Oct. 2, 2025
Beekeeping On Kangaroo Island - No Varroa Mites
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From a Varroa-free outpost off Australia’s southern coast, beekeeper Shawn Hinves of Kangaroo Island shares how a family operation running 350 hives of pure Ligurian honey bees navigates biosecurity, fire recovery, and the realities of modern beekeeping.
The episode opens with practical fall prep—feed heavy in cold climates, consider insulation, and always test and treat for mites—before diving into global news on the EPA’s approval of an RNA-based Varroa treatment.
Then we travel to Kangaroo Island, where strict ferry inspections, proposed wash-down stations, and community vigilance aim to keep Varroa off the island, reminding every beekeepers that compliance is as vital as any tool in beekeeping.
Shawn recounts how Ligurian honey bees, introduced in the 1880s and protected by a long-standing sanctuary designation, show exceptional hygienic behavior and thrive on native eucalypt and coastal flora that produce ambers, deep reds, and even mauve-tinged honeys.
After catastrophic 2020 bushfires slashed honey yields from 20–25 tonnes to 5–9, his business survived by diversifying into tours —proof that resilient beekeeping pairs craft with entrepreneurship. Listeners step inside his hands-on experiences: suiting up, holding frames, spotting queens, and watching honey bees emerge—moments that turn fear into fascination and often inspire future beekeepers.
Between small hive beetle scares, localized AFB management, and ongoing drought, Sean’s story shows how a beekeeper balances biosecurity, landscape, and community. Ultimately, it’s a love letter to honey bees, a testament to the lifestyle they enable, and a reminder that beyond honey and money, the heart of beekeeping is connection.
Video Version: https://youtu.be/2sfG2QBzXQI
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WEBVTT
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in a world brimming with complexity few creatures
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embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless
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precision she dances from bloom to bloom each
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motion guided by millennia upon millennia of
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instinct each act in service to the whole and
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then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards
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of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,
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part poet, they move along their hives with the
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efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to
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the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,
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and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the
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Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing
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like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their
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journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keep
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being presented by our good friends over at Man
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Lake. It's fall here in the northern hemisphere
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and that means it's time to get your bees ready
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for winter. If you're in a cold climate, feed,
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feed, feed. Decide if wrapping or insulating
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the hives makes sense for you. And no matter
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where you live, test and treat if necessary to
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make sure Varroa is under control. Mites and
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the pathogens they carry are the number one reason
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for winter hive loss. And speaking of Varroa,
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today we're traveling thousands of miles across
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the oceans to meet with Shaden Hinvies, a beekeeper
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on an island that is still Varroa free, and to
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find out what they're doing to keep it that way.
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If my voice will hold up, how about a bit of
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news from around the world of beekeeping? And
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this may be a big one. Greenlight Biosciences
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just received EPA approval for Nuroa, the first
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RNA -based treatment for Varroa mites. They describe
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it as the first ever nature -based treatment
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specifically designed to combat Varroa. This
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comes at a time when USDA researchers are blaming
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declining efficacy of existing miticides as a
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leading cause of honeybee colony loss. You can't
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buy it quite yet. It will be available soon.
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In the meantime, we'll get someone from Greenlight
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Biosciences on the podcast in the next couple
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of weeks to tell us all about it. All right,
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let's have some fun. Let's head down under for
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a delightful discussion about Ligurian bees,
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kangaroos, and a whole bunch more. I'd like to
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welcome to the show today, Sean Hindbees. And
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Sean, I think you are further away than anybody
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else that we've had on the show before. So congratulations.
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I feel honored. That's great. Say hi and tell
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us where you live. Hello everyone who's watching,
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wherever you are. I live on an island off the
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southern coast of Australia and we call the island
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Kangaroo Island and I'm a beekeeper over here
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and that's pretty much my sole occupation and
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that keeps me very busy. We run about 350 hives.
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The island is the third largest island off Australia.
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It's about 160 kilometers long. I can't work
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that out in miles for you. You'd have to work
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that out. And about 90 kilometers wide. So there's
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about four and a half thousand people. Yeah.
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I'm going to say roughly 50 miles wide, 90 miles
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long. Okay. Yep. Yep. We have listeners all over
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the world. So metric is great for a lot of people.
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How far off the coast of Australia are you? We're
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around, I think it's 16 to 18 kilometers off
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the coast. So eight, nine miles, something like
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that. Anyway, that's going to lead into what
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we're talking about today. Australia is such
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an interesting place. I've been watching it over
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the years because for so many years we were all
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jealous that Australia had no Varroa mites. But
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you can no longer be jealous. No need to be jealous
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anymore. But I believe about three years ago
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they were discovered in Australia. Correct me
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if I'm wrong. Yes, that is correct. Yes, and
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they've taken over really quickly and I know
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the people in Australia the beekeepers They've
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done everything they can think of to eradicate
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it. But I believe at this point it's okay We
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can't eradicate them. So let's control let's
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learn to live with them. Is that pretty much
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the scenario? That's a scenario But from conversations
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I've had with people If the eradication program
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was remained in place and everyone abide by the
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rules, it was possible that they may have been
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able to eradicate it. But people weren't, you
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know, people were moving hives illegally and,
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you know, over 48 ,000 hives were killed to try
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and control it. And it got to the stage, I think,
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where they're sort of like, well, you know, what
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do we do now? Basically, people keep moving their
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hive and spreading it. And so I think they just,
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they got fed up and decided to well that's it
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we'll just manage it. Well and that's the problem
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is them moving if they had all stayed in one
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spot I imagine they could have done something
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about it. Do you have people that do pollination
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and move to different areas for pollination?
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There's a lot of pollination contracts that happen
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within Australia itself, yes. Here on Kangaroo
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Island, there is no pollination contract. And
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for me myself, I actually avoid pollination,
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trying to keep my bees off of monocrops and farming
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agricultural land where possible, and just target
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the native flower. Good for you. Well, let's
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talk about the difference with your island, because
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my understanding is you don't have roa there
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yet, correct? No, that is correct. I'm sorry
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to put in the word yet. You don't have a row
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a period. Hopefully you never will. We hope so
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too, but that's a likely possibility in the future.
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Yes. You're far enough off the mainland that
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the bees can't fly that far, but you have fairies
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that go over a few times a day. Yeah. Up to 10
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to 15 trips a day. How do you keep bees from
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hitchhiking on a ferry? That is the next problem.
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We've got bar security officers. on the Cape
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before the ferry leaves the mainland, and their
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powers are not as strong as we'd like them to
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be. I'm actually meeting with Senator Scriven
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from the Agriculture, she's the Agriculture Minister
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here in South Australia, and are trying to work
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out ways we can strengthen the biosecurity so
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that we can take measures to limit the possibility
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of Varroa reaching us eventually. Good luck.
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All I can say is good luck. I hope you're successful.
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The hardest thing that I think with Varroa though
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is, from what I've been told, the Varroa mite
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can live about five days without a host. So,
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you know, if a car drives through a swarm of
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bees and they've got Varroa on them and a number
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of bees are trapped in the radiator, that Varroa
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mite could stay there for three or four days
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and be brought to the island on a car. You know,
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it's just, it's that possible. Yeah. It's like
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a terrible disease. Yeah. Yeah. It just spreads.
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So anyway, I wanted to ask you, is there anything
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else that's being done to keep the Varroa away?
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I mean, you can inspect cars and people. I don't
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know how closely, how reasonable that is. I mean,
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you probably have hundreds of cars going back
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and forth every day. Possibly at times, almost
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a thousand cars a day, possibly. I think that
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the ferry holds, I think about 80, 80 to 90 cars,
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I think. And, and if they're doing 10 trips a
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day, then there's close to a thousand cars there
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a day, traveling to the island. We're going to
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try and ask if there's a wash down station. So
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if someone pulls up and the inspector notices
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that there's some bees in the radiator, that
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they get a chance to take a car up and wash the
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radiator out or something, something like that.
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You know, it's, it's nerve wracking and uh, We
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don't want to go down the path of using chemicals
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to manage Varroa, so we're going to have to try
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and work out ways of doing it a little bit more
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organically. All right, let's talk about your
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island. I hear you have an unusual kind of bee.
