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Dear Raw Honey Friend
What if I told you there’s a honey so powerful it’s setting a new record in our raw honey collection?
Claire’s recent expedition to Greece uncovered the background to this. But there was a lot more to her trip.
I’ve asked her to tell her story of an eventful and emotional time, particularly when she went to see Thomas, who experienced a massive catastrophe last September...
Last year was a very tough one for Thomas and his family, as you may know.
On the night of 5th September 2023, the rain fell with a vengeance on Thomas’ region of Thessaly, drowning 300 of his hives and wreaking havoc in the region.
Thomas, his dad Giorgios, his sister Elena, and the whole family were distraught.
Here at The Raw Honey Shop we couldn’t sit back and let Thomas go under, so within days we had launched an appeal, and the generosity of customers helped us raise over £5,000, enough to buy Thomas some replacement hives.
But that only solved part of his problem – 300 of his hives were destroyed, and the donations paid for maybe 100.
The community pulled together to help; other beekeepers donated colonies, an uncle has a woodwork shop, and they built some more hives.
So, now getting close to a year after the disaster, I wanted to find out exactly how he and the family were doing.
I knew a visit was the only way we would get proper information out of Thomas as it is understandably a painful situation, so it needs to be approached with tact.
Also, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone – and get to see Dimitris, who had supplied us with a superb organic Sidr that was Active 14.5 last year. (As far as I know, Dimitris supplies the only certified organic Sidr that is available.)
Claire went to Thomas’ wedding back last September 2023, so she seemed the ideal person to go on the trip. (By the way, in case you don’t know, Claire is the Operations Manager here.)
Here is Claire’s account of her adventure.
25th June – 4am arrival at Gatwick Airport. A hideously early start but very excited as I was off to Greece to see our wonderful beekeepers.
I can’t lie, I was also excited to see a bit of sun as our Summer was shaping up to be pretty disappointing.
Asterios (who does the coordinating with some of our Greek beekeepers) met me at Thessaloniki Airport.
I can tell you there was a sudden adjustment to the wall of heat that hit me as I stepped out of the airport.
First stop was a Greek coffee after my early morning start whilst Asterios filled me in on his news.
Springtime is always an incredibly busy time for the beekeepers as the rain and the sun means everything is in bloom and the bees start to work incredibly hard.
For beekeepers, the weather is everything.
It was only June, but already the month had been incredibly hot with temperatures reaching 40 degrees – 10 degrees hotter than what they would normally expect for June so already Asterios is worrying about the summer temperatures.
First stop is Mount Belles in northern Greece with the aim of meeting up with a very exciting young organic beekeeper called Dimitris, who is extremely passionate about his bees and organic practices.
Asterios got him to send some samples last year and the results from a lab test were very good, so we’d ordered his Sidr honey.
Soon we were in the wilderness, and Asterios kept phoning Dimitris to check we were going in the right direction.
We finally found each other, got into Dimitris 4 x 4 and next we were bumping along a twisty track up Mount Belles, that wound between the Sidr trees.
I was very excited to see all the Sidr trees.
The road soon becomes just a dirt track, with Sidr trees everywhere.
I ask Dimitris and Asterios about the area and they tell me that the unique combination of altitude and the density of the Sidr trees is why it is such a special area.
[Tim here: As I discover — soon after Claire’s return — this year’s Sidr Batch is very special. The lab result tells me it is Active 28, the highest we have ever seen for a Sidr — or indeed any honey ever. This honey was one of our fastest selling ever.]
The road stops, and we are in a large clearing with the beehives. I see a small guy in a bright orange t-shirt and cap – Kostas, Dimitris’ Father.
Dimitris opens one of his hives (doesn’t even put on gloves, and I can see why he isn’t worried – the bees are incredibly calm and relaxed) and I can see the Oak and Chestnut honey on the combs.
Dimitris was incredibly shy when I first met him, and I didn’t think he spoke any English.
He seemed to understand me but was reluctant to speak.
After a while his confidence grew and he suddenly started telling me about the Oak and Chestnut honey that the bees are making now that the Sidr had stopped flowering.
He was telling me how the combination of Oak and Chestnut on the mountain was a powerful honey and told me ‘it is made from bees, not people’.
We jump back in the 4 x 4 and head further on up the mountain.
Kostas loves this mountain and tells us how unique it is.
He says there are over 1300 different plants on the mountain and that is part of what makes the honey produced here ‘more than organic’.
It’s the most beautiful area, incredibly peaceful and only surrounded by nature.
There is also a natural Spring here which is perfect for the bees, so they have somewhere to drink.
I can totally understand the passion that Dimitris and his Father Kostas have for this area.
I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to visit this place and thankful that Asterios introduced us to these outstanding beekeepers.
We start to head back down the mountain, back into the intense heat.
Luckily, we manage to find a shady spot for lunch (nothing better than a bit of Greek hospitality!) and time to relax for a little while before I head back to Thessaloniki and to the bus station where I will travel on to see Thomas.
On to Thomas
After a couple of very hot and sticky hours wait at Thessaloniki bus station the bus arrived bang on time.
First thought that hit me as I settled down was thank goodness for amazing air conditioning.
