We are what we eat
• Everything is connected: how can we remain healthy and balanced, if what we buy contributes to the exploitation of bees, pollutes our environment, and creates unemployment and stress?
• The fruit of 30 years of research, Gentle Beekeeping meets an innovative set of specifications designed to create beehive preparations of superior organic quality, that respect the well-being of the bees, the environment and humans.
1. Looking after the bees
Happy, respected bees => active, abundant beehive products
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 • Bees are equipped with powerful collective intelligence.
Highly sensitive, they are profoundly aware of human contact.
• All of our beekeepers are trained in the "language of the bees",
a set of relaxation, meditation and observation techniques that increases communication with the bee world, similar to animal handlers who "whisper" with horses or dogs. The language of the bees is the soul of GENTLE Beekeeping.
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Protection of bee food sources => good quality crops and healthier hives
 • The beauty of nature: bees pollinate plants which, in return, feed them. They play a vital role in biodiversity. That is why we choose the locations for our hives very carefully, and protect local ecosystems by planting melliferous plants (heather, lavender, rosemary, sage, hawthorn, marjoram...).
New : our "bee farm" project encourages the planting of melliferous flowers and the placing of hives on farmland.
2. 100% organic, authentic and socially responsible
GENTLE Beekeeping contributes to a responsible human scale economy, with a regional basis. Proud of our countryside and open-minded, we refuse imports of low-priced, standardized beehive products from faraway countries, and favour French and Euro-regional organic beekeeping that maintains life and work in rural areas.
50 independent beekeepers, united in an interdependent network, undertake to supply you with French and Euro-regional organic beehive products of a high environmental and
nutritional quality.
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| Preferred harvest area close to the honey laboratory (80% of harvests) :
(Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Gers, Landes, Ariège, Cévennes, Aveyron, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales).
French and Euro-regional harvest area (20% of harvests) :
(Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Loiret, Berry, Ardèche, Alpes-Maritimes, Extremadura wilderness region of spain). |
3. Socially responsible
Living in harmony with each other => Healthy society
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| Working together An independent family business with our own hives, we also join forces with small local beekeepers who share our beliefs and our respect for nature. This interdependence enables us to face one of today's greatest emergencies: the preservation of our countryside and our beloved bees.
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What are the other benefits of this innovative ecological chain?
o For you : products of exceptional quality, which protect the countryside and create jobs in rural areas.
o For beekeepers : the guarantee of a fair purchase price for their raw materials, with the assurance of long-term collaboration for some (Comprehensive Agreement Contract). Respect of their independence. Loans of beekeeping equipment, regular training in new techniques and material aid to help set up young beekeepers.
o For Ballot-Flurin : these mutually supportive partnerships ensure that we have a steady supply of the primary products of the beehive.
4. The honey-laboratory
Respect of the subtle forces of nature => living, energized preparations
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| • Everything is done to ensure that your preparations contain the maximum amount of natural active ingredients (enzymes, vitamins, trace elements, etc.), due to a rigorous
set of beekeeping practices (harvests at full maturity, manual filtering etc..)
• For each beehive product, we take into account its life force and vibrational frequency (also called the energy signature).
• Energizing preserves these vital harmonies, by harvesting in accordance with nature's cosmic rhythms, and by carrying out manual blending, long macerations and high dilutions. All of which makes the preparations even more effective. |
Gentle, clean, small-scale production => very natural products
 • Time the creator: we make the vast majority of our preparations ourselves, on site, in small batches.
Our ecological micro-manufacturing site, located in the middle of the countryside, functions according to the ancient rhythms of nature. Our honey laboratory is equipped with photovoltaic panels that provide electricity.
• Visitors are often surprised at the small number of machines that we use. Having practised natural health techniques for three generations, we prefer to use the power of time with gentle, non-destructive manual methods that preserve the noble properties of our precious harvests. Naturally,
we do not practice animal testing.
5. The organic beekeeping of tomorrow : the pilot hives
Working in harmony
• Pioneers of organic beekeeping in the early 80s, we continue, 30 years later, to develop new organic methods.
• Pilot hives: we have 160 hives permanently dedicated to research into gentle organic beekeeping practices (care of the bees, harvesting methods etc.). Our approach is based on very close observation of the bees and a deep understanding of natural ecological laws.
 • 30 years of major innovations: for example, it was from these hives that we developed our first organic beekeeping methods, such as propolis frame cover sheets , "free will" pollen traps, and the Hydroplus natural pollen conservation system and pollen trap (opposite).
• Geobiology, a new direction for research: known as feng-shui in the East, geobiology is the art of carefully constructing and placing hives, and related buildings, so that they are in harmony with the earth and the cosmos. The application of this ancient knowledge (formerly used in the building of cathedrals), noticeably increases the bees' vitality and the quality of the beehive products.
We are currently studying a new type of beehive made with local polarized wood, which takes into account the wood's natural magnetic polarity when the hives are assembled in the workshop. Bees are extremely sensitive to magnetic fields and prefer the correct alignment of these hives.
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