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Well, for us it's not unusual, but apparently
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for other people it is. So we have what's known
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as the Ligurian Bee. It was imported to the island
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back in 1884, and at that time that is when the
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island was settled. uh, by the colonialists from,
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from England. And, uh, and they were trying to,
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they settled New South Wales, they settled Victoria,
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they came around the Bight and they started to
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settle South Australia. And they realized there
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was no honeybee on Kangaroo Island. So they imported
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a number of hives from Liguria in Italy. So it's
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an Italian bee. And, um, in 1885, the island
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was declared a a bee sanctuary to preserve the
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genetics of the Ligurian bee. But be mindful,
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at that stage, there was no honeybee on the island
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until the Ligurian bee was introduced. And because
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we have a very Mediterranean type climate, very
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similar to Italy, the Ligurian bees have done
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very well here. And I know of recent, within
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the last, I think, 10 years, we've been DNA tested
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with other patches of Ligurian bee around the
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world. and we've been recognized as the most
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pure strain of Ligurian bees left in the world.
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Tell me about the Ligurian bees. Are they friendly?
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Are they mean? What are they like? No, no, they're
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a gentle bee. They're very hygienic. Some of
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their hygienic abilities are some of the strongest
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that many researchers have seen anywhere. We're
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hoping that they may actually be... a help to
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controlling Varroa long term. There's a beekeeper
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over here that breached Queens that has sent
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some bees off to some other countries. I think
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the Philippines he sent them off to, he's received
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letters back stating that they've been helping
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with the control of Varroa within some of their
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hives. So their hygienic ability is very, very
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high. And they're also quite a good producer.
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Probably not as good as the aggressive type bees,
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but... We've found that the Lagerian bees are
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very, very productive. We can, we can have some
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pretty good honey flows sometime. And what do
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they forage on, on your island? So we were about
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a third national park. Uh, so it's nothing but
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native flora and fauna. I shouldn't say fauna.
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Fauna is my flora and fauna. Yeah, fauna is animals,
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isn't it? Thinking about it. I'd stick with flora
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if I were you. Yeah, that's true. And, um, and
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so. Being a third national park, that's a huge
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amount of land that is just native, what we would
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call scrub or bushland. A lot of reserves, a
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lot of native heritage land, and a lot of landowners
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that have their livestock here also keep lots
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and lots of patches of native wild trees present.
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Tree clearing isn't a common practice here. The
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trees that protect the paddocks also play an
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important part in the agriculture. Tell me a
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little bit about your bee business. Are you making
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money just on honey since you're not doing pollination
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or do you have other ways of... So we are making
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money with honey. Obviously there is no pollination
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paid contracts. There are people that produce
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canola crops here and fava beans and lupins and
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all the myriad of plants that need some form
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of pollination. but there's no contract for it.
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We have a very high population of feral colonies,
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which obviously Varroa would play a big impact
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on if it ever did get here. We are GM -free.
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There are no GM crops allowed on Kangaroo Island
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currently, so that also ticks a few boxes, I
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think. We run about 350 hives. Going back to
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just before 2020, we were producing somewhere
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between 20 and 25 tonne per season. 2020, we
00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:55.759
had the largest bushfire ever on Kangaroo Island
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and it burnt just on half of the island. Pretty
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much all the national parks and so forth were
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taken out, which consists of about 70 % of our
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productive area. Since the fires, we're sitting
00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:10.799
on somewhere between five and nine tonne per
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season. We still haven't yet recovered from that.
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The trees are still in regrowth. Since the fires,
00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:19.059
we've gone into a drought situation. And so there's
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just not as much regrowth as there could be.
00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:24.019
So the trees are being halted in that regards.
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As you know, 2020, we were hit with COVID. So
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after the fires, we had to diversify because
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there was no real honey for at least 18 months.
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And so we sort of went down the line of doing
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beekeeping tours and experiences. We opened a
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farm gate shop so that we could have people come
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to the farm so we can do a bit of retail. And
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then COVID stopped all that. So because everyone
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was locked down. We just basically went along
00:13:47.509 --> 00:13:49.830
with COVID and did what we had to do and we've
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worked our way through that. The tourism business
00:13:52.009 --> 00:13:53.970
has taken off. We're doing really well with that.
00:13:54.129 --> 00:13:55.710
That's providing an extra income, which we didn't
00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:58.509
have, but we don't have as much honey as we used
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.889
to. And so we play it by ear and go from there.
00:14:02.070 --> 00:14:04.169
We do currently supply about 40 to 50 stores
00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:07.470
on the mainland, which I go to Adelaide. Adelaide
00:14:07.470 --> 00:14:10.590
is the capital center of South Australia. Go
00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:12.850
to Adelaide once a month and do my deliveries
00:14:12.850 --> 00:14:15.350
there. So we've sort of got our fingers in lots
00:14:15.350 --> 00:14:17.710
of little holes. We do retail, we do wholesale,
00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:21.070
we do tourism. It's provided enough income to
00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.090
stay in the black, which is good. Glad to hear
00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:27.350
it. We had somebody on the show recently in Hawaii
00:14:27.350 --> 00:14:31.070
and the agritourism is an important part of their
00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:33.250
business there as well. So I'm glad it's worked
00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:36.149
out for you. Sorry, I can't help but ask probably
00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:38.669
the dumbest question ever. It's called Kangaroo
00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:40.669
Island. Does that mean you have a lot of kangaroos
00:14:40.669 --> 00:14:43.460
on the island? We do. We actually have two pet
00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:49.759
kangaroos ourselves. If I stand up a little bit
00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.240
and just show you off my porch here, we've got
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.139
to look out over the farm a little bit. And if
00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:55.320
you look down the hill a little bit, you see
00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.179
the two kangaroos having a bit of a play there.
00:14:57.580 --> 00:15:00.679
They're just under that big tree. So they're
00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:03.720
two of our pet kangaroos. So it was called Kangaroo
00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:05.720
Island because when the island was settled...
00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.500
That was probably a lot of the diet of the settlers.
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.779
They were hunting and eating the kangaroos because
00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:14.720
there's a large population of them here. So I
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.340
guess, anciently, the kangaroos swam that eight
00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:22.159
or nine miles from the mainland over. Kangaroos
00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:25.259
can swim, but I don't think that they swam to
00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:28.659
the island. When the island broke off of the
00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.200
mainland, however many thousands of years ago,
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.259
you'll find there's actually They're a subspecies
00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:39.220
of the Western Grey Kangaroo on the mainland.
00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:42.440
So over here, they're more brown. They're thicker
00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:44.600
set. They're not as skinny as the ones on the
00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:46.840
mainland. They're a subspecies of the Western
00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.379
Grey, which would have been on the island when
00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:52.559
the island broke off from the mainland. If you're
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.940
a beekeeper like me, we're getting into that
00:15:54.940 --> 00:15:58.139
favorite time of year, honey harvest. But it
00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:00.799
can be a lot of work. That's where Man Lake comes
00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.309
in. They have everything you need to make the
00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:07.330
job easier, cleaner, and more efficient. Removal
00:16:07.330 --> 00:16:11.250
aids, refractometers, uncapping tools, extractors,
00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:14.529
tanks, wax melters, even the jars and labels.
00:16:14.850 --> 00:16:17.129
Plus they have free shipping on glass containers.
00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.409
Whether you're a hobbyist with two hives or a
00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:23.409
full -blown commercial operation, Man Lake has
00:16:23.409 --> 00:16:26.950
it all. And don't forget your discount code MLBlove10.
00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:30.090
It's in the show notes. For $10 off your first
00:16:30.090 --> 00:16:33.549
$100 purchase. Here I've gotten totally off track.
00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:37.059
We're talking about the wrong animal today. Normally
00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:40.159
I've got bees. I'm wondering what else we can
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.600
learn from you. Do you have any other pests there?
00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.220
Small high beetles, anything like that? Straight
00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:49.840
after the fires, there was a big push to feed
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:51.879
the wildlife because when half an island burns
00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:54.159
out, there's not the feed there to help feed
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.779
the wildlife. So there's a lot of fruits and
00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.120
vegetables brought to the island and spread out
00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:03.340
the paddocks for the wildlife to eat for quite
00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:07.319
a period of time. And not long Probably a year
00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:10.559
after that happened there was a beekeeper out
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.859
west who found several hives that had small hive
00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:16.059
beetle in it. Now for small hive beetle to get
00:17:16.059 --> 00:17:18.579
the western end it would have to have been brought
00:17:18.579 --> 00:17:21.740
to the island by either someone bringing a hive
00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:25.740
over illegally or the small hive beetle coming
00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:30.349
from an area where it was found in the fruit
00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:32.329
that was brought to the island. So apparently
00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:34.630
small hive beetle can be found in fruit sometimes.
00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:37.970
So that's a possibility. But those hives that
00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:42.210
it was found in were frozen. They were put into
00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:46.430
a freezer. And we haven't found small hive beetle
00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:49.630
on the island since. It just sounds too easy.
