Box 3Bee, the book for adopting a beehive

"I am Elena, at 3Bee I take care of content creation and everything related to Adopt-a-Hive: from beekeeper management to customer support for adopters to logistics. The Adopt-a-Hive project, in fact, is a project that creates a 'bond' between beekeeper and adopter and this bond is held tightly by the 3Bee team, which not only takes care of external communication, but also keeps the two parties in constant communication and ensures an efficient service throughout the duration of the project.

"This book was created to tell more about the reality of Adopt a Beehive and the people behind it. The world of bees is incredible and extremely fascinating, but still little known. Even less known is the invaluable daily work of beekeepers. This is why it seemed natural to us to create a kind of presentation of the 3Bee beekeepers, aimed at all bee and honey enthusiasts."

"The writing of this book has been a continuous work in progress! The beginning point was the historical beekeepers of the Adopt-a-Hive network, but being an ever-expanding community, the number of realities interviewed grew day by day! It was also a fun way to get to know the 'newcomers'. Thanks to the help of our Community Manager, Fabrizio, we collected the descriptions of the individual companies, paying particular attention to their history and the peculiarities of each beekeeping reality, including photos and amusing anecdotes! I then reworked all the material, trying to create an organic content that could be informative without being too pedantic. With my colleague Ilaria, we reviewed all the written material to fix the last aspects that didn't fit and with Matteo Bellosta, our trusted graphic designer, we came up with the graphic design."

"It wasn't easy, I don't deny it. Collecting the material took a long time, not least because the number of farmers was always increasing! Unfortunately, we were not able to include all of them due to timing issues, but this can only be a starting point for an updated version of the book! Trying to give organicity and harmony to the whole thing was also definitely challenging: there were many cues and ideas and creating synthesis often proves complex. All in all, it was a good journey, the kind that is long and tiring, but leaves you with a great satisfaction."

"I hope I have conveyed the great passion that animates beekeepers: without it, this work really could not be done. It is amazing how much this very feeling for bees is the minimum common denominator of all the stories I have been told and which I have included in the book: this is what makes it possible to overcome obstacles and difficulties. I have also tried to make people understand the fatigue behind 'beekeeping': with increasingly uncertain seasons and constant threats, the beekeeper must not only worry about honey production, but also and above all about the survival of his bees."

"This book is available in the Mondadori Stores and in our Temporary Store located at 18 Viale S. Michele del Carso in Milan!" A book, therefore, made of love for bees, passion and hard work, but which is not just a book but an experience for the reader. A real experience, because by purchasing the book, you adopt a hive, you donate your support to a beekeeper of your choice and you have the opportunity to monitor the health of the adopted bees over the course of a year (or more).