitment to sustainably-sourced honey. We put the wellbeing of our honey bees first in everything we do. This new garden is also used for educational purposes, events and training opportunities such as workshops for those interested in learning about beekeeping practices. We scouted a wonderful location where our bees can live, forage and thrive under the best circumstances. We planted many nectar- and pollen bearing trees, plants, flowers for our honey bees and all other pollinators in the area. We have a wonderful mix of floral sources such as our original thistle, white clover, fireweed and hogweed as well as new floral sources to make our new bee garden a rich source of nectar and pollen during the entire bee season, such as echinacea in several colors and much more!  Our new bee barns and hives are now the home of our honey bees and they are thriving this summer! We started by introducing three colonies at a time by moving new colonies from the original garden to the new bee garden. This is done slowly so as to not disturb the honey bees and to allow them to slowly adapt to the new environment they are introduced in.  Growing new colonies Once we moved the new colonies our goal was to grow the colonies this summer and of course to prevent swarming in the swarming season. We now have strong colonies in our new garden that forage for nectar and pollen. The bees have produced nice batches of honey and harvesting month is around the corner where we will only take the surplus of honey. It’s amazing to witness our honey bees adapting to their new garden and seeing our garden evolve day by day.  Learn more about honey bees Find out more about honey bees and their colonies and start The Gisou Bee Learning Course. This is a comprehensive and educational step-by-step program that supports our core mission — to raise awareness around the importance of bees and inspire a new generation of beekeepers — and is for anyone who takes an interest in bees and understands their importance as well as the crucial role a beekeeper plays  in the colony’s health and survival. Throughout the program - which is offered for free - you will learn the (beekeeping) ropes which you can test by taking a quiz at the end of each class and see how much you’ve learned! The new and improved bee learning course covers topics such as the importance of the bees, bee basics, beekeeping 101, bee products and how to harvest honey. Stay tuned for our next steps into Autumn!

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along throughout the bee season! "Summer is here, and we can see that our bee colonies are working hard. It's very important to check on the beehives regularly. This means looking after the queen and making sure the hive is healthy. We also need to ensure that the bees have enough room in the hive by adding more honey storage boxes when necessary. Meanwhile, we are opening a second bee garden in a new location. All the preparatory work has been completed, and now our focus is on its growth and blossoming." A new Mirsalehi bee garden  To further support bee welfare and our objective of spreading awareness about the importance of bees, we have opened a new bee garden this Bee Season. Our initial step involved searching for a suitable location where our new bee colonies would thrive. Beehives can be kept in various settings, be it the countryside, city park, a garden nook, an open field, or even an urban rooftop. Bees very adaptable, but for optimal results, we suggest considering a few key factors when searching for a new bee garden. Bee garden checklist When considering a new bee garden, it's important to keep the following factors in mind: 1. Food and water sources for honey bees A crucial aspect is ensuring the availability of good food and water sources. The closer these resources are, the less energy bees need to expend during foraging. Water is vital for their hydration and hive temperature regulation. 2. Sunlight Most beekeepers would tell you that they've had healthier and more productive beehives in the sunlight, and we’ve experienced the same with our hives. Therefore, we recommend locating the beehives in a sunny spot. To maximize beehive productivity, position the hives facing southeast to benefit from the morning sun, which aids the bees in starting their day as soon as the sun rises. 3. Avoid high traffic areas Bees feel less threatened when their surroundings are not constantly bustling with human activity. Avoid facing the hive towards areas with significant public traffic, such as sidewalks. 4. Check for pesticide usage in the area It is essential to investigate and be aware of pesticide usage in the chosen location to ensure the well-being of the bees. How to introduce bee colonies to a new location Once you have decided on the new location, you can start introducing your bee colonies. The ideal time to do this is at night, avoiding leaving behind foraging bees. If there are bees lingering around the hive entrance, gently encourage them back inside using a smoker. Once inside, close the entrance, securely strap the hive, and move it to the new location. After placing the hive in the new location, wait a few minutes before opening the entrance. This allows the bees time to adjust. Slowly reopen the entrance afterward. As we moved our hives 10 kilometers away, if you are moving a shorter distance, additional measures should be taken to ensure that the bees can find the hive at the new location and don’t return to the old one. We are currently in the process of relocating bee colonies to our new garden. This allows the colonies to acclimate to the new surroundings, enabling growth and foraging throughout the remainder of bee season! Stay tuned for more news on our new bee garden! Want to learn more about bees and beekeeping? Take our free Bee Learning Course!

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along throughout the bee season! “At Gisou, we eagerly anticipate and celebrate Bee Season every year as a significant part of our core mission: to raise awareness about the indispensable role of honey bees in our ecosystem. As the days grow longer and warmer, honey bees gear up for a bustling season of activity.  Their colonies come alive, buzzing with energy as they prepare to forage on plentiful nectar and pollen. With swarming season on the horizon, we are excited for the important work that lies ahead.” What’s happening in the Bee Garden in Spring? The revival of honey bee colonies During Bee Season, honey bee colonies undergo a remarkable transformation, reawakening after a a long winter. The buzzing hives become a hub of activity as bees fulfill their essential roles within the colony. Spring marks the beginning of a bustling period of growth and productivity. Foraging for nectar and pollen With an abundance of blooming flowers and blossoms, new season offers a huge variety of nourishment for honey bees. Worker bees venture out to collect nectar and pollen, a vital process known as foraging. As bees fly from flower to flower, they not only gather nectar and pollen for themselves but also facilitate pollination, which is the basis for plant reproduction. Swarming season As Bee Season progresses, the colonies grow in size and vitality. With this expansion comes the anticipation of swarming season, a natural phenomenon where a portion of the colony, along with a new queen, leaves the hive in search of a new home. Swarming represents an instinctive way for honey bees to propagate and establish new colonies, ensuring their continued survival.  Our commitment to bee conservation: The Gisou Bees Project At Gisou, we hold a deep commitment to bee conservation and the preservation of their vital habitats. Bee Season serves as a reminder of the urgent need to protect honey bees and their essential role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Through our initiatives and collaborations, we strive to raise awareness and actively contribute to the preservation of bee populations. This bee season 2023, we have re-designed the Gisou Bees Project. With this project, we show our support of beekeeping efforts through several initiatives such as cultivating bee gardens, collaborating with charities that promote like minded objectives, spreading education about the bees through workshops and online with our Bee Learning course, and gifting wildflower seeds that support bees on special occasions throughout the year. This is a special Gisou initiative in support of beekeeping practices and bee welfare to fight the declining bee population worldwide.  The Gisou Bee Learning Course  As part of the Gisou bees project, we launched a revamp of The Gisou Bee Learning Course. This is a comprehensive and educational step-by-step program that supports our core mission — to raise awareness around the importance of bees and inspire a new generation of beekeepers — and is for anyone who takes an interest in bees and understands their importance as well as the crucial role a beekeeper plays  in the colony’s health and survival. Throughout the program - which is offered for free - you will learn the (beekeeping) ropes which you can test by taking a quiz at the end of each class and see how much you’ve learned! The new and improved bee learning course covers topics such as the importance of the bees, bee basics, beekeeping 101, bee products and how to harvest honey. New Mirsalehi Bee Garden To continue our commitment to sustainably-sourced honey, we’re also opening a new Bee Garden this season. This new garden will also be used for educational purposes, events and training opportunities such as workshops for those interested in learning about beekeeping practices. We scouted for a wonderful location where our bees can live and forage under the best circumstances. We are finishing up the garden and soon we will start building bee barns for our hives. Stay tuned for our opening this summer!

Beekeeping has been a way of life in Gisou for over six generations. Every product in our collection has been imbued with our extensive understanding of bees, beekeeping, and the most sustainable technique to produce honey and propolis.    On May 20th Gisou celebrates World Bee Day! Like every year, we’re honoring World Bee Day by raising awareness about the importance of bees and encourage you to do the same by taking our comprehensive and free online Bee Learning course! After completing this online beekeeping class you will learn why the global population relies on bees, the bee's anatomy, how honey is made, and much more. Beekeeping 101: Learn from the best Gisou’s Beekeeper-in-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi, leads the Gisou Bee Learning Course — an educational step-by-step program that supports our core mission and inspires a new generation of beekeepers. The course dives into the world of bees, their importance, and that of the beekeepers. After successfully completing all chapters, you’ll be able to download your certificate of completion. Congratulations on becoming an ambassador to help support the bees! Bee learning course overview The Gisou Bee Learning is a free online course that dives into the basics of beekeeping, honey bees and honey. After each of these 4 chapters you’ll be quizzed to test your knowledge, and after successfully completing the course you’ll receive your official Bee Learning Certificate! Chapter 1: The importance of bees for our ecosystem Chapter 2: The bee basics Chapter 3: Beekeeping & maintenance of the colonies Chapter 4: Bee products & the power of honey  5 fun facts about bees you didn’t know If you are still hesitating about whether you should take the bee-learning course, take a glance at some bee facts we doubt you knew about!   A single honey bee can produce 1/12 tablespoon of honey in its lifetime. Bees communicate by dancing. Bees prefer yellow, blue & purple flowers over other colors. The lifespan of honey bees depends on the season they’re born in. Bees use water to cool their hive, like mini air-conditioning systems. Start bee learning today Support us and our planet by learning about the world’s most important pollinators responsible for 30% of the world’s food supply and the overall health of our ecosystems. Take the Bee Learning course now!

