Activity

In 2021, from among the representatives of the Polish business world, only 18 entrepreneurs reached the finals, representing their activities in 3 different categories: New Technologies / Innovation, New Business and Production and Services. On March 4, 2022, during the Final Gala in Warsaw, that the representative of the Wadowice county - Tomasz Łysoń, President of LYSON Company, was awarded a special prize for combining family tradition with running a business in harmony with nature and the local community. “It is very valuable to me that the beekeeping industry, beekeeping and beekeepers are appreciated in big business” - thanked Tomasz Łysoń, the laureate of this exceptional award, during the speech.

This artistic project was created thanks to women: Barbara Łysoń - the originator of the “Bees & Flowers” and Beata Bojda - a world-class artist who made a special stylization for the Apikultura Foundation. Honey plants such as apple blossoms and peonies were used by the artist to create a beautiful garland complemented by a dress made of eco materials. We focused on an ecological approach. Finally, we have completed a professional photo session documenting and preserving the beauty of the stylization, which is to remind the necessary symbiosis with bees. Barbara Łysoń, president of the Apikultura Foundation, personally participated in the session.

It is an interactive beekeeping centre located in the climatic basement of our company's headquarters. The originator of this project is Barbara Łysoń, wife of Tomasz Łysoń, who has also been involved in the affairs of bees for years. The educational centre consists of 5 rooms: The first of them is devoted to the rally in defence of bees, which took place in 2017. One of the Fiats 126p taking part in the rally co-creates the exhibition. There is also a TV set from the times of the People's Republic of Poland with an interactive map of the route. In the second room of Apilandia there are beehives, where visitors have the opportunity to inspect bee colonies. When an interactive frame is ejected from the hive, the screen displays information about the organism of the bee, pollination, the role of workers in the hive, the work they do and much more. Depending on the season, the temperatures in the hive vary. Therefore, in Apilandia we have prepared devices allowing the visitor to make an empirical comparison of temperatures in the bee environment. In the third room you can see an illustration of the production of beekeeping equipment produced by Łysoń: honey extractors, beekeeping clothes, beehives. Children can put on a beekeeper's outfit and become a character in an interactive game. It is also possible to centrifuge honey from honeycombs. Additionally, there is a large bee smoker in the room; when you press the bellows, smoke comes come out of it! The exhibition also takes us on a sentimental journey, illustrating how long the Łysoń family has gone to create a company with the largest production of excellent beekeeping equipment in Poland. In the last room there is a drill that was used to make the first moulds for hives by Marian Łysoń and his grandson, Tomasz. In Apilandia you can also see the process of obtaining beeswax and processing it into a foundation, as well as the production of candles. Let's remember to promote beekeeping among the children, and because it's best to learn through play and observation, taking them to the Apilandia educational centre located in our company's headquarters is an excellent idea. We cordially invite you!

Cracow Honey Harvesting has been organized annually in September for a quarter of a century. As the name suggests, the event has been taking place in Cracow (for several years on Wolnica Square) and is organized by the Cracow Beekeepers' Association. It not only serves the exchange of experiences between beekeepers, discernment in consumer tastes but also constitutes an interesting educational and cultural-entertainment event. Every year, as a reminder of the event, a melliferous tree is planted, which provides foraging to urban bees, pleases the eyes of the inhabitants and reminds that it is worth planting melliferous plants. Various competitions and interesting artistic performances take place. It is worth coming to Cracow at this time, especially if you are a lover of honey and bees. Taking advantage of the high attendance with a noble cause, Cracow beekeepers have included “blood harvest” as a permanent point of the programme. This language joke, referring to the honey harvest, is intended to encourage as many people as possible to donate blood. An additional prize is awaiting beekeepers. Every year, from the first “blood harvest”, our company funds a honey extractor which, by drawing lots, goes to one of the beekeepers donating blood. We hope this will encourage those who are undecided to visit the blood donation bus. You never know who of us or our loved ones will need such help. Regardless of the prizes, it is worth helping, all the more so because during the event it can be done “incidentally”, without additional commuting and devoting additional time. However, if you are hesitant or afraid and you are a beekeeper, maybe the vision of winning a honey extractor will convince you? We invite you to the next Cracow Honey Harvesting on

In the Silesian Botanical Garden in Mikołów, a public educational apiary Skrzydlaci Przyjaciele (Winged Friends) has been created. The originators and initiators of the whole project are Agnieszka and Łukasz Przybył. As residents of Silesia, they could not have chosen a better location–the botanical garden is an ideal place for bees to live due to the abundance of vegetation. In addition, the apiary hosts educational workshops and showcases of bee colonies. Organized excursions are welcome–the location provides good infrastructure and easy access. The idea of the educational apiary was born in 2015. The source of financing for this project was a fundraiser through the Polakpotrafi.pl portal. Already at the planning stage, it was met with considerable interest and good opinions of Internet users. Our company also supported it from the very beginning; we are still involved in various events organized by Winged Friends. The project is becoming increasingly widespread: “Since 2017, our ‘beekeeping family’ has been growing steadily. More and more volunteers are arriving, thanks to which our activities are becoming even more professional, creative and accessible. In addition, we’re seeing an increase in the number of beehives and colonies. We are placing apiaries in other cities, testing different solutions, management methods and different types of hives,” we read on the website of the project. That is good news. We know that by helping, we invest in our common beekeeping future. From the very beginning, we saw great potential in this project and our intuition did not let us down. We appreciate the work and commitment of the Przybył family. Perhaps the next generations of beekeepers will fly from under their wings. In the past, beekeeping was most often learned from a father or grandfather. Now you can become a beekeeper without beekeeping roots. Access to knowledge is easier, and practices (at least in part) can be learned in workshops such as those conducted in the Winged Friends apiary. All one needs is determination, time, self-determination and finding passion within yourself. This was the case with Agnieszka and Łukasz. They set a good example.