00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:53.630
Except for the fires and COVID and the fact that
00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:56.390
you're trying to keep feroa out of there. Sounds
00:17:56.390 --> 00:17:59.319
like a pretty easy place to keep bees. Yeah,
00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:01.519
well, we don't have European fowl brood. We've
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.839
only had ASB on the island for the last I think
00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:07.920
two years and So there's a small patch of the
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:09.640
island where it's been there was one beekeeper
00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.579
found it in his hives and he'd spread it to a
00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:15.799
few different areas and so several beekeepers
00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.740
ended up getting a few hives and there's an outbreak
00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:21.240
in the main township called Kingscote here on
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.559
the island and they haven't quite eradicated
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.670
it properly, but all the honey samplings and
00:18:27.670 --> 00:18:31.250
everything that's gone in lately, there's been
00:18:31.250 --> 00:18:35.250
no detection of AFB at the moment. It might be
00:18:35.250 --> 00:18:37.890
lurking in the background, but we're hoping long
00:18:37.890 --> 00:18:40.529
term to eradicate it from the island again. Yeah.
00:18:40.529 --> 00:18:42.950
I wonder how in the world it got there. Tell
00:18:42.950 --> 00:18:46.589
me about your honey. Is it just a regular, what
00:18:46.589 --> 00:18:49.670
we call wildflower honey, meaning that these
00:18:49.670 --> 00:18:52.049
are out foraging on all kinds of things and it's
00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:56.809
just a nice sweet amber kind of color? Our honeys
00:18:56.809 --> 00:19:00.869
vary a lot. So a lot of our trees are Eucalyptus,
00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:06.069
Melaleucas, a lot of Australian native scrubland.
00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:10.250
Some of our coastal honey can almost be a mauve
00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:14.369
purple color or a deep red. Often it's just an
00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:16.529
amber color. Yes, sometimes we have a light.
00:19:16.869 --> 00:19:19.009
Our sugar gums and our cup gums are quite a light
00:19:19.009 --> 00:19:21.829
color. We don't get anything really, really clear
00:19:21.829 --> 00:19:24.069
and we don't get anything really, really dark.
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.640
Yeah, but that red color sounds interesting.
00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:30.859
Yeah, well, it's sort of a deep red, deep red,
00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.299
almost a slight purpley color at times. That's
00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:36.640
the coastal flower. There's a couple of plants
00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:40.660
there, the bubealibush, the coastal heath. A
00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:42.740
few of them really give it a dark color and a
00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:46.200
really amazing flavor. I just got back from Appamondia
00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:49.660
and they had the world honey tasting bar. So
00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:51.740
there were countries from all over the world,
00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:55.180
including Australia. In Australia, I'm trying
00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:57.140
to remember. I know they had a few different
00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:00.259
kinds of honey. Is there something called Burberry
00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:03.720
or something like that? It's possible. It's possible,
00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:06.099
but we don't have it on Kangaroo Island. Now,
00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:08.279
just for you to understand, I've never kept bees
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:10.579
on the mainland. I've only ever kept bees while
00:20:10.579 --> 00:20:13.299
on Kangaroo Island. I've been keeping bees crass
00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:17.500
for 25 years. And so there's lots of things I'm
00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:19.720
not aware of that happen on the mainland because
00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:22.079
we just don't do it here. Do you have any swarm
00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:25.190
removal needs? Yes, yes, I spent a lot of time
00:20:25.190 --> 00:20:27.609
playing with that. I have a YouTube channel which
00:20:27.609 --> 00:20:32.609
I'm very, very slow in adding videos to of me
00:20:32.609 --> 00:20:36.529
removing swarms and from buildings and barbecues
00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:38.490
and I've got a list of things I've got to edit
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:40.670
to put up. But we have a bit of fun with that.
00:20:41.130 --> 00:20:45.230
I do a little bit of TV presentation occasionally.
00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:47.369
A few shows come through and get a video of me
00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:50.150
doing an experience with them and done a UK show
00:20:50.150 --> 00:20:53.490
last year and yeah. Dapple a little bit with
00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.910
the with the film crews. All right. Give me a
00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:58.269
link to that YouTube channel We'll post it for
00:20:58.269 --> 00:21:02.470
you. So Ki living honey our YouTube forward slash
00:21:02.470 --> 00:21:06.750
Ki for kangaroo island. So Ki living honey We'll
00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:09.750
stick it in the show notes. So people don't have
00:21:09.750 --> 00:21:13.789
to try to remember be keeping that long I'm guessing
00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:16.190
you've got some kind of a wild and crazy story.
00:21:16.190 --> 00:21:18.630
Have you ever had anything crazy happen to you?
00:21:18.930 --> 00:21:22.660
Yeah I've got lots of little stories. Nothing
00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:27.619
really big stands out to me. But you know, when
00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:29.519
I first was starting out with bees, I probably
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.900
had 10 hives. There was one hive that was so
00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:36.000
aggressive, I almost gave up beekeeping. And
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.640
I would actually wear two suits to go through
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.160
the hive. And I was still fearful. Since then,
00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:45.099
you know, I hardly even put a veil on and...
00:21:44.829 --> 00:21:47.690
I never wear gloves and I've got holes in all
00:21:47.690 --> 00:21:50.289
my clothes. I've been stung pretty much on every
00:21:50.289 --> 00:21:55.029
part of my body at some stage. And the most painful
00:21:55.029 --> 00:21:57.769
areas is like the inside your nostrils and on
00:21:57.769 --> 00:22:00.549
your eyelids and, you know, little things like
00:22:00.549 --> 00:22:03.950
that. The groin area isn't as painful as other
00:22:03.950 --> 00:22:08.289
areas. But that's all part of having holes in
00:22:08.289 --> 00:22:11.450
your pants when you're out with the bees. Learn
00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:15.640
by experience. Oh yeah, that's right. I've been
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:17.799
out with people moving bees and it was pitch
00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:20.220
black and all of a sudden the box twists and
00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:22.519
all the bees fly out and you're covered in bees
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:23.779
and they're attacking you because they don't
00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:26.259
like to be moved obviously. But then there's
00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:28.700
other times, you know, you're sitting down, you're
00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:31.640
going through a hive, you've got 20 cows just
00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:33.420
sitting behind you, watching what you're doing
00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:35.619
and then you've got the... that the trees next
00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:37.079
to you, and then you've got the ocean in the
00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.299
distance, and it's just beautiful weather, and
00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:41.900
just, you know, sometimes you wouldn't want to
00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:45.059
be doing anything else. It's an amazing lifestyle.
00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:49.220
We have our ups, we have our downs, and story
00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:52.519
-wise, yeah, there's lots of stories, lots of
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:54.259
stories. How about with some of the tourists
00:22:54.259 --> 00:22:57.500
that you have? You do some kind of tours of your
00:22:57.500 --> 00:23:01.460
apiary, and what do you do with them exactly?
00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:06.259
So we'll have what we call an education tour
00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.900
which is talking about the bees and their life
00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:11.720
cycle and what we do as beekeepers and why we
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.019
do it and how we do it and that's an education
00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:16.900
thing. It takes about an hour. We show them the
00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:19.099
facility and how it all works and how the extraction
00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:21.779
and the packing works and then they have a tasting
00:23:21.779 --> 00:23:23.940
and then they have an opportunity to buy some
00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:26.700
product if they'd like to. If we're doing an
00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:29.559
experience Once we've done the tour with them,
00:23:29.700 --> 00:23:32.299
we then take them out. We've got six hives here
00:23:32.299 --> 00:23:35.019
near the house that we will take them through
00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:37.299
the hive and show them everything we talked about.
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.519
Everything from seeing the nectar, the honey,
00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:44.079
the pollen. We watch a bee being, you know, hatching
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.259
from its cell. We check out the workers, the
00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:50.299
drones, the queen. We go through the whole cycle
00:23:50.299 --> 00:23:53.859
and we, you know, for me, I'm not one that pushes
00:23:53.859 --> 00:23:56.039
time, you know, you've got to be in by nine,
00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:58.799
out by 11 type thing. If they want to talk and
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:01.640
ask questions, we'll spend two, three hours going
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.319
through it all. And they lead with their mind
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:07.119
completely blown, you know? And then they end
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.759
up wanting to have a beehive too. And so then
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:12.200
I can supply them some bees later. And lots of
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:14.059
things are happening that way too. Yeah, sounds
00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:16.960
great. Do you ever have some of those people
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.359
that sort of panic? They can't all be calm and
00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:22.660
collected. No, no, no. Some people come through
00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:26.059
to do it to try and face their fears. And so
00:24:26.059 --> 00:24:28.210
there's some people and some... But I get them
00:24:28.210 --> 00:24:30.690
all to hold frames of live bees. They're all
00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:32.430
suited up. They've got gloves on. You know, the
00:24:32.430 --> 00:24:34.230
chance of getting stung is very slim. And we've
00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:36.390
only ever had one sting in the field in the last
00:24:36.390 --> 00:24:38.410
five years. And that's because one lady decided
00:24:38.410 --> 00:24:40.509
to not wear socks. And that was a choice that
00:24:40.509 --> 00:24:43.750
she made. I've had one family group came through.