At Gisou, we are passionate about our Mirsalehi honey bees. The Mirsalehi honey bees are at the core of who we are and what we do, and we strive to give to them as much as they give to us. Unfortunately, honey bee populations are in decline. But there are ways you can help. As part of our Gisou Bees Project, which is an initiative to show our support of beekeeping efforts worldwide, we gift wildflower seeds to our Gisou Community at special moments during Bee Season to support the honey bees.  Follow the sowing instructions below, and support the honey bees with us!  Help Save the Honey Bees By sowing Gisou Flower Seeds, you can help support the honey bees. Honey bees depend on wildflowers for nectar - their main source of food. Honey bees also pollinate the flowers they feed on. They transport pollen from plant to plant, which allows flowers to produce fertilized seeds to continue their lifecycle. Now it’s your turn - help fight the negative effects of climate change and habitat destruction and enjoy the colorful and fragrant flowers as you support the full honey bee harvesting cycle.  How to sow Gisou Flower Seeds Have you received Gisou Flower Seeds with your gisou.com order? For the best results, follow the sowing instructions below. Choose a sunny spot in your garden, on your terrace, or your rooftop. If you are sowing the seeds in your garden, make sure the area will not be mowed in the summer and avoid highly planted areas to avoid disturbing a natural ecosystem. Prepare the soil in a couple of pots or in an area in your garden to fill 4m². Remove any roots and existing vegetation, as any remaining plants will compete with the seeds for nutrients and sunlight. However, it is better to allow steady plants with flowers to continue to grow. Loosen the soil a bit with your hands or a rake. Disperse the Gisou flower seeds around the sowing area. Feel free to scatter more garden soil for extra nutrients. Cover the Gisou flower seeds with soil and gently pat down into the pots or the ground.  Water the soil well. In case of dry weather, make sure to water the seeds more frequently. Keep a close eye on the seedlings as they grow. In case you see your old plants come up, remove them to give the seedlings a chance to grow. Unfortunately, climate change and habitat destruction have decreased the diversity of flowers available to bees. Sowing a wide array of bee-friendly flowers and plants in gardens and on terraces is one way we can all help save the honey bees.  Honey Bee Wildflower Mix Welcome honey bees to your garden, terrace, or rooftop with this diverse mix of wildflowers. Enjoy the colorful and fragrant flowers as you help save the honey bees. FLORAL COMPOSITION Phacelia, buckwheat, white mustard, coriander, alexandrian clover, incarnate clover, marigold, caraway, leaf radish, cornflower, cumin, dill, wild mallow, fennel, borage. Flowers are vital to the existence of honey bees, as nectar is their main source of food. But honey bees not only need a flower-rich but a flower-diverse habitat as well to survive. Having a mix of plants that flower throughout the bee season ensures that honey bees have a continuous source of pollen and nectar.  This mix of Gisou flower seeds produces attractive flowers for honey bees throughout the summer!

Bee Season is celebrated yearly at Gisou and is a central part of our core mission, to raise awareness around the importance of honey bees to our ecosystem. During Bee Season, as the days become longer and warmer, the honey bees get ready for a busy season of work. At Gisou, we mirror this season of awakening in all of our efforts led by Founder Negin Mirsalehi and her sister (and Gisou Beekeeper-in-Chief), Negar. From spending weekends in the Mirsalehi Bee Garden looking after the bees and harvesting excess honey, to our activations around bee awareness, we continually strive to honor beekeeping traditions that have been passed down in the Mirsalehi family for six generations.  Gisou Bee Season 2023 Our celebration kicks off on April 11th and culminates at the end of September, which is Honey Month. To continue our commitment to sustainably-sourced honey, we’re also debuting a new Bee Garden in The Netherlands in 2023. This new space will also be used for educational purposes, events and Gisou activations such as workshops and training opportunities for new beekeepers and those interested in learning about beekeeping practices. Taking Gisou Bee Season to L.A. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be kicking off this year’s global Bee Season celebration by bringing the Mirsalehi Bee Garden to Los Angeles. Our community will be able to meet Negin and have the chance to be part of a one-of-a-kind customization experience centered around one of Gisou’s most viral launches  — our Honey Infused Lip Oil, now at Sephora! We chose sunny California specifically for its optimal climate — mild and generally dry — which makes it a happy habitat for bees and ideal for year-round beekeeping.  Gisou Honey Glow Truck - Bee Garden On The Glow Join us to experience the world of honey infused beauty — and meet Gisou founder Negin Mirsalehi from 5 to 6 pm at Sephora in The Grove! — and afterwards drop by our Gisou  Glow On The Go Truck to customize your lip oil on April 11th.  Personalize your very own Honey Infused Lip Oil with charms, stickers and more. Spend a minimum of $50 on Gisou bestsellers at Sephora in The Grove and receive the gift of a Luxury Mini Set. Plus, enter our Honey Glow Contest for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind Gisou product customized by Negin. We’ll see you there! The importance of the honey bees Bees are critically important to the health and well-being of our planet. As pollinators, they play a vital role in the reproduction and survival of many plant species, including many of the crops that we rely on for food. Without bees, many of our favorite foods, such as apples, almonds, and coffee, would be much more difficult or even impossible to produce.  Additionally, bees help maintain the balance of many ecosystems, supporting the diversity of other wildlife and contributing to the health of the environment as a whole.  Unfortunately, bees are facing significant threats from habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and other factors, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect these crucial insects. The Gisou Family Secret For Negin and her sister Negar, growing up in a beekeeping family had one very distinct benefit: an abundance of the freshest, finest honey produced by Negin’s father. As a beekeeper’s wife and hairdresser, Negin’s mother discovered  an innovative way to use this ultra-nourishing & moisturizing ingredient. After years of experimentation, she perfected a honey-based elixir that inspired Gisou’s iconic first product, the Honey Infused Hair Oil. Every single product in our collection contains  sustainably-harvested honey and propolis from our family Bee Garden where the Gisou story first started. Stay up to date on our upcoming pop-ups Thanks to our Gisou community who visited our Honey Glow Truck at The Grove in L.A. to personalize their Gisou goodies! Did you miss out this time? Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about future events around the world!  Subscribe to our newsletter

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along with her beekeeping activities! "As a beekeeper our patience is challenged in winter. We’re thinking of our bees, how they are doing and if they will survive winter. There are a few productive things you can do in winter as a beekeeper to keep your mind off from wondering how the bees are doing." How to evaluate your bee season  It’s good to evaluate your last bee season in order to optimize your ways of working for the next bee season. Practice, reviewing and improving patterns will help you become a better keeper for your bees. At the Mirsalehi Bee Garden, we evaluate the season by reviewing our lost hives, our hive records and our targets.  Lost hives over the bee season Ask yourself the following questions:  How many hives did you lose this bee season?  What was the cause of these losses?  What can you do as a beekeeper to optimize the survival rate?  To improve our beekeeping, we need to evaluate our approach and think of better ways to care for the bees. Of course not everything is in our hands, but we can always improve.  We lost a few hives and some circumstances were uncontrollable, but we always learn and grow from them. Losing a hive is devastating, but not learning from it would be an even bigger loss!  Review your bee season hive records It is important to keep records on your hive management. In autumn and winter it is time to organize your notes and look for insights: what areas can I improve for next bee season? We have reviewed our hive records, which contain information on weather conditions, appearance, reproduction, capacity and disease. It gives us insights on our colonies and our equipment. But also on our growth without harming the bees and their environment. The wellbeing of our bees will always come first place when it comes to our beekeeping approach.  Evaluate your targets Evaluate whether you reached your targets this season! Was your season successful all around? Are there areas you could improve? What are your new targets for next bee season? We also had our personal and business targets for this season. Growing knowledge and experience and even more sharing our values and spreading awareness are part of this. We will set new goals and targets for the next bee season in the upcoming weeks!  Winter beekeeping chores 1. Observe the hives & take action For a beekeeper, next to the evaluation of the season, winter is about observing. Checking whether the hive entrance is clear of snow or anything else that might prevent the bees coming in or going out. Is there anything in the area that could be bothering the bees? We can only observe to find out.   2. Feeding the colony  Another task is to make sure that the colony does not starve. Not by opening a hive, because we don’t do that in cold temperatures, but by lifting up the hive on one side to feel the weight. When the hive is easy to lift, it could be that the colony is running low on food storage. Emergency feeding is a must to prevent the bees from starving. Especially since this fall in the Netherlands has been warmer than expected and the bees were more active. This would mean that they used more energy than usual which means they needed to consume more than usual.  3. Varroa mite treatment One of our most important tasks in winter is our varroa mite treatment in December as step 3 in our 3-steps treatment program.  Other activities for beekeepers in winter Winter also means that there is now time for activities that you didn't get to as a beekeeper during bee season.  Just a few tips for activities in winter: Read more beekeeping books; Attend beekeeping classes; Make beeswax candles; Repair / clean your equipment. Hope you had a good bee season and that you are just as thrilled and excited for the new bee season like us at Gisou!

