Hello honey!

Bees fascinate us, produce delicious honey, and are needed to pollinate most of our fruit and many vegetables. They’re also very cute, have an amazing life cycle, and can be kept in your backyard.

I was curious about bees (European honey bees, in particular) so went along to a workshop at the Green Connect farm a couple of years ago and, like most participants and anyone who learns about beekeeping, fell in love with them.

Less than two months after my one-day course, 30,000 or so of these incredible insects moved into my backyard in a standard hive, and my beekeeping journey really began.

The beekeeper who sold me the hive, Andrea, helped me to choose a position that was a little bit protected, would get lots of sun in winter but a bit of shade in summer, where the entrance could face north, and not far from a fence so that the bees would be encouraged to fly up rather than across the backyard.

I bought all the gear – beekeeping suit, gloves, hive tool, smoker. There are other things you can buy that make life a little easier, particularly if you’re going to have lots of hives, but this was enough for me.

A friend who had also done the course came over and helped me open up the hive for the first time. We were both nervous and excited. We talked to the bees the whole time, which was probably more to calm ourselves than to calm the bees.

We exclaimed over each frame of honey, brood (bee larvae) and bee bread (a mixture of nectar and pollen that they save up to feed the larvae).

Tasting our first harvest of honey was like Christmas had come early. It was a whole family event to uncap the cells of honey, scrape it into a bowl, strain it to remove the wax, and, of course, the main event – lick our spoons and bowl clean. The kids were keen to pitch in every step of the way, and continue to treat any day that I harvest honey as a major celebration.

I’ve been stung a few times, which does hurt, but I have learned to get the stinger out as soon as possible, smear honey on the area, and take an antihistamine to be on the safe side. It is the price you pay for keeping bees, and given a few of them get squashed while I’m checking the hive,
no matter how careful I am, and the fact that I’m robbing their honey stores, I really don’t blame them for getting upset.

All in all, it is a wonderful backyard hobby. It is an incredible honour to watch the bee lifecycle in action, watching baby bees being born, bees cleaning the hive and feeding their young, bees foraging for nectar and pollen and bringing it back to make wax, honey and bee bread. And like all good beekeepers, when I see a bee in the garden now I no longer think “eek, don’t sting me!” but “hello little one, thank you and go well”.

Some great bee facts ...

Worker bees are all female, only live for five to six weeks and in that time they each make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey

The queen bee lives for up to five years and lays up to 2500 eggs per day!

Drones (bees) don’t look after the hive, forage for nectar or pollen or make honey and they can’t sting. Their only job is to mate with other hives’ queen bees (if they’re lucky).

What’s On at Green Connect

Regular Farm Tours at the Green Connect in Warrawong: Alternate Thursdays and Saturdays 9am

Sat 30 April - Indepth Beekeeping

Green Connect’s next beekeeping course is on from 9am to 4.30pm. Tickets are $192 (or $132 for those who need them) and include morning tea, lunch and all the tools, equipment and beekeeping suits you need for the day.

Bookings: green-connect.com.au