Our Story
As a passionate Agriculture Teacher I am always looking for learning opportunities for my students and myself. These opportunities can lead to students being inspired to pursue the path from paddock to plate, know what they eat and how it is produced. Students learn about all parts of Agricultural production including pollinators. I encourage students to think about the environment and always consider other options before chemicals are ever used.
Over the past few years I introduced European Bees into the school Agriculture plot. To introduce the study and student interaction with European bees I installed hives on my Hawkesbury River property in North Richmond and used those hives to establish hives within the school agriculture plot. A steep learning curve began for all concerned but after some hard work, and teamwork we successfully produced honey. We had honey!
The journey for the students given them great insight into the world and crucial role played by bees in our ecosystem and the students absolutely love dressing up in bee suits, utilising the bee smoker and of course extracting honey. Giving people an appreciation of the European bee and the process of honey production is so gratifying. Having others create their own hives is my measure of success.
The hives I established on my property began to produce an abundance of honey. As a result I decided to launch The Honey Hound Apiary. The apiary was named after my beautiful Mini Dachshunds, Willow and Mitsie. The labels I created state that the honey is ‘pure, natural, and long bodied’. I chose this description after studying some creative wine labels. I decided that the labels could both attract commercial interest as well as being informative and also educate potential customers.
Starting with a roadside stall made completely from recycled pallets set up on a roadway I found that the community readily embraced the purchase of local honey. The Honey Hound Apiary honey is now featured in a number of local businesses and I am so grateful for their support. Check out the stockists page to discover where you can buy our honey. The honey is packaged in glass jars, so as to minimise the environmental footprint of the product.
Our hives are not migrated so they stay in the one area. This may mean that the amount of honey produced is less than it could be, but it does mean that less bees die compared to if we utilised the transporting processes. The acreage has not had any toxic chemicals, sprays or artificial fertilisers used on it for at least fifty years. We adopt the philosophy that we shouldn’t interfere with the environment. The bee hives use a system that contains an oil tray at the bottom so as to catch the pest ‘ Small Hive Beetle’ and does not use chemical traps.
Cold extraction of honey occurs when the bees have surplus, ensuring the colony has plenty of its own honey to live off. In winter the bees are left with sufficient honey stores so as sugar does not need to be fed to them. The careful maintenance of the bees, the packaging and labelling of honey is all completed by the one Beekeeper.
I invite you to sample Nature’s goodness from creatures who are responsible for one in three pieces of food that we eat through their symbiotic relationship with our flora.
