trobo/truebanu - beehive - colmena

[is]

trobo: pronounced TROE-boe; truebanu: pronounced troo-EH-bah-noo. Trobo is the name given in westernmost Asturias to the dwelling place of honeybees, usually the hollowed-out trunk of a chestnut tree. The scent of the wood is important in attracting the swarm. In some places, the trunk of a cork tree (sufreira) is used.

Truebanu is the name given in West Asturias to the traditional beehive structure. In Central Asturias, the word is either truebanu or caxellu. Variants for this last word include caxiellu and caxillu.

In the process of language substitution, in which Castilian Spanish replaces Asturian and Galician in the countryside, beekeepers increasingly use the word colmena (Spanish for beehive) to designate the modern box-like structure.

According to a beekeeper in County Ibias, honey production in the trobos of West Asturias does not exceed 3-4kg/year. The hollowed-out trunks are usually topped with a slab of slate or birch. The opening for the bees is located at the bottom. Trobos can often be found inside circular stone enclosures known as curtines/cortines, which were built to protect the swarm from marauding bears.

The verb for extracting the honey is esmelgar. Extraction usually takes place in July or September and is not advisable in August. Smoke from a fumeiro or fumon is used to keep the bees at bay during the extraction of the panels.

Usage examples:

Gustavo tien sous trobos no val.le la solana. [Gustavo’s beehives are located in the sun-drenched valley.]
Celso punxo los trobos no corredor de sua paneira. [Celso put his beehives in the granary walkway.]
Xuan pidiume un DVD pa saber cumo esmelgar los truebanos de Silvamayor. [Xuan asked me for a DVD to find out how to extract honey from the beehives at Silvamayor.]
Truxemos los truebanos del curtin. [We brought back the beehives from the stone enclosure.]

Folk wisdom:

Cuando alredor del caxellu bullen muncho les abeyes y van pal que s’arima, lluego pingaran les teyes. [If the bees are buzzing around the beehive and swarm toward whoever approaches, it is a sign that the tiles on the roof will soon be wet (rainfall is likely)].

Here is a lonely trobo/truebanu atop a stone hedge outside of the village of El Rebollu in the area known as Tres-la-Marta (beyond the Marta Pass) in County Ayande (Allande):

[Bob]

That reminds me of the first lines of an old poem in Asturian:

Pleitu Ente Uviéu Y Mérida Pola Posesión Les Cenices De Santolalla
(The Litigation between Oviedo and Mérida for the Possession of the
Remains of Saint Eulalia)

Antón de Marireguera ( 1605- 1666?)


Cuandu examen les abeyes (When the bees investigate)
y posen de flor en flor, (and alight at flower after flower)
si les escorren s'espanten: (if you chase them will they be frightened away:)
vanse y nun facen llabor, (they go and do no work,)
dexando'l caxellu vieyu (leaving the old hive)
pa buscar otru meyor. (in search of a better one)
Santa Olaya fo l'abeya (Saint Eulalia was the bee)
que de Mérida ensamó, (that swarmed from Mérida)
enfadada qu'adorasen (angered that they should worship)
les fegures de llatón. (the idols of brass.)

The translation is mine. Corrections are welcome.

[tierradenadie]

usually the hollowed-out trunk of a chestnut tree

esto me hizo asociar con:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic- ... rooms.aspx

¿hay gente en asturias que lo hace? ¿has visto algo como esto en asturias ya? quiero experimentar.

[Bob]

Shitake culture on logs should do well in Asturias. My uncle grew them quite successfully in North Carolina.

[is]

Interesting link to organic mushrooms, Peter. It's a great idea to grow your own and the weather in Asturias, highly humid, is ideal in the fall.

One of my favorite wild mushrooms is the Macrolepiota procera (Parasol mushroom), which are delicious pan-fried with a bit of garlic and parsley. They are big Basque-beret type mushrooms.

You might be interested in knowing that there is no tradition of mushroom-hunting in Celtic societies. Neither Galicians nor Asturians in the countryside were known to eat them. Even today you startle local farmers by taking them home.

However, there is a huge mushroom tradition in the Basque Country and Catalonia, as in France, Poland and Russia (that's just an arbitrary list of my own experiences; I'm sure there are plenty other places with micological societies).

In Navelgas (County Tineu), my friend Elias organizes mushroom hunts in the fall. Nowadays, mushroom hunting is fashionable even in Asturias and there are plenty of nature societies that go out on hunts.

Here's a pic of a parasol mushroom I found near Pena Mayor, on the County Infiestu side.
[My Dad is a big mushroom fan, but always warns me about the dangers involved. He knew Polish immigrants in upstate New York who died after gathering what they thought were edible shrooms. They turned out to be a different genus in North America.]

[tierradenadie]

ah, ¡que bueno una foto!

me hace pensar de :

http://www.julie.stuffworld.info/upload ... shroom.JPG

{ no me preguntéis como la mente funciona/asocia }

¿alguien se recuerda? { lo me recuerdo de mi abuelita querida. ella me enseñó no sólo como cocinar pero también como coser ~ dankeschön elly, dondequiera estés }


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[Bob]

The link shows a model mushroom that looks very much like Amanita muscaria (fly agaric). It contains a hallucinogen and, somewhat rarely, can cause death if eaten.

[Art]

We're way off topic, but some of my cousins in Avilés enjoy hunting mushrooms in their meadow.

Speaking of beehives, here's what Baltimoreans think of when someone says "beehive". It's a hairdo!

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/broadba ... -thumb.jpg

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Estamos lejos del tema, pero algunos de mis primos en Avilés disfrutan de la caza de setas en su prau.

Hablando de los truebanus o las colmenas, esto es lo que la palabra "beehive" les hace pensar a los Baltimoreanos (gente de Baltimore, Maryland). ¡Es un peinado!

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/broadba ... -thumb.jpg

[Bob]

Art, I would not be astonished to find that the overdecorated beehive, to which you posted a link, contains thousands of angry Africanized bees.

[is]

Speaking of beehives, here's what Baltimoreans think of when someone says "beehive". It's a hairdo!

And not only Baltimoreans. I think the classic beehive is from New Jersey. They have a thing for big hair.

In Asturias, the 'trobo' or 'truebanu' hair style has thankfully never flourished. Neither has blue hair. But there's a love affair in the towns for hairspray.

John Waters would be in heaven with all the hairspray at the cafe I'm sitting in tonight (Dindurra in Xixon).

[Art]

Yeah, New Jersey and Baltimore have something in common.

I wonder how John Waters would be received in Asturias? Is he known?

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Claro, Nueva Jersey y Baltimore tienen algo en común.

¿Me pregunto": cómo se recibiría a John Waters en Asturias? ¿Se le conoce?

[tierradenadie]

The link shows a model mushroom that looks very much like Amanita muscaria (fly agaric). It contains a hallucinogen and, somewhat rarely, can cause death if eaten.

http://www.pfaff-und-gut.de/product_inf ... fpilz.html

{ bob, ahora sé por qué mi abuelita a vece se comportó un poco, pues, curiosa }

{{ ¿no hay nadie aquí quien ha tomado/usado un *stopfpilz* ya? }}



^,

[tierradenadie]

{ no me preguntéis como la mente funciona/asocia }

ah, here we go
{ grad hats geschnackelt }

[Art]

Stopfpilz m (Sew) darning mushroom

I've seen something here that looks more like an egg.

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Stopfpilz m (Coser) una "seta" para zurcir

He visto algo parecido aquí que parece más como un huevo.

[Bob]

I love Dindurra. Enjoy.