In August we had the chance to meet Australian beekeepers Nicholas Dowse, also known as Honey Fingers, and Georgah Crane. Nic is an extraordinary beekeeper who looks after our urban beehives in Melbourne and whose efforts we’ve admired for years. He founded the urban beekeeping collective Honey Fingers over a decade ago, with the goal of producing bee-friendly honey, providing education on beekeeping and collaborating with local artists to explore the relationship between bees and humans. A special visit to the Mirsalehi Bee Garden Negar and her dad welcomed Nic and Georgah to the Mirsalehi Bee Garden and spent an afternoon sharing knowledge, exchanging beekeeping tricks and talking about the differences between urban beekeeping and rural beekeeping. We interviewed Nic about his passion for beekeeping, the goals of his platform and the importance of urban beekeeping. How did you get into beekeeping? Nic: “In Australia where I grew up, all our neighbors had honey bees and I was fascinated by the whole process. I was also afraid of bees because the first time I got stung I had an allergic reaction for which I had to go to the hospital.  As I became an adult, I was interested in two things: collecting honey and then, when I was studying architecture, the architecture of the honey bee superorganism. I was so obsessed that my family bought me an introductory course to beekeeping, much like you’re offering at Gisou. And from that little thing, Honey Fingers grew. That’s how significant it can be to offer education about beekeeping.” What do you wish to achieve with your platform? Nic: “Through the practice of beekeeping I try to inspire people to connect to the beauty of nature all around us and to understand that nature isn’t necessarily something that is far away in the forest, but it could be in your backyard or on your rooftop.  Beekeeping is such a wonderful way to connect to the food chain, and with that comes a greater awareness of things like for example the climate, the environment and use of pesticides and how we have to tread more carefully on this earth to make sure that all the creatures are healthy and happy.  When you open a beehive in the middle of the city and you taste a bit of honey, you become a part of the same food web that the local birds and lizards are a part of, and I think that’s a wonderful feeling. So that’s what we’re trying to do, to inspire people to feel connected to nature.” Why are bees important to urban areas and cities? Nic: “This is closely related to the previous question - I think it’s important for people in a city to not only feel connected to nature, but to be conscious of their food, their environment and where their food comes from. Many people might not realize that pollination is such an important part of the favor that bees provide humans in terms of food production. Around seventy percent of the food we eat requires bee pollination. We work together with a couple of urban gardens where we place beehives to help increase pollination and food yield. It’s all about people becoming aware of the natural world around them and how for example climate change is affecting how we farm. With climate change, it makes it harder to keep bees, and people become more aware of this when they become involved in beekeeping and urban farming. By talking to people in our urban communities about these issues, they become more aware of where their food comes from, and what a crisis time we’re currently in with climate change and the Varroa mite arriving in Australia. It’s the bees that can teach us through the practice of beekeeping about these big, complex issues.  We’re constantly trying to engage with people, whether it’s in a formal or informal way. Any chance we have we try to get people involved.” Who or what inspires you as a beekeeper? Nic: “There are two things that inspire me. The first is the bees themselves, I find them endlessly fascinating. Understanding how bees function is like looking into a little universe, and the more I learn, the more peaceful I become. Bees are endlessly complex and understanding how they work is very calming.  The second thing is meeting other beekeepers and learning from them. Everywhere you go there are slightly different beehives and components, different ways of approaching beekeeping. Those are the two things I love; the bees and the people that look after them.”  What’s the most fascinating thing about bees?  Nic: “I would have to say the collective decisions that bees make within the hive. The queen bee is not telling the bees what to do, all of the worker bees make these little decisions together that create these beautiful complex outcomes.  The most beautiful complex outcome in the beehive that I find so fascinating is the honeycomb. There are four key elements to the bee superorganism: the queen, the workers, the drones and the honeycomb. The honeycomb is often overlooked, but essential. The endless ways the bees arrange honeycomb to raise brood, to store honey, to create little chimneys within the hive to let hot air out or to keep hot hair trapped inside. Without the honeycomb, the hive wouldn’t work. The hexagonal shape of the honeycomb is also the most efficient way of packing volumes together. It’s just so beautiful. You feel calmer the more you understand you’re connected to something much bigger than yourself.” What’s your best advice for someone who wants to start beekeeping? Nic: “I’d say read as much as you can, speak to other beekeepers as much as you can and just go slowly. There’s so much to learn with beekeeping so it’s nice to just start slowly and gently. When you're inspecting bees just take your time to listen, look, smell, learn and just go slowly.  Try to absorb as much knowledge as you can, not just from beekeepers but also from the bees. Once you understand what’s going on inside the beehive you become a better beekeeper because you become more sensitive to what’s going on in the hive. Taking the time to learn it all is definitely the way to go, and that includes honey. Don’t make honey the first priority. It’s something that comes if you’ve done your job well as a beekeeper and if you have a surplus. You’ve got to be slow about it and let it come with time.”

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along with her beekeeping activities! “While bee season has sadly come to an end, our bees are busy getting ready for fall and winter. There are a few things us beekeepers can do to support the bees before the first frost arrives. Keep in mind that even though we help our bees to get ready for winter, interfering too much can work against the bees.” How bees survive during the winter The main task for honey bees during winter is to keep the hive warm to survive winter. When temperatures drop, bees retreat to their hive and form a winter cluster to keep warm.  It is said that honeybees make honey during spring and summer because they don’t hibernate the way mammals do, so they need food to survive winter. Even though pollen is essential for bees during the bee season, honey is what gives them the most energy during winter. They are very careful not to waste any of their honey stores, which is why drones are evicted from the hive at the end of summer, as I mentioned in our last Beepeeking update. The main causes of winter losses are starvation, varroa mite infestation and excess moisture in the hives. All of these can be managed by the beekeeper. Winterizing bee hives is done during fall and consists of a few steps which will help your bees successfully live through winter. Checklist for winterizing bee hives So how do you winterize beehives? This is what beekeepers can do during fall to help the honey bees prepare for winter: Make sure you have checked and treated your colonies for varroa mites. Combine weaker colonies because a weak colony will not survive winter. Check the bees’ food storage and feed them to prepare them for winter. Remove unnecessary space in the hive. Give the bees in the smallest space possible to overwinter by removing empty boxes. This will prevent heat diffusion, keeping the bees from wasting unnecessary energy while they warm up the hive. If your hive is located in a windy spot, a wind buffer will help regulate the temperature inside the hive. Reduce the size of the hive entrance with an entrance reducer. This helps to defend against opportunists who want to rob the hive. When bees cluster, they produce heat. When that heat rises, condensation occurs, which causes (sometimes freezing) water droplets to fall onto the bees. To stop this from happening, an airflow system is required.  Check with other local beekeepers to prepare for local weather conditions. Month-by-month beekeeping guide to prepare for fall and winter August: Hive inspection and varroa mite control Make sure that the colony has a laying queen. Look for eggs, larvae and sealed brood. Make sure your colony is healthy and strong for winter. Winter bees have larger fat bodies to help them live longer. This is of great benefit since the colony has limited capabilities to raise more brood during the cold winter months.  Varroa mites feed on their fat bodies, therefore keeping the varroa population as low as possible during the winter is critical. We also check our colonies for varroa mites and we treat them on time before the winter bees are raised. September: Check on their food Make sure that when you harvest honey, only to take the surplus of honey in order for the bees to have enough food storage for winter. In case there is not enough, make sure you feed the bees with sugar syrup, sugar fondant or with honeycombs from other colonies.  An experienced beekeeper like my dad just lifts the back of the hive with one hand to determine whether they need extra food or not. Reduce the hive entrance when feeding and feed in the evening to prevent robbing. Always try to finish winter-feeding by early September. October: Winterizing bee hives  When bees cluster in the winter, they produce heat and evaporation. The water droplets rise with the heat coming off the cluster and collect at the top of the hive. Away from the cluster, the water cools and approaches freezing. This water can drip down on the cluster, freezing and killing the bees. An airflow system, which makes sure that wet air can leave the hive and minimize condensation, is required to prevent this. What else needs to happen in winter? In winter it gets too cold to intervene with the hives. When temperature rises outside, bees will leave the hive momentarily to relieve themselves of waste (cleansing flights).  In December we conduct another varroa treatment, and besides that we patiently wait for spring to arrive for the first spring inspections!