A nap wasn’t going to happen though – the bus driver was insistent on having the radio on at full volume and as much as I love Greece, loud Greek music can be a bit full on and I’d got a long journey ahead of me!
As I watched the city of Thessaloniki disappear behind me and the landscape opened up to fields, my mind started to wander and reflect over the last year.
I hadn’t been to Thomas’ hives for a couple of years.
The last time I saw him was at his wedding last Summer and that was quickly followed by the devastating floods where he lost so many of his hives.
I knew what an incredibly difficult year it had been for the whole family and also how hard they had worked to get themselves back up and running.
Helped enormously by our generous customers who had donated money to help them buy new hives. But it was also through the incredible support from their whole community and sheer hard work and determination that got them through it.
A year on and I couldn’t wait to see the family and hear all their news. Obviously, I’d spoken to Thomas many times over the last year but I knew I wanted to give him a big hug in real life!
It was night time (so a bit of a reprieve from the sun) when I finally arrived and there was Thomas and his Sister Elena with big smiles waving at me.
After big hugs, we were straight in the car and off to Thomas’ home where I was going to stay with him and his wife Christina.
We sat out to catch up on all their news – their apartment is right across from the Church where they got married – and events from over the last year.
Thomas knew I was keen to see the hives the following day so it was definitely time for bed. I spent about two minutes thinking I won’t be able to sleep because it was too hot before I realised it was morning.
A quick shower and a coffee and we were good to go to the mountains, to a place called Rentina where Thomas has his Oak hives.
This has been one of our most popular honeys with customers since we first started stocking it in 2017.
The road twists and turns up the mountain and the views are amazing - looking out on the Thessaly plain.
We finally reach the mountain area of Rentina where the hives are.
First job is to check the bees and see inside one of the hives. Thomas is very happy because he tells me ‘It’s full’.
Thomas says that this year is very good for honeydew, which is what the bees make the Oak honey from.
It’s such an honour to be this close to the hives and seeing the bees at work.
Like with Dimitris, I am amazed at how calm the bees are.
Obviously, you are very aware of them but there is an overriding feeling of calm.
The bees are hard at work, they aren’t in the least bit bothered about us and if his bees are happy then Thomas is happy!
We then head down the mountain a little to the nearest village for a mid-morning coffee and just as we arrive Elena’s phone starts to ring.
Elena’s busy talking and I can tell she’s worried about something.
Thomas explains they have just had a phone call saying a fire has broken out.
After about 30 minutes we are told that the local firefighting team have it under control but it is a stark reminder that fires are a constant threat and just how vulnerable everyone is and it’s a problem that only continues to get worse.
(I remember back to two years ago, when terrible fires destroyed large areas of the island of Evia. Thomas managed to rescue his hives just in time.)
I can see that Thomas has another very busy year ahead of him and seeing his hives and these wonderfully remote pristine mountain areas means I absolutely can’t wait to taste the new season's honey!
My last day has quite a different feel.
Sadness at leaving this wonderful country and sorry that I don’t have more time to spend with Thomas and help over the next busy few weeks with extracting the honey.
Not just that but this morning all thoughts turn to the events of last September and to the floods.
In every conversation, the timeline is always measured by either ‘before the flooding’ or ‘after the flooding’. It’s a constant reminder of what an impact they had not just on Thomas’ family and their livelihood but their whole community.
I can see the pain in Thomas’ face when he talks about it.
He is keen to show me the area where the worst of the flooding happened and where they lost most of their hives.
Despite everything they have achieved this year he tells me it still feels like only yesterday that they woke up on that fateful morning to see the street below their apartment was like a river – the street they had walked down only 2 days beforehand to reach the church where they got married.
It took days for the flood waters to be low enough that they could start searching for the hives – he tells me ‘it was double hard work’.
Many were found washed up miles away – the bees dead and the hives full of mud.
Thomas takes me to the field where much of the devastation took place.
Clearly, it is still very emotional for Thomas.
He tells me ‘You cannot imagine how bad the smell was’. (There were many dead animals floating in the water.)
It’s hard to watch him describe how devastating the situation was and how heartbreaking it was when they saw so many of their hives had gone and the bees were dead.
But with thanks to the generous donations from the Raw Honey Shop customers and their determination and hard work, here we are 9 months on and it’s inspiring to see the recovery that they have made.
So my trip to Greece had now come to an end and it was time to say my goodbyes. There were hugs and invitations to come again very soon.
Then I was back on the bus to Thessaloniki – looking forward to the air conditioning again!
I knew Thomas now had an incredibly busy few weeks ahead of him extracting the Mountain Oak and Fir honey but I also knew it would only be a couple of months before we’d be able to take delivery of the new honeys – definitely something to look forward to!
I just wanted to add, if you have any questions about my trip and the beekeepers I met don’t hesitate to email claire@therawhoneyshop.com
POSTSCRIPT:
Since Claire’s visit, we’ve had good news about the honeys harvested this year in Greece.
Dimitris’s Sidr honey tested at an Active 28, the highest we’ve ever seen. It has now sold out but we hope to get some more later in the year.
This year's Oak from Thomas has proved to be exceptionally tasty. You can find all Thomas' honeys here.
