The nectar that bees bring back to the hives contains sugars and high protein pollen and is essential for the survival of the bee colony. A healthy hive will produce a lot of honey and being too greedy as a beekeeper does not benefit your little workers at all. To avoid having to provide additional 'feed' to the bees we encourage beekeepers not to take all honey out of the hives and feed wastage back to the bees. We ask our selected beekeepers to avoid adding refined sugars. Sugars produced from tropical plants like sugar cane and maize or corn are produced using a photosynthetic pathway referred to as the C4 pathway. Nectar which is collected by bees comes from plants that use a different process of photosynthesis, referred to as the C3 pathway. This way we can identify adulteration in honey through a simple laboratory test that we perform on all our products.

One of our trusted beekeepers Mark shares with us, “I’ve always been fascinated by bees. They’re beautiful little creatures and totally selfless. My observation of them is that they have no regard for themselves individually, but rather only for the colony. It grieves me when I inflict accidental harm to the bees. In the early days of beekeeping, the thought of hurting a bee really got to me. My mentor said to me: ‘Mark, you can still be a gentle beekeeper, but you've got to realize that you’re going to inflict collateral damage, so think of it in terms of the greater good.’  

There’s no one secret to success with beekeeping. There’s an element of trial and error. I love the challenge of making the correct combinations of choices to maximise hive health and production. I've learned many lessons the hard way. However, I enjoy the problem-solving to determine what a hive needs to make it right. It’s very rewarding to see a struggling colony come back to strength due to my intervention.”