Based on a six-generation beekeeping heritage, each Gisou product is inspired by and made with the finest, sustainably sourced ingredients from our very own Mirsalehi Bee Garden. Here, our founder Negin, her father and her sister Negar continue the family tradition of beekeeping.  We all know and love our honey-infused bestsellers such as the Honey Infused Hair Oil, Honey Infused Hair Mask and Honey Infused Lip Oil, but where does it all start? We’re taking you through the journey of honey, how it’s made by bees, how it’s harvested, why we use honey in our products and the benefits of honey for hair and skin.  How honey is made For honey bees to produce honey and feed the colony, they collect pollen and nectar from flowers. Nectar is a sugary fluid secreted from flowers to encourage pollination by insects and other animals, collected by bees to make into honey.  Quick Pollination 101: Flowers attract pollinators with this delicious nectar in order to get fertilized. When a bee collects nectar and pollen from a flower, pollen from the flower’s stamens sticks to the hairs of the bee’s body.  When she visits the next flower, some of this pollen is rubbed off onto the flower’s stigma. This is how plants reproduce.  Want to learn more about bees and beekeeping? Take our free Bee Learning Course! How bees make honey: Flower nectar is collected by the bees, mixed with enzymes they produce themselves, and then stored in the honeycomb, where it’s broken down into simple sugars.  The fanning of the bees’ wings causes the water in the nectar to evaporate, creating the sweet liquid we call honey.  Once the water content of the honey in a cell is reduced to around 18%, the cell is capped with a layer of beeswax.  On average, bees in a single hive produce around 27 kilos (60lb) of honey, of which around 11 kilos (25lb) is excess honey. Honey harvesting Luckily for us, bees produce 2 to 3 times more honey than they can consume, so beekeepers can harvest the excess. At Gisou, we take a bee centered approach, which means we prioritize bee welfare and only take surpluses of honey if and when appropriate. We make sure our production cycles are in sync with the harvesting season of our key ingredients, honey and propolis. Experienced beekeepers with mature colonies can get up to three honey harvests per year: in July, August, and September. By late September (late March in the southern hemisphere), the beekeeping season ends. The bees are preparing for winter, so they need to have enough honey stored away to help them survive until spring. Curious to know how honey harvesting and extraction works exactly? Negar Mirsalehi takes you along the honey extraction process, step by step.  Why we use honey in our products Growing up, our founder Negin Mirsalehi and her family enjoyed an abundance of the freshest, finest honey produced by her father’s honey bees. As well as satisfying their taste buds as a natural sweetener, the Mirsalehi family has always strongly believed in the medicinal power of honey and has used it as a supplement and an antiseptic for many years.  Honey has been used around the world for many centuries for its powerful health and beauty benefits. Honey health & beauty benefits: Natural humectant: Honey is the best natural humectant thanks to its unique ability to attract and retain moisture. Antioxidants: Reduces oxidative stress in the body by removing free radicals, which cause inflammation. Vitamins & minerals: Including calcium, magnesium, riboflavin, potassium, zinc and niacin. Antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal: Thanks to hydrogen peroxide and glucose oxidase, honey can kill harmful bacteria and fungi.  Healing properties: Studies have shown that honey can be used for wound healing because of its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Phytonutrient powerhouse: immune-boosting and anticancer benefits. From bee garden to bottle  Because honey has so many powerful benefits, Negin’s mom - a hairdresser in training - started experimenting with her own homemade haircare formulas using Mirsalehi Honey. After several years of experimenting, she succeeded in creating the perfect honey infused hair oil made with fresh honey from the bee garden. This is how the Honey Infused Hair Oil was born! “For as long as I can remember, my family’s homemade Honey Infused Hair Oil has kept my locks healthy, moisturized and conditioned. It’s the first thing I use on my hair in the morning to nourish and hydrate and I continue to use it throughout the day, every day, to tame flyaways and polish. I often apply it before bed as an overnight treatment to strengthen and moisturize my hair. Even before and after styling, it’s the one product I rely on to prevent my hair from drying out, to add shine and to enhance the finished result.” - Negin Mirsalehi Honey benefits for hair and skin Our iconic bestselling Honey Infused Hair Oil inspired us to expand the Honey Infused line with more nourishing hair care and complexion products. To this day, all of our Honey Infused products contain honey which comes straight from the original source: the Mirsalehi Bee Garden.  Why honey is good for your skin Mirsalehi Honey is also the key ingredient of our range of skin and complexion products: the Honey Infused Lip Oil, Honey Infused Face Oil and Honey Infused Beauty Balm. Honey is great for your skin because it’s packed with powerful components that speed healing and reduce inflammation. It also draws moisture deep into the skin, making it useful for dry skin conditions and anti-aging. Why honey is good for your hair Honey has countless benefits for the hair such as the ability to attract and retain moisture, adding shine and preventing breakage. Honey also contains nutrients like vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants to protect the hair from damage and improve overall hair health. Discover the power of honey Honey goes through an entire journey before it reaches your bathroom shelf, which is what makes our products so special. It’s thanks to the hard work of our honey bees that we can enjoy the powerful benefits of honey for our hair and skin!  Wonder why our community loves our Honey Infused haircare? Try it yourself!

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along throughout the bee season! "We’ve officially kicked off Honey Month at Gisou as a celebration of beekeepers, honey bees and of course, honey. September is the month that marks the end of our Bee Season in the Netherlands, which means it’s time for the last honey extraction of the season.  After September, we no longer extract honey as the bees start preparing for winter and they need enough honey stored away to survive the cold months. Today I’m taking you along as I harvest and extract Mirsalehi honey from the Bee Garden step by step!" Honey harvesting steps Step 1: Gear up Make sure to wear protective clothes, a hat with veil and gloves before opening up the hives. Make sure you have the right tools with you as well, such as a hive tool and an uncapping tool, smoker and bee brush. Don’t wear any perfume or any other scented products which attract bees.  Step 2: Open the hives & remove the bees Choose your first honey chamber of the hive and open it slowly and gently. Working slowly reduces the risk of instigating bees that might assume that you’re a threat. Bees are very sensitive to fast movements. To get the bees out of the way, you can use a smoker or bee brush. Want to learn more about bees and beekeeping? Take our free Bee Learning Course! Step 3: Examine the honeycombs Capping occurs when the cells of the honeycombs are plugged by the bees for storage purposes. A honeycomb at 80% cap is one in which at least 80% of the cells have been plugged. A honeycomb which has less than 80% capped cells is not ready to be harvested. A visual inspection is generally sufficient to know whether a comb is ready.  Step 4: Remove the frames You will need to remove the bees from the honeycomb by gently shaking them off and use the bee brush to brush off the remainder of the bees. Not even one bee should stay behind on the comb. You need to work fast so preferably work together with another beekeeper. Which makes it more fun! Remove the honey frames from the supers or honey chambers and place them in a closed container or separate super. You might have multiple supers to remove frames from, so do them one at a time. Store the honeycombs in a cold and dark place until you’re ready to extract the honey. Honey extraction steps Step 1: Uncapping the honeycombs The extraction of the honey should take place inside, preferably in a kitchen. Never do this outside and especially not near the bees.  You’ll need the uncapping fork or knife to uncap the honeycombs. Use whichever uncapping tool you have to remove the caps on both sides of the honeycombs. From there, the open honeycombs go into your extractor. Only uncap as many honeycombs as can fit into your extractor to prevent any honey waste.  Step 2: Extracting the honey A honey extractor is essentially a centrifuge. You place the honeycombs in racks inside the tank and close the extractor. The tank will spin, utilizing centrifugal force to extract honey and deposit it in the bottom of the tank. Within 10-15 minutes, all the honey will be out of the honeycomb! Step 3: Straining the honey Your final step is to strain and bottle the honey. Use a double sieve or cheesecloth to catch the wax and impurities as the honey starts pouring out of the extractor. You may want to pour the honey into a temporary jug where it can sit for 12 hours to let the air bubbles settle out. Step 4: Bottling the honey Next, store your honey in clean glass jars with airtight lids. You can use plastic containers as well, but make sure they have never been used before as this may contaminate the honey with residual flavors or odors. Now it’s time to enjoy the bees’ magical labor. Enjoy the honey with your breakfast, in hot drinks, dressings or use it on wounds to promote faster healing. Sharing your honey with friends and family is mandatory! If you have honey cravings and have no honeycombs to harvest and extract, fear not: you can always find a local beekeeper to buy fresh local honey from! Watch part 1 and part 2 of my honey harvesting and extraction in action!

In honor of Honey Bee Day and after our community’s overwhelming excitement and support for Bee Learning Chapter 1, we’ve now launched the final two chapters of our Bee Learning Course. We can’t wait for you to continue learning about bees and beekeeping & hope to inspire more of you to help us care for the creatures that care for our planet.  Next to educating yourself about the bees by taking our Bee Learning Course, there are a few other things you can do to help support the honey bees. Keep reading to find out how you can help them! Why do bees play an essential role in our ecosystem? Honey bees are the most important pollinators in the world which make them fundamental to the health of our natural ecosystem. Pollination is the basis of human nutrition, enabling the production of fruits, nuts and seeds. Honey bees are the world's most important pollinator of food crops - they are responsible for nearly a third of our global food crops and most flowering plants. Vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus and cucumber rely on the pollination of bees, as do apricots, strawberries, apples, tomatoes, almonds, coffee and even cotton!  Why are bee populations in decline? Honey bee populations have been declining worldwide due to widespread pesticide use, climate change, disease, and habitat loss. Here’s why: Until 50 years ago, areas which are now used for agriculture had a variety of wildflowers which sustained healthy bee populations. The pressure on farmers for increased output means there’s no longer any space for wild nature on farmlands. This leads to the decline in bee populations, which is amplified even further by the use of harmful pesticides in agriculture. Today’s main culprits for declining bee populations:  Intensive farming practices - less space for wild nature Mono-cropping - lack of diversity in bee nutrition + increased need in pesticide use  Excessive use of agricultural chemicals/pesticides - harmful for the bees  Higher temperatures associated with climate change - altering the relationship between flowering plants and bees, causing nutritional stress How to support the honey bees Now that we know why bees are important for our ecosystem and how they’re being threatened, here are some easy things you can do to support the bees! 1. Go organic  Opt for organic produce and avoid the use of chemicals in your garden. The use of insecticides and herbicides will weaken and even kill your bees, so avoid these at all cost, whether you’re buying produce or tending to your own garden.  Research shows that pesticides linger in the pollen and nectar of flowering plants, which is the main source of food for honey bees. These pesticides weaken the bees’ immune systems and make them more susceptible to disease. Avoid herbicides that kill nectar-producing plants Buy pesticide-free plants Remove weeds by hand Shop your produce locally and organic 2. Plant a variety of flowers Bees rely on flowering wildflowers, shrubs and trees to provide food in the form of nectar and pollen. Plant indigenous wildflowers every summer (wherever you can!) Here’s what you should take into account: Flowers bloom across the different seasons, from early Spring to late Fall. Choose a variety of flowers that will bloom throughout the seasons. Opt for native wildflowers, meaning flowers which naturally occur in the region or ecosystem your hives are located in.  If you have a garden, don’t mow your lawn too often - the little flowers such as dandelions and clover are the perfect food source for bees. 3. Provide water  If you have a garden, rooftop or balcony, you can provide water for the bees. Bees return harvested water to their hive and use it to cool down the hive by fanning their wings. Like a mini air conditioning system!  You can create a little bee bath using a shallow plate filled with water and flat stones, for the bees to land on safely without the risk of drowning. Make sure to refresh the water every so often.  4. Support your local beekeeper By buying local honey and other bee products, you support local beekeepers and their honey bees, and in turn also the health of the environment in your immediate surroundings. Local raw honey is delicious and full of nutrients!  The Gisou Bees Project This is also why we’ve set up The Gisou Bees Project: a special Gisou initiative in support of urban beekeeping practices to fight the declining bee populations worldwide. With this project, we show our support to urban beekeeping efforts by placing urban Gisou beehives in major cities around the world. We work together with local beekeepers who look after the Gisou bees on our behalf.  Not only do we support urban bee populations this way, but we also support local beekeepers who continuously care for the bees and raise awareness in their local communities. As we place our Gisou urban beehives in a city to improve the health of the city’s ecosystem, we therefore concurrently aim to carry out part of our mission - to raise awareness for the importance of bees.