00:24:44.089 --> 00:24:46.410
If the father was to get stung, he would have
00:24:46.410 --> 00:24:48.609
to be rushed off to hospital because he was anaphylactic
00:24:48.609 --> 00:24:51.710
and he could possibly die. And so he was going
00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:54.660
to do the tour inside the shed. and that the
00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:56.759
rest of his family go off and do the experience
00:24:56.759 --> 00:24:58.599
part of it. I said to him, I said, if you'd like,
00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:00.279
I can put a suit on you and you can watch from
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:02.460
the car park. And so he said, yeah, you will
00:25:02.460 --> 00:25:04.720
do that. Well, by the end of the experience,
00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:06.980
he was actually in there holding frames of bees
00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.259
too. And his mind was blown. And you know, it
00:25:09.259 --> 00:25:12.539
literally changes people's lives when they see
00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:15.480
one little insect and the impact that they make
00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:18.720
on us as humans. Leave us with one thought. Why
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.440
do you love bees? Why do I love bees? It's something
00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.420
I've sort of fallen into. All right. So when
00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:27.799
I first started, I was in a job. I was a tire
00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:30.440
fitter and we're a liner in a workshop. We've
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:33.619
got five children. We lived on the farm here.
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.440
And in my job, there was no option of earning
00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.180
more income. So we were always trying to find
00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:44.000
ways of saving money. So, you know, we've got
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.799
milking goats. So in the morning before the kids
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:47.259
went to school, I'd milk the goats and they'd
00:25:47.259 --> 00:25:49.619
have fresh warm milk on their breakfast. There's
00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:52.480
the chickens for the eggs and the meat. We had
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.940
our cows, we'd butcher our own livestock, we'd
00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:57.559
butcher our own sheep. We'd eat the kangaroos,
00:25:57.640 --> 00:25:59.900
we'd grow a lot of our own vegetables. And then
00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:01.680
getting a beehive was just another thing for
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.240
us to sort of save a bit of money. That's where
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.660
it all started. And then I just fell in love
00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:09.500
with how they work, what they produce, what they
00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:12.740
do for us. And so one became five and 10 and
00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:15.460
20. In the beginning stages, we actually had
00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:17.660
no electricity on our home. So back in 2000,
00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:20.339
we lived here with five children. no electricity,
00:26:20.900 --> 00:26:23.019
not even a generator for the house. We only had
00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:26.019
gas lanterns, gas stove, gas hot water, and everything
00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:28.960
was gravity fed. We don't have mains water. We
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.880
don't have mains sewage. It was whatever we can
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.700
collect and get rid of ourselves. And so the
00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:38.220
bees have has been, it's pulled me out of where
00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:41.359
I was to where I am now. We were able to sell
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.579
the honey to another beekeeper. And so we built
00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:46.960
our numbers up. So I'd work the bees on the weekend
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:49.829
and And then we had the job in the week and then
00:26:49.829 --> 00:26:52.430
I weaned off of the job and worked in bees longer
00:26:52.430 --> 00:26:55.069
and longer. Eventually we were full time. And
00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:57.450
now we've got an income here that's sustained
00:26:57.450 --> 00:27:01.069
just quite comfortably. And I just love the smells,
00:27:01.410 --> 00:27:04.750
the sounds, the environment, the produce that
00:27:04.750 --> 00:27:09.210
they make. It's transformed my life and I watch
00:27:09.210 --> 00:27:11.630
it do the same to other people. Great answer.
00:27:11.930 --> 00:27:14.329
Sorry. I said that was the last question, but
00:27:14.329 --> 00:27:17.289
I've got one more. You mentioned eating kangaroos.
00:27:17.430 --> 00:27:19.809
What do they taste like? Well, whenever someone
00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:21.829
says they eat meat, everyone says it tastes like
00:27:21.829 --> 00:27:24.890
chicken, but kangaroo does not taste like chicken.
00:27:25.109 --> 00:27:27.210
Are you familiar with what lamb tastes like?
00:27:27.589 --> 00:27:32.009
Yes. So it's stronger than lamb and it's going
00:27:32.009 --> 00:27:35.809
down the path possibly of deer. It's a bit gamier,
00:27:35.990 --> 00:27:40.190
but it's not as strong as wild pig. If you sort
00:27:40.190 --> 00:27:43.259
of know what I mean. Can you tell me what honey
00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:47.200
tastes like? Yeah, it's sweet. Harder question.
00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:49.779
Just tell me what salt tastes like. Yeah, that's
00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:52.319
right. That's exactly right. But when it comes
00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.359
to salt, I can't tell what it tastes like, but
00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:58.400
everything you add it to tastes better. Kangaroos,
00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:01.839
we would have a lot of kangaroo mince when the
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.339
kids were young. You don't actually notice the
00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:06.019
difference when you add your vegetables and your
00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:07.799
spices and your herbs and all that sort of stuff.
00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:11.519
So it's not an overpowering meat. but it's definitely
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.420
stronger than lamb, but probably not, probably
00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:17.680
not as strong as goat. Okay, gamey and needs
00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:20.940
salt. Alright, Sean Hinvis, thanks so much for
00:28:20.940 --> 00:28:23.180
being with me today. I appreciate it. Loved having
00:28:23.180 --> 00:28:24.599
a chat with you. All the best and all the best
00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:27.259
for your, your show and what you do. Thank you.
00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:33.339
Thanks for joining us on Be Love Beekeeping presented
00:28:33.339 --> 00:28:36.420
by Man Lake. If you like this content I hope
00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:39.319
you'll share it with a friend, follow and subscribe
00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:42.779
to this podcast and even sign up for our newsletter
00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:46.150
at BeLoveBeekeeping .com Also, just a shout out
00:28:46.150 --> 00:28:48.710
to Vita B Health for their support, we appreciate
00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:51.750
them. Vita's Varroa Control range of products
00:28:51.750 --> 00:28:56.009
includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Veroxen, Extended
00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:59.869
Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. And
00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:02.369
remember, if you're not just in it for the honey
00:29:02.369 --> 00:29:05.349
or the money, you're in it for the love. See
00:29:05.349 --> 00:29:06.109
you next week.
00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.660
in a world brimming with complexity few creatures
00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:12.839
embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless
00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.699
precision she dances from bloom to bloom each
00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.399
motion guided by millennia upon millennia of
00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:28.800
instinct each act in service to the whole and
00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.560
then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards
00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.479
of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist,
00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460
part poet, they move along their hives with the
00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.560
efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.219
the bee's needs as best they can comprehend,
00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.679
and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the
00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:05.599
Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.140
like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their
00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:23.219
journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keep
00:01:23.219 --> 00:01:25.459
being presented by our good friends over at Man
00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:28.209
Lake. It's fall here in the northern hemisphere
00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:30.969
and that means it's time to get your bees ready
00:01:30.969 --> 00:01:34.290
for winter. If you're in a cold climate, feed,
00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:37.569
feed, feed. Decide if wrapping or insulating
00:01:37.569 --> 00:01:39.870
the hives makes sense for you. And no matter
00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.290
where you live, test and treat if necessary to
00:01:43.290 --> 00:01:46.390
make sure Varroa is under control. Mites and
00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:49.250
the pathogens they carry are the number one reason
00:01:49.250 --> 00:01:52.680
for winter hive loss. And speaking of Varroa,
00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:55.340
today we're traveling thousands of miles across
00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.719
the oceans to meet with Shaden Hinvies, a beekeeper
00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:02.260
on an island that is still Varroa free, and to
00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:04.599
find out what they're doing to keep it that way.
00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:07.500
If my voice will hold up, how about a bit of
00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:10.419
news from around the world of beekeeping? And
00:02:10.419 --> 00:02:13.900
this may be a big one. Greenlight Biosciences
00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:18.120
just received EPA approval for Nuroa, the first
00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:21.770
RNA -based treatment for Varroa mites. They describe
00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:24.650
it as the first ever nature -based treatment
00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:28.229
specifically designed to combat Varroa. This
00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:31.849
comes at a time when USDA researchers are blaming
00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:35.550
declining efficacy of existing miticides as a
00:02:35.550 --> 00:02:39.270
leading cause of honeybee colony loss. You can't
00:02:39.270 --> 00:02:41.409
buy it quite yet. It will be available soon.
