it started as a hobby...

…that grew into a passion that ultimately has changed our lifestyle. 

In April 2015 the crowd funding campaign for the FlowHive caught our attention and as we dove down the Google rabbit hole we realised that bees were facing serious problems all over the world. 

The information we found talked about the fact that bees were disappearing at an alarming rate around the world and the consequences humans could face if we didn’t do anything about it. It encouraged people to grow “bee friendly” plants in their garden and to keep bees.

Inspired, we decided to do our bit, put a couple of hives in our yard and help local bee populations.

We joined the Central Coast Beekeepers Association, Sven put his name on the Swarm List and we got busy building and painting a few boxes, super excited to host our new little friends.

And the calls started coming…

…As it turns out, it is very common for colonies of bees to settle in the most inconvenient of places, like school yard trees, house walls, and Telstra boxes, and some beekeepers think it’s too messy to remove those colonies. But not Sven, he thrived on those challenging jobs and he was able to put his experience in the building industry to good use. (we have so far rescued over 100 bee colonies that would have otherwise been exterminated).

And so it came to pass that after 4 months we had 35 hives and Sven had discovered his true calling. Being interested in beekeeping when he was young, but growing up in East Germany, with little opportunity to become an apiarist, Sven had to wait another 35 years to follow his dream.

Anyone watching Sven working with the bees will realise very quickly that he was born for this. He has this innate sense for what he should do next, what a hive needs and a calmness around them that is almost zen-like.

it was time to make a decision…

To support our growing family we bought a property in the beautiful Mid North Coast, dominated by bush and backing onto a National Park. It is the perfect place for our foraging bees. 

Then in September 2017 we took the plunge and decided to make this side gig our full-time job. We started doing markets every weekend, building a network of retailers, increasing our product range and of course we continued rescuing colonies.

We currently have over 200 hives and growing and have also taken our business from just a casual market stall up to 10 markets a month and 27 regular stockists.

Five per cent of all our sales go to fund bee-friendly projects as our way to contribute to a better future for bees and beekeepers in Australia.

You will also find us doing talks at schools, garden centres and other events as a way to educate people and to give back.