Beepeeking at Gisou is all about giving you, our community, a peek inside the world of bees & beekeeping. As our new Beekeeper-In-Chief, Negar Mirsalehi is excited to bring you along throughout the bee season! “We’re still in the middle of Bee Season so I thought I’d bring you along to the Mirsalehi Bee Garden and give you an update about the bees! As Gisou’s Beekeeper-In-Chief, I hope to share some insights about the bees and beekeeping, so you can learn a thing or two and get inspired to support the bees. Maybe you’ll even start your own beekeeping journey one day!” New to the world of bees and beekeeping? Take our online Bee Learning Course to learn all the basics!  Honey bees in August August can be a challenging month for bees. Not only is it hot, but there are also less nectar sources available (as the flowers have passed their peak) compared to spring and early summer, which may lead to robbing.  Although August is considered to be the height of summer, it’s also the time to start thinking about getting the bees into shape for winter. This means making sure they have enough food sources but also checking for diseases and pests.  The start of the beekeeping year Although we’re nearing the end of the bee season, August simultaneously marks the start of the new beekeeping year. This is because all the actions you take as a beekeeper now, will influence how well your colonies will do next season. If you take the right steps now, you will help your bees survive through winter and thrive in spring!  What is robbing + how to stop it Robbing is a term used to describe honey bees who invade another hive to steal the stored honey. Robbing bees enter the hive, uncap capped cells of the honeycomb and fill their honey stomachs with honey from the other hive, and bring it back to their own hive. Bees fight each other in the process, and many bees unfortunately die.  If you notice a hive being robbed, you need to intervene immediately, because it’s hard to stop once it begins. Here are some steps beekeepers take to prevent or stop robbing: Make hive inspections quick Reduce the hive entrance to a very small opening, so guard bees have a better chance at guarding the hive and keep out robbing bees and wasps If your hive is weak, you can consider combining it with another hive to make it stronger.  Queen & colony evaluation  During this time of year, colonies start to prepare for winter, meaning they start rearing winter bees. These worker bees are different from summer worker bees. Winter bees live much longer than summer bees, 20 weeks as opposed to 6 weeks! Winter bees are also called fat bees because their bodies are larger. They have special organs in their abdomens which allows them to store more food to survive through winter.  It’s important for the bee colony to be healthy as it’s essential to survive winter. If a colony is weak, it’s possible to combine with a stronger or healthier colony to increase their chances of survival. Requeening August is also a good time to start thinking about requeening, if and when necessary. Requeening means a beekeeper replaces the current queen bee with a new one. It’s important to have a young, strong and productive queen in the colony who will survive winter and be strong enough once spring comes around to start laying eggs. Your hive is only as strong as the queen that leads it! Drone eviction August is also the time that drone bees (male bees) get kicked out of the hive by the worker bees. They serve no purpose after mating season, so they are expelled from the hive. The worker bees only tolerate a small number of drones in the hive during winter, in case of an emergency. Varroa mite check & treatment Beekeepers monitor their hives for varroa mites at least once a month during bee season, and more frequently during late summer. Varroa mites are a parasite that transmit bee viruses and also weaken and kill honey bee colonies. It’s therefore extremely important to monitor the bee colonies for mites and use the right treatment to remove the varroa mites while not harming the bees.  Provide water  August is usually a hot month, so beekeepers must provide enough water for their bees! Bees return harvested water to the hive and use it to cool down the hive by fanning their wings like a mini air conditioning system! The further they need to fly to find a water source, the more energy they’ll need to spend on it.  Tip: If there’s no natural water source nearby, you can create a bee bath using a shallow plate filled with water and flat stones, for the bees to land on safely. Refresh the water every few days! Coming up in September I hope you learned a thing or two about what the bees are up to in August, and how as beekeepers we can support them! September is all about honey harvesting and I can’t wait to take you along. Want to learn more about honey bees and beekeeping? Take our Bee Learning Course! - Negar Mirsalehi, Gisou Beekeeper-In-Chief

At Gisou, beekeeping has been a way of life for over six generations. Our expert knowledge of the bees, beekeeping and the optimal way to sustainably harvest honey and propolis have infused every single product in our collection. Now, we’re sharing that passion and insight with everyone via our Gisou Bee-Learning Course, a comprehensive and educational step-by-step program that supports our core mission — to raise awareness around the importance of bees and inspire a new generation of beekeepers.  Learn from beekeepers around the world As a part of our commitment to the planet, our mission is to connect every person to nature by inspiring bee lovers of all levels. Our program dives into the world of bees, their importance and that of the beekeepers who play a crucial role in helping the bees thrive.  Throughout the course, students will learn the (beekeeping) ropes not only from Gisou founder Negin and her sister, Negar, but from our thriving community of female beekeepers around the world who have dedicated their craft to raising awareness around the fundamental role the bees play in our ecosystem. Take a quiz at the end of each chapter and see how much you’ve learned!  Beekeeping course for beginners  The three chapters of the Gisou Bee Learning Course include: Bee Basics, Beekeeping 101 and How to Harvest Honey. Anyone who completes the course will be able to download a personalized certificate of completion that can be posted on their social channels. Learn and inspire others … together, we’re paving the way for a new generation of beekeepers! The Gisou Bee Learning Course Chapter 1 will be available starting July 25 on gisou.com The Gisou Bee Learning Course Chapter 2 & 3 will be available Aug 20 for National Honey Bee Day on gisou.com  The Gisou Bee Learning class syllabus  Chapter 1: The heritage of bees & their future Learn why we depend on bees and what’s causing the decline in bee populations. Dive into pollination, the composition of a bee colony and the roles of each bee within the colony. Find out the surprising ways in which bees communicate with each other! Chapter 2: Beekeeping & maintenance of the colonies Learn the basics of beekeeping: what equipment you need, how a beehive is made up, how to create the best environment for your bees and the difference between urban and rural beekeeping. Take your first step towards becoming a beekeeper! Chapter 3: Honey harvesting & the power of honey Dive into honey and propolis, two of the unique substances that bees create. Learn why they are special, how they’re made, their benefits and how honey, specifically, is harvested. Meet our new Beekeeper-In-Chief: Negar Mirsalehi Negar Mirsalehi is Negin’s sister and her decades of expertise and hands-on training in the family’s Bee Garden is a central focus of our Bee Learning course. Experience firsthand the family’s beekeeping practices that have been passed down from generation to generation — this know-how will be part of the Bee Learning course and you’ll have the opportunity to ask her anything!  “I am so excited to lead the Gisou Bee Learning Course to raise awareness around the importance of bees, advance our Beekeepers Project and create the ultimate beekeeping experience in our very own Mirsalehi Bee Garden,” says Negar. Adds Negin: “I am so excited for my sister to officially join the Gisou family. Together, we hope to inspire a new generation of beekeepers and Negar will be at the forefront of carrying our family’s legacy forward!” Meet our community of beekeepers Throughout the Bee Learning Course, expect to learn tips and tricks from our close community of esteemed beekeepers: Negar Mirsalehi Location: Almere, The Netherlands Passionate about sharing six-generation-inspired Mirsalehi beekeeping practices Nina Moerdijk Location: Scheveningen, The Netherlands Gives back to nature through her daily practice of the craft  McKay Joice Opeifa Location: Salt Lake City, United States Explores the world that surrounds us, and shares her discoveries with others Nic Dowse AKA Honey Fingers Location: Melbourne, Australia Investigates the symbiotic relationship that exists between honeybees and humans Photo credit: Phillip Huynh Georgah Crane Location: Melbourne, Australia Fuels her insatiable curiosity by learning life lessons from the bees Photo credit: Nic Dowse How to take the Bee Learning Course The Gisou Bee Learning Course will be available starting July 25 on gisou.com.

