As a child, I wasn't a big fan of bees. It may have had something to do with the annoying little fact that I swelled up like a balloon at the site of any sting, and took weeks to recover.
We had always had a little collection of beehives on my parents' farm, but were taught from a young age to stay well enough away from them that we weren't in any danger. (And possibly, neither were the hives :)
It wasn't until my early thirties, when my younger brother took over my uncle's collection of hives that my interest in bees grew. And grew. And grew. And when our younger son showed an interest in them as well, my husband and I were hooked. Here was something we could begin together as a family.
We had raised our children at the farm, moving away to a local city when our eldest was of high school age, and we remained in town for a number of years. Our beekeeping forays only took place when we visited the farm. The farm itself had struggled to be overly profitable for many years, for despite its seemingly vast 1900 hectares, much of it was steep hill country and keeping the regenerating scrub down was a constant battle.
I remember signing up one of my very first emails whilst living at the farm... manukahills@xxxxxx..com
It was a bit of a dig at the challenge of hill country farming and the frustration of my poor, long suffering husband who had spent many months attempting to cut it all down. Imagine my mirth when 6 years after we moved back to town, a major honey company approached my parents about placing hives on the farm over the manuka flowering season, for a reasonable remuneration. I had to laugh.
While the big industrial version of hives involved very little effort on the farm's part, we could see that the commercial operation was generating a fair amount of profit in comparison and that perhaps, in time, there may be room for us to build up our own small operation and make a greater profit... and along the way, perhaps a business for our youngest son.
We've been building up our knowledge and skills over the past year with a hive situated at our residential property, which thankfully is large enough that council limits allow it to be here. Having the hive here has only raised our interest further and we are now ready to embark on a small market enterprise of our own. This blog is the sharing of that journey. We hope you will follow along with us and share in our learning as well.
For now...
Bee happy.🐝😁