00:02:41.650 --> 00:02:44.650
In the meantime, we'll get someone from Greenlight
00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:47.229
Biosciences on the podcast in the next couple
00:02:47.229 --> 00:02:50.840
of weeks to tell us all about it. All right,
00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:52.900
let's have some fun. Let's head down under for
00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:55.819
a delightful discussion about Ligurian bees,
00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:02.360
kangaroos, and a whole bunch more. I'd like to
00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:06.439
welcome to the show today, Sean Hindbees. And
00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:09.919
Sean, I think you are further away than anybody
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.979
else that we've had on the show before. So congratulations.
00:03:13.860 --> 00:03:17.520
I feel honored. That's great. Say hi and tell
00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:20.039
us where you live. Hello everyone who's watching,
00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:23.780
wherever you are. I live on an island off the
00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.939
southern coast of Australia and we call the island
00:03:27.939 --> 00:03:31.039
Kangaroo Island and I'm a beekeeper over here
00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:34.560
and that's pretty much my sole occupation and
00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.460
that keeps me very busy. We run about 350 hives.
00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:41.539
The island is the third largest island off Australia.
00:03:42.020 --> 00:03:47.740
It's about 160 kilometers long. I can't work
00:03:47.740 --> 00:03:49.159
that out in miles for you. You'd have to work
00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:52.280
that out. And about 90 kilometers wide. So there's
00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.740
about four and a half thousand people. Yeah.
00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:57.580
I'm going to say roughly 50 miles wide, 90 miles
00:03:57.580 --> 00:04:00.539
long. Okay. Yep. Yep. We have listeners all over
00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:04.520
the world. So metric is great for a lot of people.
00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:08.740
How far off the coast of Australia are you? We're
00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:12.979
around, I think it's 16 to 18 kilometers off
00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:15.659
the coast. So eight, nine miles, something like
00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:18.600
that. Anyway, that's going to lead into what
00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:22.259
we're talking about today. Australia is such
00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:25.279
an interesting place. I've been watching it over
00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:28.980
the years because for so many years we were all
00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:32.100
jealous that Australia had no Varroa mites. But
00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:35.259
you can no longer be jealous. No need to be jealous
00:04:35.259 --> 00:04:37.740
anymore. But I believe about three years ago
00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:40.000
they were discovered in Australia. Correct me
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.819
if I'm wrong. Yes, that is correct. Yes, and
00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:47.019
they've taken over really quickly and I know
00:04:47.019 --> 00:04:50.860
the people in Australia the beekeepers They've
00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:53.860
done everything they can think of to eradicate
00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.579
it. But I believe at this point it's okay We
00:04:57.579 --> 00:05:00.459
can't eradicate them. So let's control let's
00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:02.500
learn to live with them. Is that pretty much
00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:07.000
the scenario? That's a scenario But from conversations
00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:11.600
I've had with people If the eradication program
00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:14.500
was remained in place and everyone abide by the
00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:17.319
rules, it was possible that they may have been
00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:19.800
able to eradicate it. But people weren't, you
00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:22.060
know, people were moving hives illegally and,
00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:25.920
you know, over 48 ,000 hives were killed to try
00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.980
and control it. And it got to the stage, I think,
00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:31.439
where they're sort of like, well, you know, what
00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.879
do we do now? Basically, people keep moving their
00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:36.019
hive and spreading it. And so I think they just,
00:05:36.019 --> 00:05:39.360
they got fed up and decided to well that's it
00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.060
we'll just manage it. Well and that's the problem
00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:44.600
is them moving if they had all stayed in one
00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.240
spot I imagine they could have done something
00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.199
about it. Do you have people that do pollination
00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:52.680
and move to different areas for pollination?
00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:54.920
There's a lot of pollination contracts that happen
00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:57.600
within Australia itself, yes. Here on Kangaroo
00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.160
Island, there is no pollination contract. And
00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:03.139
for me myself, I actually avoid pollination,
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:06.560
trying to keep my bees off of monocrops and farming
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.339
agricultural land where possible, and just target
00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:13.259
the native flower. Good for you. Well, let's
00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:15.839
talk about the difference with your island, because
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.660
my understanding is you don't have roa there
00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:21.769
yet, correct? No, that is correct. I'm sorry
00:06:21.769 --> 00:06:24.370
to put in the word yet. You don't have a row
00:06:24.370 --> 00:06:28.389
a period. Hopefully you never will. We hope so
00:06:28.389 --> 00:06:32.389
too, but that's a likely possibility in the future.
00:06:32.589 --> 00:06:35.250
Yes. You're far enough off the mainland that
00:06:35.250 --> 00:06:38.889
the bees can't fly that far, but you have fairies
00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:42.769
that go over a few times a day. Yeah. Up to 10
00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.670
to 15 trips a day. How do you keep bees from
00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:48.430
hitchhiking on a ferry? That is the next problem.
00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:52.319
We've got bar security officers. on the Cape
00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.279
before the ferry leaves the mainland, and their
00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:58.800
powers are not as strong as we'd like them to
00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.000
be. I'm actually meeting with Senator Scriven
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.779
from the Agriculture, she's the Agriculture Minister
00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:09.279
here in South Australia, and are trying to work
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.699
out ways we can strengthen the biosecurity so
00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:16.000
that we can take measures to limit the possibility
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.860
of Varroa reaching us eventually. Good luck.
00:07:19.470 --> 00:07:22.610
All I can say is good luck. I hope you're successful.
00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:26.550
The hardest thing that I think with Varroa though
00:07:26.550 --> 00:07:29.350
is, from what I've been told, the Varroa mite
00:07:29.350 --> 00:07:32.209
can live about five days without a host. So,
00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:35.029
you know, if a car drives through a swarm of
00:07:35.029 --> 00:07:37.470
bees and they've got Varroa on them and a number
00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:40.089
of bees are trapped in the radiator, that Varroa
00:07:40.089 --> 00:07:42.589
mite could stay there for three or four days
00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:45.370
and be brought to the island on a car. You know,
00:07:45.589 --> 00:07:48.639
it's just, it's that possible. Yeah. It's like
00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:52.939
a terrible disease. Yeah. Yeah. It just spreads.
00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:57.360
So anyway, I wanted to ask you, is there anything
00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.220
else that's being done to keep the Varroa away?
00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:05.000
I mean, you can inspect cars and people. I don't
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.319
know how closely, how reasonable that is. I mean,
00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.000
you probably have hundreds of cars going back
00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.079
and forth every day. Possibly at times, almost
00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.569
a thousand cars a day, possibly. I think that
00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:20.290
the ferry holds, I think about 80, 80 to 90 cars,
00:08:20.290 --> 00:08:24.009
I think. And, and if they're doing 10 trips a
00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:26.170
day, then there's close to a thousand cars there
00:08:26.170 --> 00:08:29.110
a day, traveling to the island. We're going to
00:08:29.110 --> 00:08:31.050
try and ask if there's a wash down station. So
00:08:31.050 --> 00:08:33.629
if someone pulls up and the inspector notices
00:08:33.629 --> 00:08:35.169
that there's some bees in the radiator, that
00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:37.350
they get a chance to take a car up and wash the
00:08:37.350 --> 00:08:40.570
radiator out or something, something like that.
00:08:40.629 --> 00:08:44.340
You know, it's, it's nerve wracking and uh, We
00:08:44.340 --> 00:08:46.879
don't want to go down the path of using chemicals
00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.919
to manage Varroa, so we're going to have to try
00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.299
and work out ways of doing it a little bit more
00:08:52.299 --> 00:08:54.460
organically. All right, let's talk about your
00:08:54.460 --> 00:08:57.500
island. I hear you have an unusual kind of bee.
00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:00.299
Well, for us it's not unusual, but apparently
00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:04.080
for other people it is. So we have what's known
00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.860
as the Ligurian Bee. It was imported to the island
00:09:07.860 --> 00:09:12.200
back in 1884, and at that time that is when the
00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:16.350
island was settled. uh, by the colonialists from,
00:09:16.350 --> 00:09:19.590
from England. And, uh, and they were trying to,
00:09:19.669 --> 00:09:22.250
they settled New South Wales, they settled Victoria,
00:09:22.350 --> 00:09:24.690
they came around the Bight and they started to
00:09:24.690 --> 00:09:27.509
settle South Australia. And they realized there
00:09:27.509 --> 00:09:31.029
was no honeybee on Kangaroo Island. So they imported
00:09:31.029 --> 00:09:35.269
a number of hives from Liguria in Italy. So it's
00:09:35.269 --> 00:09:38.929
an Italian bee. And, um, in 1885, the island
00:09:38.929 --> 00:09:43.409
was declared a a bee sanctuary to preserve the
00:09:43.409 --> 00:09:46.149
genetics of the Ligurian bee. But be mindful,
00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:49.210
at that stage, there was no honeybee on the island
00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:53.730
until the Ligurian bee was introduced. And because
00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:56.309
we have a very Mediterranean type climate, very
00:09:56.309 --> 00:09:59.289
similar to Italy, the Ligurian bees have done
00:09:59.289 --> 00:10:02.409
very well here. And I know of recent, within
00:10:02.409 --> 00:10:05.549
the last, I think, 10 years, we've been DNA tested
00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:08.450
with other patches of Ligurian bee around the
00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:11.259
world. and we've been recognized as the most
00:10:11.259 --> 00:10:13.659
pure strain of Ligurian bees left in the world.