Meet Negar Mirsalehi, sister of Gisou Founder Negin Mirsalehi, and the brand’s first-ever beekeeper-in-chief. “Since I was a little girl, I would spend every single Sunday in the Bee Garden with my father. My father would show us the hives and tell us about the bees and we’d finish the day with a nice picnic together.”  Decades later, she still spends every Saturday and Sunday in the Bee Garden with her father, not only for tradition’s sake, but to hone her skills as his apprentice, devoting hours to practicing and perfecting the craft of beekeeping.  Continuing the 6-generation family tradition of beekeeping If you ask Negar to describe when she is happiest, she says: “Being outside with nature, watching the flowers blossom and working with my hands.” One thing was always clear to Negar: no matter where life took her, she would find a way to keep her father’s passion for and knowledge of beekeeping alive and pass it on to future generations. “I’m looking forward to creating memories with my daughters in the Bee Garden,” says Negar. “They’re potentially the eighth generation of beekeepers!” The unique composition of Mirsalehi honey In the Mirsalehi Bee Garden, a wide variety of flowers abound like thistle, white clover, wild blackberry, fireweed and hogweed, among many others and “it is the composition of these florals,” says Negar, “that makes our Mirsalehi Honey unique and unreplicable” — it’s also the source of the brand’s proprietary Mirsalehi Oil Blend, a key botanical complex found in every product in the collection.  Beekeeping, the Mirsalehi Way “My father brought his beekeeping practices to the Netherlands from Iran — a totally different environment. Everyone is trying to find a way to create habitats for bees to keep them going. Over the years, we’ve seen that the bees are having a hard time and hives are getting smaller and winter is getting harder for them to survive,” says Negar. “Past generations created lives around beekeeping and now it’s our generation’s responsibility to build awareness for the importance of bees, evolve and grow beekeeping as a practice.” A typical day as a beekeeper What exactly does a typical day as a beekeeper look like? “I obsessively check the weather 10 days in advance at all times – it really makes or breaks your week. I study and observe the trees, types of flowers that are blossoming in the Bee Garden and then I check on the bees. I open the hives, see if they’re healthy and have an open food supply and of course, check on the queen. If she’s healthy, she will lay eggs and that’s an indication of a healthy hive,” says Negar. Gisou’s Beekeeper-In-Chief Negar officially stepped into her role as Gisou’s new Beekeeper-in-Chief on June 1, 2022. As Gisou’s Beekeeper-in-Chief, “Negar will lead our Gisou Bee-Learning Course to raise awareness around the importance of bees, advance our Female Beekeepers Project and create the ultimate beekeeping experience in our very own Mirsalehi Bee Garden,” says Gisou CMO & CDO, Nathalie Manivong. “With 5 years of intensive beekeeping training under her belt and decades of growing up in the Bee Garden, she’s the perfect person to carry on the family’s legacy.”  Negin adds: “I am so excited for my sister to officially join the Gisou family. Together, we hope to inspire a new generation of beekeepers and Negar will be at the forefront of carrying our family’s legacy onwards and forward!” Keep an eye out on the blog as Negar shares her knowledge on bees throughout the bee season!

The Gisou Bees Project is a special Gisou initiative in support of urban beekeeping practices to fight the declining bee populations worldwide. With this project, we show our support to urban beekeeping efforts by placing urban Gisou beehives in major cities around the world. Urban bees vs rural bees As an endangered species, bee populations are declining worldwide. At Gisou, it is our main focus to support bee populations in any way possible. Contrary to the belief that bees only thrive in rural areas, beehives in urban areas produce healthier bees because they have access to greater biodiversity and are not exposed to the harsh chemicals often used in agriculture.  As such, urban beekeeping is one way through which the health of bee populations can be strengthened. Aside from that, urban beehives contribute to the health of cities -  trees, shrubs, gardens and parks wouldn’t exist, let alone thrive in urban areas without healthy bees to pollinate them. Urban beekeeping doesn’t just support healthy bee populations, but also the communities the urban bees live in. The Gisou Bees Project For The Gisou Bees Project, we work together with local beekeepers who look after the Gisou bees on our behalf. Not only do we support urban bee populations this way, but we also support local beekeepers who continuously care for the bees and raise awareness in their local communities.  As we place our Gisou urban beehives in a city to improve the health of the city’s ecosystem, we therefore concurrently aim to carry out part of our mission - to raise awareness for the importance of bees.  The Bees Project in Paris  To launch our first Gisou Bees Project in June 2019, we brought a piece of the Mirsalehi Bee Garden to Paris by installing the honorary ‘Gisou at Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées Beehives’ on top of the urban rooftop garden of BHV (part of the Groupe Galeries Lafayette).  Today, our beehives in Paris contribute to the health of the Parisian ecosystem as they remain under the care of seasoned urban beekeeper, Gaël Cartron from Sous Les Fraises. The hives at BHV are surrounded by the urban Sous Les Fraises rooftop garden.  The Bees Project in New York  In New York City, we chose to work with beekeeper Andrew Coté, president of the New York City Beekeepers Association and founder of Andrew's Honey. In August 2019, we installed Gisou Beehives on a rooftop near Union Square together during our Take Out & Refill Pop-Up.  The installation of our beehives took place on August 17th 2019, in honor of National Honey Bee Day. Andrew Cote continues to care for the Gisou Beehives on our behalf, helping us to contribute to the livelihood of the bees and the overall urban ecosystem of New York City.  This bee season, Andrew added new hives, as the bees started to swarm meaning that the colony is thriving and expanding!  The Bees Project in Melbourne After our first beehives in Paris and New York, what better way to launch our third Gisou Beehive than with our fellow beekeeper Nicholas Dowse AKA @honey_fingers - an extraordinary beekeeper in Melbourne, Australia who’s efforts we’ve admired for years. Together, Nic and fellow beekeeper Georgah (@georgahcrane) take care of the Gisou bees on a rooftop in Fitzroy, Melbourne.  Honey Fingers is more than an urban beekeeping network - it’s a creative project that explores the intersections between farming, food, art, history, design and education, with bees taking the center stage.  The Next Step Moving forward, our intent is to expand the Gisou Bees Project to other cities around the world. By placing our urban beehives in any city, we contribute to the health and beauty of its ecosystem, show our support for urban beekeeping efforts and aim to raise awareness for not only urban beekeeping initiatives, but the welfare of bees overall.  Keep an eye out on our Instagram to stay updated about The Gisou Bees Project!

On May 20th 2022, we celebrated World Bee Day with our first-ever Bee Season Pop-Up in Amsterdam. With this world premiere, Gisou wants to raise awareness around the importance of bees and inspire a new generation of beekeepers.  “We are so excited about Bee Season 2022 — bees are at the heart of everything we do at Gisou. Since day one, we have been committed to caring for the Mirsalehi Honey Bees in the same way my family has for six generations and we can’t wait to share everything with our Gisou community.” - Gisou Founder, Negin Mirsalehi The Gisou Bee Season Pop-Up For the first time ever, our Gisou community was able to experience what it feels like to be in our Mirsalehi Bee Garden. We took over Prinsengracht 455 space in Amsterdam for 3 days (May 20-May 22, 2022) to bring the ultimate destination of Gisou heritage and sustainable beekeeping where flowers, honey and haircare come together in one place.  The Mirsalehi Heritage  Visitors could learn about how to become a beekeeper and the craftsmanship of beekeeping directly from our seasoned experts, and unearth one-of-a-kind treasures on display in our Mirsalehi Heritage Museum.  Flowers by Rae Blooms Guests of the Gisou Pop-Up in Amsterdam could also bring home a curated wildflower bouquet courtesy of Australian flower artist and founder of Rae Blooms, Ariella Hill — her unique ability to play with shapes and textures as they relate to flora and fauna turns the botanical world into artistic masterpieces.  Introducing Negar Mirsalehi, Beekeeper-in-Chief This Bee Season - starting May 20 and ending on August 20 for National Honey Bee Day -  we are proud to introduce Negin’s sister, Negar Mirsalehi, who is the brand’s first-ever Beekeeper-in-Chief. The wealth of experience she has accumulated after decades of apprenticeship under her father will be shared throughout Bee Season — with Gisou devotees visiting the Pop-Up, takeovers on our social channels and in the media. Limited Edition Bee Season Merch Gisou’s permanent collection and limited edition Bee Season collectors items like the Beekeeper’s Starter Pack Gear (Gisou Bee Season Jumpsuit, Gisou Bee Season Cap and much more) were exclusively available at the Gisou pop-up, as well as online starting May 20th in very limited quantities.  Gisou Bee Season Cap Protect your hair & scalp while sowing your Gisou wildflowers in style! This 100% cotton style is made in The Netherlands and has an adjustable strap. Gisou Bee Season Jumpsuit This versatile gardening staple, inspired by beekeeper’s suits, was exclusively designed by Negin Mirsalehi and the Gisou team. Gisou Bee Season T-Shirt This one-size-fits-all T-shirt is made out of 100% organic, recycled cotton. Join us and wear your t-shirt throughout the Spring and Summer, to help support the bees! These items were exclusively created for Gisou Bee Season 2022. Subscribe to our Newsletter to be the first to know about our exclusive Gisou Pop-ups and merch.

