Do you remember your childhood when you were spreading honey on a large slice of bread, and then eat it with a lot of lust by licking your fingers, your face or your clothes? I was talking to some friends these days about what we are passionate of and how a passion enters our soul and stays there for a long time, perhaps forever. This is what happened to Iulia Trif, a beekeeper from Marpod, a village belonging to the county of Sibiu, located in the southwest part of the Transylvanian Highlands. She sees through apiculture a suitable way for living in harmony with nature. The pollination role of bees is an important element in her vision and believes that this process must not be altered by any kind of mechanisms or interventions that contradict natural things. Yulia’s successful story is presented below and tells us in a few words her relationship with this occupation. How did this love for bees and beekeeping appeared?I love bees since childhood, but it all started in 2010 when I received a gift from my parents in law: 2 hives. Since that moment I have been running my business by managing an apiary of 100 families. The beekeeping activity that I and my husband are working on together is managed as a family business. It starts with the preparation of the bee families in the winter to the marketing of honey. Can you make a livinf by beekeeping? by passion in this case? You can decently live with 150 bee families or 100 bee families in our case because we bring a large variety of products. A family of bees can produce 20-25 kg of honey. In the beginning we only had poliflorous honey and pollen. Now we have 11-12 products: honey with propolis tincture, immune regenerative apiarian complex containing pollen and propolis honey, honey comb, mix honey with pumpkin seeds or walnut kernel, then we have propolis tincture of concentration and so on. 30{494bb6f9a0129e7b244ec70a9a91c298714a0486e2dd1bd35fd65519881ff75d}, honey in the extraction season. Where do you sell your the products? The products are sold on Saturdays at the Huet Square in Sibiu, Sundays at Obor Square in Sibiu, Rasinari and Albac festivals during summer. Also at the brunches on the Hârtibaciului Valley as well as at the local producers’ store in the Fortified Church in Cincşor How do you describe a common day in a beekeeper’s life? The day begins with checking the families of bees and their queen. We need to find out if she has fresh eggs, or if we need to „break the nest” with either a frame or an old frame at laying. What does this mean? It means to go through each frame of the hives having per-prepared material. This is a minor intervention! Sometimes you can find unpleasant situations and must break up the family, tear up the rods or other feeding, treatment or nesting works. What are the problems a beekeeper faces? The problems are of financial nature, the financial resources allocated to the sector through the National Apiculture Program have decreased by about 60%. Another problem are the diseases, the bad weather and other situations. A problem is manifested when the collectors of a stronger bee community steal the honey and pollen of another weaker bee family. Because of the strong instinct for harvesting, collecting bees, in the absence of natural picking, attracted by the smell of honey from weaker families, take this form of „picking”. This type of bee has a certain behavior: it flies with her legs extended, with a raised abdomen and wrinkled hair on her body. Fulfilling a dream or a passion is often a whole adventure. You must always go through your own fears and even overcome them. We all agree that when we do what we are passionate about, we feel happy we feel like we are part of something extraordinary. What hidden passion do you carry in your soul? Would you like to work like me with the bees, to have your own business near your house? If the answer is yes, then there is no time to lose! It’s the time to live your story … and not anywhere else but the Transylvanian Highlands. + pictures of beekeeper