00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:17.460
Tell me about the Ligurian bees. Are they friendly?
00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:20.539
Are they mean? What are they like? No, no, they're
00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:24.120
a gentle bee. They're very hygienic. Some of
00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:26.559
their hygienic abilities are some of the strongest
00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.720
that many researchers have seen anywhere. We're
00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.299
hoping that they may actually be... a help to
00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:37.820
controlling Varroa long term. There's a beekeeper
00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:39.879
over here that breached Queens that has sent
00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:41.720
some bees off to some other countries. I think
00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:44.200
the Philippines he sent them off to, he's received
00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:46.500
letters back stating that they've been helping
00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:50.360
with the control of Varroa within some of their
00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:54.159
hives. So their hygienic ability is very, very
00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:57.740
high. And they're also quite a good producer.
00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:00.360
Probably not as good as the aggressive type bees,
00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.250
but... We've found that the Lagerian bees are
00:11:03.250 --> 00:11:05.070
very, very productive. We can, we can have some
00:11:05.070 --> 00:11:07.029
pretty good honey flows sometime. And what do
00:11:07.029 --> 00:11:11.090
they forage on, on your island? So we were about
00:11:11.090 --> 00:11:15.250
a third national park. Uh, so it's nothing but
00:11:15.250 --> 00:11:18.190
native flora and fauna. I shouldn't say fauna.
00:11:18.230 --> 00:11:22.049
Fauna is my flora and fauna. Yeah, fauna is animals,
00:11:22.169 --> 00:11:24.529
isn't it? Thinking about it. I'd stick with flora
00:11:24.529 --> 00:11:28.409
if I were you. Yeah, that's true. And, um, and
00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:32.120
so. Being a third national park, that's a huge
00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.019
amount of land that is just native, what we would
00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:39.460
call scrub or bushland. A lot of reserves, a
00:11:39.460 --> 00:11:43.860
lot of native heritage land, and a lot of landowners
00:11:43.860 --> 00:11:46.919
that have their livestock here also keep lots
00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:52.419
and lots of patches of native wild trees present.
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.419
Tree clearing isn't a common practice here. The
00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.299
trees that protect the paddocks also play an
00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:00.240
important part in the agriculture. Tell me a
00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.679
little bit about your bee business. Are you making
00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.840
money just on honey since you're not doing pollination
00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.379
or do you have other ways of... So we are making
00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:10.879
money with honey. Obviously there is no pollination
00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.100
paid contracts. There are people that produce
00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:18.279
canola crops here and fava beans and lupins and
00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:21.740
all the myriad of plants that need some form
00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:24.169
of pollination. but there's no contract for it.
00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:27.129
We have a very high population of feral colonies,
00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:30.289
which obviously Varroa would play a big impact
00:12:30.289 --> 00:12:33.450
on if it ever did get here. We are GM -free.
00:12:33.610 --> 00:12:36.350
There are no GM crops allowed on Kangaroo Island
00:12:36.350 --> 00:12:39.549
currently, so that also ticks a few boxes, I
00:12:39.549 --> 00:12:43.730
think. We run about 350 hives. Going back to
00:12:43.730 --> 00:12:47.350
just before 2020, we were producing somewhere
00:12:47.350 --> 00:12:53.100
between 20 and 25 tonne per season. 2020, we
00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:55.759
had the largest bushfire ever on Kangaroo Island
00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.879
and it burnt just on half of the island. Pretty
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.259
much all the national parks and so forth were
00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.879
taken out, which consists of about 70 % of our
00:13:05.879 --> 00:13:08.539
productive area. Since the fires, we're sitting
00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:10.799
on somewhere between five and nine tonne per
00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:12.919
season. We still haven't yet recovered from that.
00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.419
The trees are still in regrowth. Since the fires,
00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:19.059
we've gone into a drought situation. And so there's
00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:22.000
just not as much regrowth as there could be.
00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:24.019
So the trees are being halted in that regards.
00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:27.919
As you know, 2020, we were hit with COVID. So
00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.039
after the fires, we had to diversify because
00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:32.879
there was no real honey for at least 18 months.
00:13:33.419 --> 00:13:35.419
And so we sort of went down the line of doing
00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:38.460
beekeeping tours and experiences. We opened a
00:13:38.460 --> 00:13:40.179
farm gate shop so that we could have people come
00:13:40.179 --> 00:13:42.320
to the farm so we can do a bit of retail. And
00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:44.679
then COVID stopped all that. So because everyone
00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:47.509
was locked down. We just basically went along
00:13:47.509 --> 00:13:49.830
with COVID and did what we had to do and we've
00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.009
worked our way through that. The tourism business
00:13:52.009 --> 00:13:53.970
has taken off. We're doing really well with that.
00:13:54.129 --> 00:13:55.710
That's providing an extra income, which we didn't
00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:58.509
have, but we don't have as much honey as we used
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.889
to. And so we play it by ear and go from there.
00:14:02.070 --> 00:14:04.169
We do currently supply about 40 to 50 stores
00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:07.470
on the mainland, which I go to Adelaide. Adelaide
00:14:07.470 --> 00:14:10.590
is the capital center of South Australia. Go
00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:12.850
to Adelaide once a month and do my deliveries
00:14:12.850 --> 00:14:15.350
there. So we've sort of got our fingers in lots
00:14:15.350 --> 00:14:17.710
of little holes. We do retail, we do wholesale,
00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:21.070
we do tourism. It's provided enough income to
00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.090
stay in the black, which is good. Glad to hear
00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:27.350
it. We had somebody on the show recently in Hawaii
00:14:27.350 --> 00:14:31.070
and the agritourism is an important part of their
00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:33.250
business there as well. So I'm glad it's worked
00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:36.149
out for you. Sorry, I can't help but ask probably
00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:38.669
the dumbest question ever. It's called Kangaroo
00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:40.669
Island. Does that mean you have a lot of kangaroos
00:14:40.669 --> 00:14:43.460
on the island? We do. We actually have two pet
00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:49.759
kangaroos ourselves. If I stand up a little bit
00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.240
and just show you off my porch here, we've got
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.139
to look out over the farm a little bit. And if
00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:55.320
you look down the hill a little bit, you see
00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.179
the two kangaroos having a bit of a play there.
00:14:57.580 --> 00:15:00.679
They're just under that big tree. So they're
00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:03.720
two of our pet kangaroos. So it was called Kangaroo
00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:05.720
Island because when the island was settled...
00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.500
That was probably a lot of the diet of the settlers.
00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.779
They were hunting and eating the kangaroos because
00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:14.720
there's a large population of them here. So I
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:19.340
guess, anciently, the kangaroos swam that eight
00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:22.159
or nine miles from the mainland over. Kangaroos
00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:25.259
can swim, but I don't think that they swam to
00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:28.659
the island. When the island broke off of the
00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.200
mainland, however many thousands of years ago,
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.259
you'll find there's actually They're a subspecies
00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:39.220
of the Western Grey Kangaroo on the mainland.
00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:42.440
So over here, they're more brown. They're thicker
00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:44.600
set. They're not as skinny as the ones on the
00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:46.840
mainland. They're a subspecies of the Western
00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.379
Grey, which would have been on the island when
00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:52.559
the island broke off from the mainland. If you're
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.940
a beekeeper like me, we're getting into that
00:15:54.940 --> 00:15:58.139
favorite time of year, honey harvest. But it
00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:00.799
can be a lot of work. That's where Man Lake comes
00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.309
in. They have everything you need to make the
00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:07.330
job easier, cleaner, and more efficient. Removal
00:16:07.330 --> 00:16:11.250
aids, refractometers, uncapping tools, extractors,
00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:14.529
tanks, wax melters, even the jars and labels.
00:16:14.850 --> 00:16:17.129
Plus they have free shipping on glass containers.