Based on a six-generation beekeeping heritage, each Gisou product is inspired by and made with the finest, sustainably sourced ingredients from our very own Mirsalehi Bee Garden. Here, our founder Negin and her father continue the family tradition of beekeeping. Negin, her father and the generations before them have always taken a bee-centered approach in their Mirsalehi Bee Garden.  At Gisou, the welfare of our Mirsalehi Honey Bees is our priority. We let the bees guide our beekeeping practices to sustainably source our key ingredients, Mirsalehi Honey and Propolis, in a bee friendly and sustainable manner.  The Mirsalehi Honey Bees At Gisou, we are passionate about our Mirsalehi Honey Bees. That is why we let the bees guide our beekeeping practices and derive Mirsalehi Honey and Mirsalehi Propolis, our key ingredients, in a bee friendly and sustainable manner. The Mirsalehi Honey Bees are at the core of who we are and what we do at Gisou, and we strive to give to them as much as they give to us.  From the very beginning of Gisou up until today, we: Prioritize bee welfare Strive to mirror natural life cycle of the bees Minimize intrusion to the colony Favor natural behavior and interaction amongst the bees Only ever take surplus honey, if and when appropriate Sync production with the harvesting season of our key ingredients Altogether, Gisou is committed to a sustainable and bee friendly and sustainable production method that puts the Mirsalehi Honey Bees first, not only for the sake of the bees, but the greater ecosystem as well. Gisou Bees Q&A with Negin Mirsalehi When was the Mirsalehi Bee Garden set up? “My father grew up in Iran, where he practiced beekeeping since he was a little boy, just like the generations before him. As a young man in the 70s with a true passion for beekeeping, he wanted to find the best place where he could start his very own bee garden. A place where he could set up hives successfully and keep healthy bees. Discover Gisou’s heritage story here.” Who takes care of the bees in the Mirsalehi Bee Garden? “My father oversees our Mirsalehi Bee Garden to this day. As an active practicing beekeeper myself, I help my father in the Mirsalehi Bee Garden as often as I can - going there to spend time in nature amongst the bees is like a meditation session for me. Through Gisou, I want to encourage more young people to explore and experience what beekeeping is all about!” How far back does beekeeping go in your family?  “The craft of beekeeping is a Mirsalehi family tradition which goes back six generations! I grew up learning about beekeeping from my father in our own family bee garden, and my father learned it from his father, and so on.” Are the honey & propolis the only key ingredients sourced from the Mirsalehi Bee Garden? “We are very proud to continue to sustainably source our beauty-enhancing key ingredients, such as Mirsalehi Honey, Mirsalehi Propolis, our proprietary Mirsalehi Oil Blend from my family's bee garden here in the Netherlands!” With Gisou expanding every year and becoming available at more and more retailers, how can the bees keep up with production? “We continue to sustainably source all honey in Gisou products from my family’s bee garden in the Netherlands. Even though we’ve expanded the bee garden over the years, we care for the Mirsalehi Honey Bees in the same way my family always has, by putting their wellbeing first in everything we do.  We only take surpluses of honey if and when appropriate. We make sure our production cycles are in sync with the harvesting season of our key ingredients. Simply put, the Mirsalehi Honey Bees are at the core of who we are and what we do at Gisou, and we strive to give them as much as they give us.” The magic of honey bees: Bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the planet, converting honey with a special, almost magical precision. A bee produces a teaspoon of honey (about 5 grams) in her lifetime. To make one pound of honey would require 768 worker bees their lifetime to fly more than 55,000 miles to collect nectar from 2 million flowers. Honey's composition is determined by the flowers from which bees collect nectar. No batch is ever the same - the floral sources available to our Mirsalehi Honey bees changes throughout bee season. A new generation of beekeepers At Gisou, it is our mission to raise awareness for the importance of bees for the ecosystem, as well as inspiring young people to explore the crucial craft of beekeeping. Driven by our founder and active beekeeper Negin Mirsalehi, we aim to highlight and encourage a new generation of female beekeepers who are largely underrepresented. Gisou supports female beekeepers just like Negin, who are committed to spreading awareness, knowledge and sharing their inspiring stories as beekeepers. In honor of Women’s History Month, we interviewed four female beekeepers and listened to their stories and experiences in this unique trade. Gisou Bees Project The Gisou Bees Project is a unique Gisou initiative in support of urban beekeeping practices to fight the declining bee populations worldwide. With this project, we show our support of urban beekeeping efforts by placing urban Gisou beehives in major cities around the world. We aim to expand the Gisou Bees Project globally in order to raise awareness for urban beekeeping initiatives, as well as the welfare of bees overall. Read more about the Gisou Bees Project here. Get involved Follow us on Instagram to join our journey, share our passion for bees & beekeeping, and stay informed on how you can support big and small initiatives, from wherever you are in the world.  

Gisou is born out of a passion for bees, haircare and natural beauty. Based on a six-generation beekeeping heritage, each Gisou product is inspired by and made with the finest, sustainably sourced ingredients from our very own Mirsalehi Bee Garden. Here, Gisou founder Negin Mirsalehi and her father continue the family tradition of beekeeping. Gisou haircare and complexion harnesses the transformative benefits of Mirsalehi Honey and rich botanical sources, selected to enhance your natural beauty.  From the very start of the Mirsalehi Bee Garden in the 1980’s, up until today, Negin tells us all about her heritage and journey with Gisou: Beekeeper by blood “My father grew up in Iran, where he practiced beekeeping since he was a little boy, just like the generations before him. As a young man in the seventies with a true passion for beekeeping, he wanted to find the best place where he could start his very own bee garden. A place where he could set up hives successfully and keep healthy bees. He was torn between the Netherlands and Los Angeles, California. He had heard that the Netherlands is known for its flowers, which are what the bees feed on. With this idea in the back of his mind, he thought the Netherlands would be the perfect place for his bee garden. So, with that, his decision was made to move to the Netherlands.” A different climate “Little did my dad know that the bees in the Netherlands are active only a few months of the year due to the climate. Unlike in Los Angeles, where it is warm year-round and beekeepers can practice beekeeping nearly year-round as well, it gets cold and wet in the Fall and Winter in the Netherlands and the beekeeping season therefore lasts only a few months.”  The start of the Mirsalehi Bee Garden “Regardless, my dad has no regrets for choosing to live in the Netherlands. Once he settled here, the first thing he did was start his own bee garden in Almere, a small town just outside of Amsterdam. Two daughters (including me) and several more beehives later, and my father and I proudly continue the six-generation family tradition of beekeeping together in the Mirsalehi Bee Garden.” The power of honey “Growing up we enjoyed an abundance of the freshest, finest honey produced by my father’s honey bees. We used it for just about anything. As well as satisfying our taste buds as a natural sweetener, my family has always strongly believed in the medicinal power of honey and has used it as a supplement and an antiseptic. I still eat honey multiple times a week. I usually always start my day with honey in some way, whether I use it to finish off my oatmeal or include it in my freshly baked, homemade granola. It’s truly a multipurpose ingredient for sweet and savory dishes - a little goes a long way!” The making of the Honey Infused Hair Oil “Honey’s impressive nutrient properties inspired my mother, a hairdresser by trade, to experiment with it to create her own haircare solutions. It was my mother who came up with the formula that inspired Gisou’s Honey Infused Hair Oil - a product that our entire family has used on their hair on a daily basis ever since.”  Our multi-purpose haircare secret “For as long as I can remember, the Honey Infused Hair Oil has kept my locks healthy, moisturized and conditioned. It’s the first thing I use on my hair in the morning to nourish and hydrate and I continue to use it throughout the day, every day, to tame flyaways and polish. I often apply it before bed as an overnight treatment to strengthen and moisturize my hair.” When was Gisou founded? “Growing up, I received a lot of compliments on my hair, which only increased when I started blogging. However, it wasn’t until I shared more about my family’s heritage via my social channels that I discovered how interested my followers were about not just my hair, but also my beekeeping heritage. By asking me to share more, my followers inspired me to start Gisou, which I launched together with my fiance Maurits in 2015.” The benefits of honey for hair & complexion “Since launching the Honey Infused Hair Oil, the key ingredient, Mirsalehi honey, has inspired the development of all other Gisou products - it’s an ingredient that we really believe in to deeply nourish, moisturize and strengthen, sealing split ends, reducing frizz, taming flyaways and leaving behind healthier-looking hair. It wasn’t long before I was inspired to apply the power of honey to complexion. Following a careful, 3-year product development cycle, we launched the Honey Infused Face Oil in 2021 and the Honey Infused Lip Oil in 2022. We are super excited to continue applying natural ingredients to enhance everyone’s natural beauty!” What it means to be a beekeeper “The global population relies on bees to pollinate more than a third of its crops and beekeepers are necessary to ensure that there are enough bees around to do so. As bee populations are in decline, passionate beekeepers are needed to sustain the bee colonies, protecting them from the use of pesticides, pollution, invasive species and the decline in wildflower cultivation.  This is where beekeepers like my dad come in, who practice beekeeping because they love bees, and celebrate the fruits of their labor on the bees’ terms, only ever taking surpluses of honey. In the Mirsalehi Bee Garden, beekeeping is more than a profession - it’s a passion.” Our bee-centered approach “Gisou is committed to caring for the Mirsalehi Honey Bees in the same way my family always has. We put their wellbeing first in everything we do. At Gisou, we let the bees guide our beekeeping practices in all we do in order to extract our key ingredients, Mirsalehi Honey and Propolis, in a bee friendly and sustainable manner.  Simply put, the Mirsalehi Honey Bees are at the core of who we are and what we do at Gisou, and we strive to give them as much as they give us. Gisou combines my heritage and passions for beekeeping and natural beauty all into one. It also gives us a platform to raise awareness for the importance of honey bees and beekeepers for the livelihood of the entire ecosystem, two causes I am extremely passionate about!”

