Bee Farm: Alchinov

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Today, on the platform of Kajak.mk, we are adding a modest, old, and preserved story about the Alchinov family, who have been engaged in beekeeping for generations and offer various services that can be used in their bee farm.

For us at Kajak.mk, this represents another unique gastronomic destination that can be part of your agenda for team-building, social trips, individual and family visits, and explorations of the Gevgelija region.

We contacted Kristijan Alchinov, a young and ambitious beekeeper who proudly shared the story of the beginnings of the "Alchinov" bee farm.

This family beekeeping tradition dates back to 1878 in the village of Staro Konsko, on Mount Kozuf, from Kristijan's great-great-grandfather, Risto Alchinov (1858-1963), who, at the age of 20, "caught" wild bees and settled them in primitive hives – known as "trmki." His son, Kristijan's great-grandfather Trajko Alchinov (1905-1993), continued raising bee families even after moving to Gevgelija, maintaining hives both in the village and in the town until 1960, when he brought the first Dadant-Blatt hives from Germany, modern hives with movable frames that increased production.

The honey and bee products produced by the family farm were sold at the local Gevgelija market, in their shop in the old Gevgelija bazaar, and often to foreigners passing through the Gevgelija railway station by train. Kristijan's grandfather, Risto Alchinov (1930-2022), son of great-grandfather Trajko, the chief sanitary inspector of Gevgelija in the former Yugoslavia, continued beekeeping with about 150 bee families, developing two more beekeeping stations and applying the nomadic technique of migratory beekeeping – moving the bee families to pastures.

Today, Trajko Alchinov, Kristijan's father, has been actively and professionally involved in beekeeping from the 1980s to the 2000s, making a significant change in beekeeping techniques, replacing Dadant-Blatt hives with Farar hives, designed for professional use and intensive beekeeping. He also elevated migratory beekeeping to a professional level, using platforms and containers.

Kristijan and Bruno Alchinov, the fifth generation of beekeepers in the family, have been actively and professionally involved in beekeeping since 2017, finalizing the "Alchinov Bee Farm," with complete production of all bee products, such as honey, pollen, perga, propolis, wax, royal jelly, and bee venom, as well as by-products like creams, natural teas, and beeswax candles, available on both the domestic and international markets.

The Alchinov Bee Farm was fully revived in 2017. Since then, enormous effort, energy, and enthusiasm have been invested to refine the farm to a professional level, while modernizing the production with contemporary tools, machines, devices, and techniques. All of this is in harmony with traditional beekeeping, maintaining a high level of quality.

Kristijan says that in 2020, they decided to start the api-therapy center project, where other types of services and products from the valuable bees would be available, such as api-inhalation – inhaling bee air, which is extremely beneficial for all respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Bee air is full of aerosols, flavonoids, and vapors from all the bee products in the bee family, such as honey, propolis, and royal jelly, which are directly inhaled safely through special inhalers in a specialized facility called an api-chamber. Furthermore, the api-therapy center will offer bee sting treatments, small houses filled with bee air for patients to sleep in, and api-wellness services, including body massage with honey, milk, and essential oils, as well as cupping therapy.

On July 10, 2022, they opened the door to the api-chamber, the first phase of the api-center, which has three inhalation stations with the capacity to accommodate three patients for inhalation at the same time. The api-therapy center is named after Kristijan's grandfather, Risto Alchinov, who passed away in January 2022 at the age of 91.

The Alchinov Bee Farm consists of five beekeeping stations in total: two stationary and three migratory, one queen breeding station, one educational apiary, and the Risto Alchinov api-therapy center, located in Gevgelija on the road to the village of Mrzenci (near the Nar sports hotel), where the api-chamber and honey shop are stationed.

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*The exact location will be provided after making a reservation. We share the location after reservation confirmation to avoid unbooked guests arriving and disturbing those currently staying.

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