00:16:17.610 --> 00:16:20.409
Whether you're a hobbyist with two hives or a
00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:23.409
full -blown commercial operation, Man Lake has
00:16:23.409 --> 00:16:26.950
it all. And don't forget your discount code MLBlove10.
00:16:27.129 --> 00:16:30.090
It's in the show notes. For $10 off your first
00:16:30.090 --> 00:16:33.549
$100 purchase. Here I've gotten totally off track.
00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:37.059
We're talking about the wrong animal today. Normally
00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:40.159
I've got bees. I'm wondering what else we can
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.600
learn from you. Do you have any other pests there?
00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.220
Small high beetles, anything like that? Straight
00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:49.840
after the fires, there was a big push to feed
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:51.879
the wildlife because when half an island burns
00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:54.159
out, there's not the feed there to help feed
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.779
the wildlife. So there's a lot of fruits and
00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.120
vegetables brought to the island and spread out
00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:03.340
the paddocks for the wildlife to eat for quite
00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:07.319
a period of time. And not long Probably a year
00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:10.559
after that happened there was a beekeeper out
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.859
west who found several hives that had small hive
00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:16.059
beetle in it. Now for small hive beetle to get
00:17:16.059 --> 00:17:18.579
the western end it would have to have been brought
00:17:18.579 --> 00:17:21.740
to the island by either someone bringing a hive
00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:25.740
over illegally or the small hive beetle coming
00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:30.349
from an area where it was found in the fruit
00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:32.329
that was brought to the island. So apparently
00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:34.630
small hive beetle can be found in fruit sometimes.
00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:37.970
So that's a possibility. But those hives that
00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:42.210
it was found in were frozen. They were put into
00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:46.430
a freezer. And we haven't found small hive beetle
00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:49.630
on the island since. It just sounds too easy.
00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:53.630
Except for the fires and COVID and the fact that
00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:56.390
you're trying to keep feroa out of there. Sounds
00:17:56.390 --> 00:17:59.319
like a pretty easy place to keep bees. Yeah,
00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:01.519
well, we don't have European fowl brood. We've
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:04.839
only had ASB on the island for the last I think
00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:07.920
two years and So there's a small patch of the
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:09.640
island where it's been there was one beekeeper
00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.579
found it in his hives and he'd spread it to a
00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:15.799
few different areas and so several beekeepers
00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.740
ended up getting a few hives and there's an outbreak
00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:21.240
in the main township called Kingscote here on
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.559
the island and they haven't quite eradicated
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.670
it properly, but all the honey samplings and
00:18:27.670 --> 00:18:31.250
everything that's gone in lately, there's been
00:18:31.250 --> 00:18:35.250
no detection of AFB at the moment. It might be
00:18:35.250 --> 00:18:37.890
lurking in the background, but we're hoping long
00:18:37.890 --> 00:18:40.529
term to eradicate it from the island again. Yeah.
00:18:40.529 --> 00:18:42.950
I wonder how in the world it got there. Tell
00:18:42.950 --> 00:18:46.589
me about your honey. Is it just a regular, what
00:18:46.589 --> 00:18:49.670
we call wildflower honey, meaning that these
00:18:49.670 --> 00:18:52.049
are out foraging on all kinds of things and it's
00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:56.809
just a nice sweet amber kind of color? Our honeys
00:18:56.809 --> 00:19:00.869
vary a lot. So a lot of our trees are Eucalyptus,
00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:06.069
Melaleucas, a lot of Australian native scrubland.
00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:10.250
Some of our coastal honey can almost be a mauve
00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:14.369
purple color or a deep red. Often it's just an
00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:16.529
amber color. Yes, sometimes we have a light.
00:19:16.869 --> 00:19:19.009
Our sugar gums and our cup gums are quite a light
00:19:19.009 --> 00:19:21.829
color. We don't get anything really, really clear
00:19:21.829 --> 00:19:24.069
and we don't get anything really, really dark.
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.640
Yeah, but that red color sounds interesting.
00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:30.859
Yeah, well, it's sort of a deep red, deep red,
00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.299
almost a slight purpley color at times. That's
00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:36.640
the coastal flower. There's a couple of plants
00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:40.660
there, the bubealibush, the coastal heath. A
00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:42.740
few of them really give it a dark color and a
00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:46.200
really amazing flavor. I just got back from Appamondia
00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:49.660
and they had the world honey tasting bar. So
00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:51.740
there were countries from all over the world,
00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:55.180
including Australia. In Australia, I'm trying
00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:57.140
to remember. I know they had a few different
00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:00.259
kinds of honey. Is there something called Burberry
00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:03.720
or something like that? It's possible. It's possible,
00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:06.099
but we don't have it on Kangaroo Island. Now,
00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:08.279
just for you to understand, I've never kept bees
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:10.579
on the mainland. I've only ever kept bees while
00:20:10.579 --> 00:20:13.299
on Kangaroo Island. I've been keeping bees crass
00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:17.500
for 25 years. And so there's lots of things I'm
00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:19.720
not aware of that happen on the mainland because
00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:22.079
we just don't do it here. Do you have any swarm
00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:25.190
removal needs? Yes, yes, I spent a lot of time
00:20:25.190 --> 00:20:27.609
playing with that. I have a YouTube channel which
00:20:27.609 --> 00:20:32.609
I'm very, very slow in adding videos to of me
00:20:32.609 --> 00:20:36.529
removing swarms and from buildings and barbecues
00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:38.490
and I've got a list of things I've got to edit
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:40.670
to put up. But we have a bit of fun with that.
00:20:41.130 --> 00:20:45.230
I do a little bit of TV presentation occasionally.
00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:47.369
A few shows come through and get a video of me
00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:50.150
doing an experience with them and done a UK show
00:20:50.150 --> 00:20:53.490
last year and yeah. Dapple a little bit with
00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.910
the with the film crews. All right. Give me a
00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:58.269
link to that YouTube channel We'll post it for
00:20:58.269 --> 00:21:02.470
you. So Ki living honey our YouTube forward slash
00:21:02.470 --> 00:21:06.750
Ki for kangaroo island. So Ki living honey We'll
00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:09.750
stick it in the show notes. So people don't have
00:21:09.750 --> 00:21:13.789
to try to remember be keeping that long I'm guessing
00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:16.190
you've got some kind of a wild and crazy story.
00:21:16.190 --> 00:21:18.630
Have you ever had anything crazy happen to you?
00:21:18.930 --> 00:21:22.660
Yeah I've got lots of little stories. Nothing
00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:27.619
really big stands out to me. But you know, when
00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:29.519
I first was starting out with bees, I probably
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.900
had 10 hives. There was one hive that was so
00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:36.000
aggressive, I almost gave up beekeeping. And
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.640
I would actually wear two suits to go through
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.160
the hive. And I was still fearful. Since then,
00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:45.099
you know, I hardly even put a veil on and...
00:21:44.829 --> 00:21:47.690
I never wear gloves and I've got holes in all
00:21:47.690 --> 00:21:50.289
my clothes. I've been stung pretty much on every
00:21:50.289 --> 00:21:55.029
part of my body at some stage. And the most painful
00:21:55.029 --> 00:21:57.769
areas is like the inside your nostrils and on
00:21:57.769 --> 00:22:00.549
your eyelids and, you know, little things like
00:22:00.549 --> 00:22:03.950
that. The groin area isn't as painful as other
00:22:03.950 --> 00:22:08.289
areas. But that's all part of having holes in
00:22:08.289 --> 00:22:11.450
your pants when you're out with the bees. Learn
00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:15.640
by experience. Oh yeah, that's right. I've been
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:17.799
out with people moving bees and it was pitch
00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:20.220
black and all of a sudden the box twists and
00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:22.519
all the bees fly out and you're covered in bees
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:23.779
and they're attacking you because they don't
00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:26.259
like to be moved obviously. But then there's
00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:28.700
other times, you know, you're sitting down, you're
00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:31.640
going through a hive, you've got 20 cows just
00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:33.420
sitting behind you, watching what you're doing
00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:35.619
and then you've got the... that the trees next
00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:37.079
to you, and then you've got the ocean in the
00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.299
distance, and it's just beautiful weather, and
00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:41.900
just, you know, sometimes you wouldn't want to
00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:45.059
be doing anything else. It's an amazing lifestyle.
00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:49.220
We have our ups, we have our downs, and story
00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:52.519
-wise, yeah, there's lots of stories, lots of
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:54.259
stories. How about with some of the tourists
00:22:54.259 --> 00:22:57.500
that you have? You do some kind of tours of your
00:22:57.500 --> 00:23:01.460
apiary, and what do you do with them exactly?