Gisou is founded by and driven by women. Gisou's heritage stems from female influence which is passed on to the next generation. Take for example the Gisou bee colonies, where the female worker bees carry all the work and produce our hero ingredients, honey and propolis. We also take our inspiration from our community, and female beekeepers around the world, who are committed to learn, spread awareness and share their inspiring stories. In honor of Women’s History Month, we spoke to four female beekeepers around the world, from the Netherlands to Utah. Read their stories and get inspired to support your local bees and beekeepers, or even start your own beekeeping journey! How 4 Female Beekeepers Got Their Start Cecilia Pace Location: Pratola Peligna, Abruzzo, Italy IG: @cecile_92 Beekeeping since: 2011 Inspiration to start beekeeping: “I come from a second generation beekeeping family. My dad started beekeeping more than 40 years ago and passed on his knowledge to my brothers and I. Today, we run a family business together, Apicoltura Colle Salera, producing 19 different kinds of organic honey.  We have a nomadic approach to beekeeping: we move to different regions in Italy, from Puglia to Emilia Romagna. This way, we make the most of the blossoming season so that our bees have access to the best pollen and nectar.” McKay Opeifa Location: Salt Lake City, Utah IG: @mckayjo Beekeeping since: 2012 Inspiration to start beekeeping: “Since I was a little girl, I have always loved insects. So naturally, I chose to study Entomology. The university I was studying at had the 10th largest bee collection in the world and I got hooked. I’m currently studying for my Master Beekeeper from Cornell University. I’m a honey collector, a teacher and a self-proclaimed honey sommelier!” Nina Moerdijk Location: Scheveningen, The Netherlands IG: @oceansidebeekeeping Beekeeping since: 2019 Inspiration to start beekeeping: “Three years ago, I decided I wanted to do something that wasn’t just for me. I immediately thought about doing something with nature, since my dad - a fossil and shell collector - taught me a lot about nature from a young age. I followed a one-year beekeeping course and now I take care of four of my own bee colonies!” Hannah Mather Location: Central Florida, USA IG: @hannahshoneycomb  Beekeeper since: 2018 Inspiration to start beekeeping: “I’ve always been fascinated by nature and insects. In college, I studied insect-borne diseases and fell in love with the complexities of entomology. After spending some time working in a lab, I knew I needed to be more hands-on with the creatures I loved, so I turned to beekeeping instead!” What’s your favorite thing about beekeeping?  McKay: The energy! I can feel the bees’ energy and I know they can feel mine. I love to have the bees circle all around me. It’s a great reminder to be present, to bring a calm energy to them.  I also love that bees teach us new things every day. Science is in awe of the honey bee, and the medical world is discovering a lot of unexplored avenues with bee products. It’s exciting and makes me feel like I’m a part of something magical. Cecilia: I love going to our apiary: the birds singing, the fresh and clean air, the sun kissing my face, listening to bees singing while laying on the ground. It’s always so moving. Nina: The whole bee ecosystem is so perfect. It’s really beautiful to see how bees reflect our environment. For example, when I open the hive I can smell which flowers they’ve collected nectar from. Bees are also so inventive! They never cease to surprise me.  Hannah: Being able to witness the complexities of the hive firsthand, while being forced to be in the moment and temporarily forget all the other stressors of life and things on the to-do list. Favorite fun fact about bees? Nina: For one single jar of honey, bees fly the distance around the world. They put so much work into making the honey. Bees actually make way more honey than they can use - they make as much as they can store. Hannah: That all the worker bees in a colony are female, it’s amazing what a large group of girls can create! McKay: Recently I have rediscovered the collaborative energy of the bees and the signals they send to each other. Together they thrive — not one of them would be able to survive alone, not even the Queen. There are a lot of life lessons to learn there. Cecilia: We can distinguish from bees how much they sing, when they are happy and when they cry, because we have a symbiotic relationship with them. Challenges as a female beekeeper? Cecilia: Beekeeping has always been considered as a man’s job, despite the bees’ system being matriarchal! Unfortunately, it can be hard for women to be accepted this wonderful world. For many people it is unthinkable that women could do this job.  McKay: I really haven't faced any challenges as a female. I did attempt to join the beekeeping club here in the city and found very quickly there was no one like me there, just a good handful of middle aged men! Hannah: Beekeeping can be quite labor intensive, and there is often an incorrect assumption that we all have a man behind the scenes doing the heavy lifting. We must work harder to be taken seriously in the “bee world”, but thankfully, that seems to be changing as more of us share our stories! A typical day as a beekeeper Nina: It really depends on the season. In early spring, I make sure the queens are still alive and that they have enough food until spring really hits. When the season starts, I do a weekly check-up to make sure they don’t swarm, so I can split the colony on time. They need enough room to store pollen and honey - if the hive is too full, the queen leaves. Cecilia: We usually go to our apiaries to check the bee colonies, to examine the queen and to see if they have enough food. During midsummer, hungry bears tend to come visit us, so we monitor our apiaries from a distance with a specific technology and intervene if something happens. Hannah: No day as a beekeeper is “typical”, and that’s what I love the most! Depending on the time of year, a day of beekeeping can consist of inspecting the health of colonies, relocating swarms for the local community, harvesting honey, or editing photos and writing about bees for educational purposes.  McKay: As a beekeeper, there is no typical day. One day I am catching swarms or hosting a honey tasting class and the next day I’m working with kids. That is the beauty of it; I have created a life around my passions and I wake up every day with a new thing to try and learn. I am so wonderfully fulfilled with what I do as a beekeeper! The beauty & health benefits of honey & propolis McKay: We’ve only scratched the surface of the benefits of honey and propolis. Honey, beeswax, bee venom and propolis are unlike anything else you will find in this world. They dance together in such a beautiful way to keep the hive functioning, guarding it against predators and against disease.  We are constantly finding new ways everything from the hive can be implemented into the medical world as well as beauty! Hannah: Both honey and propolis have amazing anti-microbial properties that can gently help skin conditions without any harsh side effects.  Cecilia: Honey and propolis have superlative beneficial properties! Propolis is by definition a natural antibiotic: it disinfects and anaesthetises. Honey is full of antioxidants and never goes bad. It also has many benefits for the respiratory tract.  Nina: I actually make my own lip balm with honey and beeswax. It’s like a super hydrating overnight treatment. I also use it to fixate my eyebrows. I use propolis drops for when I feel like I’m getting a cold, so more for medicinal use. Advice for how to start beekeeping? Hannah: Start with research! Read all you can, reach out to local beekeepers or even beekeepers on social media. Many areas have local beekeepers associations that are a wealth of knowledge and can help you get hands-on experience to build your confidence before bringing your own hive home.  Nina: Just try to find local beekeepers whom you can learn from. Beekeepers are so passionate about what they do so they’re always happy to talk. Just ask around! Secondly, you can look for a local beekeeping club and do a course. If the courses are full you can always volunteer, there’s always help needed in the garden.  Lastly, you really need to be committed. It’s all-year around. For example, during spring you can’t really travel, so you need to make some sacrifices. McKay: Learn to love bees. If you love your bees, you will naturally want to educate yourself on how to help them, you will do what is best to help them, and ultimately be successful. So love them, slow down and listen to them. Cecilia: The advice I feel like giving is the following: read a lot and especially find a beekeeper in your area and offer your help. Direct experience on the field really makes the difference! How do you educate people around you on the importance of bees & their welfare?  Hannah: The first step in my opinion is to get people to notice bees and realize that we are not separate from nature. Nature is all around us and relies on us for survival. Try to notice things around you, be curious and ask questions - this will lead to wanting to protect nature.  McKay: With the world being so uncertain at times, it can be hard for kids to stay grounded, be confident and form their own ideas. This is what beekeeping offers. The kids that come to my hives have a fire and passion in their eyes. They’re more courageous than some adults I know! As for the adults, I try to teach them about bees and honey during my tasting sessions. This beautiful experience forces them to slow down and pay attention. I’ve discovered that most people know close to nothing about bees. If only they knew what they were missing, they would do a better job at trying to help the bees.  Cecilia: I welcome groups of people, both adults and children, to our apiary so that they can learn more about the bees’ ecosystem. People are often scared of bees, and I believe that direct experiences with bees are the best way to sensitize them and make them understand that nature should be treated with respect. Nina: Bees are such magical insects, there’s so much to tell. When the bee season starts, I take my followers along through my Instagram Stories with everything I encounter. Everyone is super engaged! I let my followers pick the name for my queens, and they’ve come up with some really good ones: Regina George, Beeopatra, Bee Gees and of course Beyonce! What are some small things anyone can do to help the bees thrive?  McKay: There is a lot you can do, but there’s one thing that is good for the bees, but also good for your soul.... plant flowers! It’s such a joy to get dirt under your fingernails and make the world a little more beautiful. Look up the native flowers in your area, they will be easier to take care of, and not only the bees, but all the surrounding insects and vegetation will thrive. The second thing: stop spraying your garden with pesticides, pull your weeds and find alternatives for the pesticides you use. They are more harmful than you think and it can take years to get them out of the plants’ system. With a little more patience you will learn a lot and the pollinators will love you.   Nina: If you can, buy organic food which has not been sprayed with pesticides. People don’t realize that pesticides are bad for the bees. If a bee comes in contact with certain pesticides, and brings it back to the hive, the whole colony dies. 70% of the food we eat is dependent on pollination from insects. Without pollinators, we wouldn’t even have fruits and vegetables!  Hannah: The most important thing that we can all do to help bees thrive is planting diverse, native, nectar-rich flowers that provide sustenance and habitat for them. Habitat loss is the biggest threat facing our bees.  Cecilia: Always help and respect the bees. When you see a stunned bee, give her some honey or water as a refreshment. They won’t attack you and they’ll be super happy! Bees only sting if they feel attacked. Plant as many flowers as you can, try to pollute less and make respecting nature a lifestyle! Biodiversity must be protected. Follow us through Bee Season ‘22 for more beekeeping stories and tips! Thank you Cecilia, Hannah, Nina and McKay for sharing your beautiful stories with us! Make sure to give them a follow on Instagram to follow their unique beekeeping journeys. @cecile_92 @hannahshoneycomb  @oceansidebeekeeping @mckayjo