Two years later we were again awakened by the desire to go on the road and show our commitment to bees. We organized another rally, this time in Poland. On 9 September 2017, a 7-day rally with 126p’s began under the slogan “Pszczoły przetrwają, gdy kwiaty zapylają” [Bees will survive when they pollinate flowers] organized by the Association of Professional Beekeepers together with the Polish Beekeepers' Association and the Association of Polish Beekeepers Polanka with significant support and involvement of our company. Thirteen crews covered 1,680 km, starting from Cracow and finishing the rally in Koszalin at the XXXV National Beekeeper's Days. The aim of the expedition was to draw attention to beekeeping and the difficult situation of pollinating insects. The slogan of the rally includes the quintessence of the actions taken and a solution to one of the problems faced by bees and their caretakers, i.e. the shrinking foraging area. By planting trees, shrubs and honeydew flowers, we provide bees with the necessary food. This is a bundled transaction because thanks to pollination, flowers can produce fruit and seeds. Bees are therefore an essential link in the food production chain for us and the animals we breed. To set a good example, the participants planted 96 trees and shrubs along the route and distributed the seeds of flower meadows. On the occasion of discussions about bees, the idea of urban beekeeping was also promoted. Following the example of European apiaries, bees started to be bred in larger Polish cities, e.g. on the roofs of buildings, where the insects do as well as they do in the countryside. Some even claim that the city is able to provide better conditions for bees, as urban bees are not exposed to plant protection products used on a large scale in agriculture and there is a higher temperature to facilitate wintering. The participants of the 126p Rally could not miss this point of the expedition and visited two apiaries located on the roof of the Resident Service Centre of the Cracow City Hall and on the roof of the Meeting of Cultures Centre in Lublin. The route had been planned in such a way as to visit important places for beekeepers, such as Kamianna, Stróże, Pszczela Wola, the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the University of Warmia and Mazury and many others. For bees and the promotion of beekeeping it was worth overcoming every kilometre and every obstacle. Thanks to this we know that together we can do more. We would like to thank our friends and partners for their help and commitment in implementing even the craziest ideas. You can watch the report from the rally here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Probably we haven't yet said the last word on saving bees and promoting beekeeping. Follow our fanpage and website to stay up to date.

In 2015, the Rally in Europe took place as part of the “Miód kupujesz–pszczoły ratujesz” [Buy honey–save bees]. Although the campaign promoting honey and beekeeping was organized by Wydawnictwo Pasieka in cooperation with the Polish Beekeeping Association, our company decided on the idea of the rally and its crazy realization. In this way, we wanted to support the campaign and give it additional publicity. Tomasz Łysoń, the owner of the company, as a lover not only of bees, but also of the automotive industry, especially old cars, had the opportunity to combine his passions and use them for a noble cause. He managed to convince friends and business partners to this idea and so 10 Fiat 126p’s, each with a two-person crew, covered 4,000 km in Poland and Europe. The “Miód kupujesz–pszczoły ratujesz” [Buy honey–save bees] campaign was aimed at making society aware that by buying honey locally, we indirectly save bees because it is the beekeeper who cares for them. You can read more about the campaign on the website: miodkupujeszpszczolyratujesz.pl You can also watch our video about the rally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6X5yhTX6nc

"Our company sees a huge potential in urban apiaries. We believe that erecting hives in cities–on roofs, terraces of buildings or green areas–is both necessary and future-oriented. Today's bees, selected for their gentleness, do not pose a threat, and properly managed bee colonies do not disturb inhabitants. Actually, they may not even notice them. In other European countries or in the United States, the trend of beekeeping in urban areas has been maintained for several decades. In Poland, a ban on keeping bees for fear of stings and swarms has been maintained in most cities until recently. Now, however, we are witnessing changes for the better. Social awareness is increasing and bees in cities cease to arouse anxiety. Contrary to some opinions, they do not lack foraging area (and this can be taken care of additionally); instead, they can bring many benefits. Many global companies invest in apiaries in order to contribute to the ecology and increase prestige. Polish companies are also beginning to see potential in this. Customers of companies, hotels and restaurants treated to honey from the company's apiary appreciate this gesture. Urban honey is free of impurities, which has been confirmed by professional research, and its taste is often unique because the nectar from which it is produced comes from a variety of plants that are not always found in the countryside. Urban beekeeping also offers the possibility of taking care of bees and observing these unusual insects without having to leave the metropolis, which generates additional costs and time wasted on commuting. Contact with bees relaxes and adds joy to life. We are convinced that beekeeping in cities and related educational activities make sense and it is worth investing in them. That is why our company has become a sponsor and ambassador of a dozen or so city apiaries."