00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:06.259
So we'll have what we call an education tour
00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.900
which is talking about the bees and their life
00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:11.720
cycle and what we do as beekeepers and why we
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.019
do it and how we do it and that's an education
00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:16.900
thing. It takes about an hour. We show them the
00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:19.099
facility and how it all works and how the extraction
00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:21.779
and the packing works and then they have a tasting
00:23:21.779 --> 00:23:23.940
and then they have an opportunity to buy some
00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:26.700
product if they'd like to. If we're doing an
00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:29.559
experience Once we've done the tour with them,
00:23:29.700 --> 00:23:32.299
we then take them out. We've got six hives here
00:23:32.299 --> 00:23:35.019
near the house that we will take them through
00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:37.299
the hive and show them everything we talked about.
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.519
Everything from seeing the nectar, the honey,
00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:44.079
the pollen. We watch a bee being, you know, hatching
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.259
from its cell. We check out the workers, the
00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:50.299
drones, the queen. We go through the whole cycle
00:23:50.299 --> 00:23:53.859
and we, you know, for me, I'm not one that pushes
00:23:53.859 --> 00:23:56.039
time, you know, you've got to be in by nine,
00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:58.799
out by 11 type thing. If they want to talk and
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:01.640
ask questions, we'll spend two, three hours going
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.319
through it all. And they lead with their mind
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:07.119
completely blown, you know? And then they end
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:08.759
up wanting to have a beehive too. And so then
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:12.200
I can supply them some bees later. And lots of
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:14.059
things are happening that way too. Yeah, sounds
00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:16.960
great. Do you ever have some of those people
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.359
that sort of panic? They can't all be calm and
00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:22.660
collected. No, no, no. Some people come through
00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:26.059
to do it to try and face their fears. And so
00:24:26.059 --> 00:24:28.210
there's some people and some... But I get them
00:24:28.210 --> 00:24:30.690
all to hold frames of live bees. They're all
00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:32.430
suited up. They've got gloves on. You know, the
00:24:32.430 --> 00:24:34.230
chance of getting stung is very slim. And we've
00:24:34.230 --> 00:24:36.390
only ever had one sting in the field in the last
00:24:36.390 --> 00:24:38.410
five years. And that's because one lady decided
00:24:38.410 --> 00:24:40.509
to not wear socks. And that was a choice that
00:24:40.509 --> 00:24:43.750
she made. I've had one family group came through.
00:24:44.089 --> 00:24:46.410
If the father was to get stung, he would have
00:24:46.410 --> 00:24:48.609
to be rushed off to hospital because he was anaphylactic
00:24:48.609 --> 00:24:51.710
and he could possibly die. And so he was going
00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:54.660
to do the tour inside the shed. and that the
00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:56.759
rest of his family go off and do the experience
00:24:56.759 --> 00:24:58.599
part of it. I said to him, I said, if you'd like,
00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:00.279
I can put a suit on you and you can watch from
00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:02.460
the car park. And so he said, yeah, you will
00:25:02.460 --> 00:25:04.720
do that. Well, by the end of the experience,
00:25:04.779 --> 00:25:06.980
he was actually in there holding frames of bees
00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.259
too. And his mind was blown. And you know, it
00:25:09.259 --> 00:25:12.539
literally changes people's lives when they see
00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:15.480
one little insect and the impact that they make
00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:18.720
on us as humans. Leave us with one thought. Why
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.440
do you love bees? Why do I love bees? It's something
00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.420
I've sort of fallen into. All right. So when
00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:27.799
I first started, I was in a job. I was a tire
00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:30.440
fitter and we're a liner in a workshop. We've
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:33.619
got five children. We lived on the farm here.
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.440
And in my job, there was no option of earning
00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.180
more income. So we were always trying to find
00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:44.000
ways of saving money. So, you know, we've got
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.799
milking goats. So in the morning before the kids
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:47.259
went to school, I'd milk the goats and they'd
00:25:47.259 --> 00:25:49.619
have fresh warm milk on their breakfast. There's
00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:52.480
the chickens for the eggs and the meat. We had
00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.940
our cows, we'd butcher our own livestock, we'd
00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:57.559
butcher our own sheep. We'd eat the kangaroos,
00:25:57.640 --> 00:25:59.900
we'd grow a lot of our own vegetables. And then
00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:01.680
getting a beehive was just another thing for
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:04.240
us to sort of save a bit of money. That's where
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.660
it all started. And then I just fell in love
00:26:06.660 --> 00:26:09.500
with how they work, what they produce, what they
00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:12.740
do for us. And so one became five and 10 and
00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:15.460
20. In the beginning stages, we actually had
00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:17.660
no electricity on our home. So back in 2000,
00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:20.339
we lived here with five children. no electricity,
00:26:20.900 --> 00:26:23.019
not even a generator for the house. We only had
00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:26.019
gas lanterns, gas stove, gas hot water, and everything
00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:28.960
was gravity fed. We don't have mains water. We
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.880
don't have mains sewage. It was whatever we can
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.700
collect and get rid of ourselves. And so the
00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:38.220
bees have has been, it's pulled me out of where
00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:41.359
I was to where I am now. We were able to sell
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.579
the honey to another beekeeper. And so we built
00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:46.960
our numbers up. So I'd work the bees on the weekend
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:49.829
and And then we had the job in the week and then
00:26:49.829 --> 00:26:52.430
I weaned off of the job and worked in bees longer
00:26:52.430 --> 00:26:55.069
and longer. Eventually we were full time. And
00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:57.450
now we've got an income here that's sustained
00:26:57.450 --> 00:27:01.069
just quite comfortably. And I just love the smells,
00:27:01.410 --> 00:27:04.750
the sounds, the environment, the produce that
00:27:04.750 --> 00:27:09.210
they make. It's transformed my life and I watch
00:27:09.210 --> 00:27:11.630
it do the same to other people. Great answer.
00:27:11.930 --> 00:27:14.329
Sorry. I said that was the last question, but
00:27:14.329 --> 00:27:17.289
I've got one more. You mentioned eating kangaroos.
00:27:17.430 --> 00:27:19.809
What do they taste like? Well, whenever someone
00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:21.829
says they eat meat, everyone says it tastes like
00:27:21.829 --> 00:27:24.890
chicken, but kangaroo does not taste like chicken.
00:27:25.109 --> 00:27:27.210
Are you familiar with what lamb tastes like?
00:27:27.589 --> 00:27:32.009
Yes. So it's stronger than lamb and it's going
00:27:32.009 --> 00:27:35.809
down the path possibly of deer. It's a bit gamier,
00:27:35.990 --> 00:27:40.190
but it's not as strong as wild pig. If you sort
00:27:40.190 --> 00:27:43.259
of know what I mean. Can you tell me what honey
00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:47.200
tastes like? Yeah, it's sweet. Harder question.
00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:49.779
Just tell me what salt tastes like. Yeah, that's
00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:52.319
right. That's exactly right. But when it comes
00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.359
to salt, I can't tell what it tastes like, but
00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:58.400
everything you add it to tastes better. Kangaroos,
00:27:58.500 --> 00:28:01.839
we would have a lot of kangaroo mince when the
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.339
kids were young. You don't actually notice the
00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:06.019
difference when you add your vegetables and your
00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:07.799
spices and your herbs and all that sort of stuff.
00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:11.519
So it's not an overpowering meat. but it's definitely
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.420
stronger than lamb, but probably not, probably
00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:17.680
not as strong as goat. Okay, gamey and needs
00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:20.940
salt. Alright, Sean Hinvis, thanks so much for
00:28:20.940 --> 00:28:23.180
being with me today. I appreciate it. Loved having
00:28:23.180 --> 00:28:24.599
a chat with you. All the best and all the best
00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:27.259
for your, your show and what you do. Thank you.
00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:33.339
Thanks for joining us on Be Love Beekeeping presented
00:28:33.339 --> 00:28:36.420
by Man Lake. If you like this content I hope
00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:39.319
you'll share it with a friend, follow and subscribe
00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:42.779
to this podcast and even sign up for our newsletter
00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:46.150
at BeLoveBeekeeping .com Also, just a shout out
00:28:46.150 --> 00:28:48.710
to Vita B Health for their support, we appreciate
00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:51.750
them. Vita's Varroa Control range of products
00:28:51.750 --> 00:28:56.009
includes Epistan, Epigard, and now Veroxen, Extended
00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:59.869
Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. And
00:28:59.869 --> 00:29:02.369
remember, if you're not just in it for the honey
00:29:02.369 --> 00:29:05.349
or the money, you're in it for the love. See
00:29:05.349 --> 00:29:06.109
you next week.
