Bee Some Where Better
Somewhere Better can be right where you are. We all have the ability to strive towards making our own space and lives Somewhere Better to bee and share with others.
We all have a part to play in making this world somewhere better. Somewhere better for ourselves, somewhere better for those around us and most of all somewhere better for our children to make thier future in.
What we do
The obvious Honey
We do not treat or heat our honey and check the Brix measurement of each hive and extraction. As we increase our hives we will not combine the honey from separate hives. This will allow us a large amount of quality control and enable customers to purchase product local to their area.
Wax
Bees, bless em, also make this other awesome product. Unadulterated beeswax is a beautiful bi-product of any hive. While wax production is not the primary resource we will take from the hive due to their nature there is always burr comb created in a hive.
From candles to lip balm to food covers this versatile natural product is wonderful way to use this excess product.
Why we do this
Whilst always having had a love of bees we did not believe we were in a position to keep bees in our current location. Until we watched this ABC documentary The Great Bee Challenge.
With our generous back yards and large parks in urban area of Australia bees have always been at home in the city. With large trees to build homes in the local populations can do well.
We also have an added advantage with the quality of our native flora. Long known for unique medicinal and flavour properties the australian trees are a magnet for bees. Research is currently being analysed in the correlations between some of the properties found in Australian honey and Manuka honey.
However with the concentration of the population and the reduction of green space this is leading to the loss of many habitats. This combined with the issues in the commercial industry we may face the same impacts that have been felt overseas with the mass collapse of colonies. However many people are aware of this issue and in Australia there is a very good attitude towards their presence and an understanding of there importance. We also have a vast variety of plants spread across the yards of our cities and can provide shelter and homes for these most important creatures.
After obtaining our first hive last spring we are hooked and know this is what we want to do. Beekeeping in neither a cheap nor quick trade to start. In the first year hives produce very little as they are building a home and creating their extended family. As we do not artificially dry our honey and want the best quality we do not pull our frames till they are at least 80% capped.
What would we like to do
Promote urban beekeeping
Whether placing a hive in your backyard for us to maintain or offering advice on taking up the trade or hobby yourself we are open to ideas to ensure the prosperity of local bee population.
Work towards a central space for extraction and other processing for shared community use.
We are hoping to start several new hives this spring for production next year. There are a few natural hives set up as well as our own so should be a good number of swarms around weather depending.
