Basti: a curious child turned into an all-around beekeeper

After speaking about granpa Heinz, what if we speak about his grandson? Our all-around beekeeper? (c’mon Bastiii don’t be ashamed!)

Sebastian Gäbler, born in 1986, in a little Saxon town not so far away from the wonderful Dresden. He grew up surrounded by nature and always enchanted by bees. However, Sebastian, called Basti, is not only bees and nature. He studied IT and right for his studies, he is very good at all those things I don’t get on well with: Informatics, Electronics, Mathematics and numbers in general. But there’s more: he puts his mind to any manual labour, he can be chef, plumber, carpenter and drywall worker without problem. An all-around beekeeper!

And how was he when he was little?

Well…super curious and lively! Basti has a strong bond with his granpa Heinz and granny Eva. I like much this relation, full of tenderness, respect and understanding.

When he was little, every week Basti and his grandparents used to visit his great-granny Hildegard (Granpa Heinz’s mom). Basti has always loved nature and he was very curious too, hence, while running in the big garden of great-granny Hilde, he could not help exploring it up and down. Right there, there was a huge Bienenhaus (long approx. 20 metres – but Basti admits that maybe right because he was little, it seemed just bigger than what it really was). Great-granpa Walter (do you remember? the one from where Granpa Heinz passion started, as we explained here https://www.gaeblini.com/en/2021/04/25/granpa-heinz-beekeeper-for-passion-since-ever/ ) left them when Basti was only one year, but his passion for beekeeping stayed alive in his son and his great-grandson, together with this the Bienenhaus. It was not used anymore, but Granpa Heinz’s brother was keeping it in good shape.

At one of this usual visit (Basti was about 6 years old), he went to look around the Bienenhaus once again…

And what happened?

The hives from the Bienenhaus were closed and he had fun by opening some of them, despite the fact that granpa Heinz was always scolding him when he used to do so because in some of them there could have been still a bit of honey that could have attracted wasps.

The following week, another inspection from little Basti the Explorer. At that point something wonderful – at least for me – happened: in a hive there were some bees! Those hives that had been closed and empty for some years, and opened by a curious child were now full of life…they were hosting some beautiful bees!

And then?

Basti, super enthusiastic, runs to granpa Heinz to tell him about this ‘Magic’, well…granpa Heinz couldn’t believe him!

He thought he was teasing him or that there were simply some wasps. He went to check, he had to see with his own eyes, and well…yep, there were bees! Probably a beekeeper in the nearby had a swarming and the swarm decided that the best shelter was Great-granpa bienenhaus.

Needless to say that Basti was super happy and proud, for sure his granpa changed his mind about scolding him for opening the Bienenhaus hives!

At that point they took the swarm and brought it here, at the granparents’house, to take care of them.

Beekeeping in the DNA

Basti has always helped his granpa who, in turn, had learnt how to be a beekeeper from his dad: a passion in the DNA. A job and art that Basti managed to learn gradually surrounded by that love that only granparents are able to spread.

After asking granpa Heinz whether he was proud of Basti or not, I couldn’t help asking Basti what he thinks about his granpa. His very first reply – and I can only agree – is that he has much passion. He spends every day at the apiary and when it’s summer that I’m sweating without doing anything, he is there that takes, goes, checks, cleans, observes,… I swear I have really no idea about how he manages, no actually we know: it’s this passion burning inside him. For the age, unfortunately he is very insecure and anxious for his bees. I can tell that Basti’s patience has been trained very well. For sure, Basti’s passion towards beekeeping world can be only endless, considering granpa’s model as example.

All-around beekeeper – how is it to live among the bees?

When Basti is at the apiary, he feels very calm and relaxed. Taking care of the bees, makes him forget all the concerns and daily stress. What does he like the most? Feeling the responsibility towards the existence of his hives, doing something actively to help the bees, for him it’s a real satisfaction that makes him feel alive. An evolving process which he can personally take care of. Just a short thing I want to add: Basti is a force of nature and, yep, a all-around beekeeper. Nothing can stop him. He turns into challenges, what I interprete as an obstacle. He turns into opportunities for growth what I perceive as problems. And this is at the root of his managing everything, such as building a flat under the roof of a some-centuries-old house. Patience and strenght are part of being beekeeper and this is him, for sure.

Why taking care of bees?

I asked this to Basti, I was interested in knowing deeper his point of view. For him it’s a kind of vocation. When you start this beekeeping path, you take responsibilities in looking after bees, but it’s not only about bees, it’s also about environment. It’s something wider and deeper. It allows you to see the environment from a different perspective, you want a better environment for the bees too and you take care of this with more attention and passion.

Suggestions: remember that in the high season is a full-time job. Over some months, in Spring and Summer, you have to be there, it’s a responsibility that you can’t postpone. It’s very important to keep yourself informed and get in touch with your local beekeeping association, so as to learn well with an expert step by step. Once that you have learnt everything well and you are sure that this is your path, you can proceed. It’s a commitment that must be taken seriously and can’t be improvised.

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Passion, dedication, patience, education and much commitment… in the end these are the ingredients for any good project, don’t you think? Here we are cooking up many projects, simply stay tuned!!! If you have any message to leave here below, we will be very happy to read you 🙂 in the meanwhile, we wish you all the the best for all your projects as well!

A hug,

The Gäblini