The Beekeeper Behind Gary’s Honey
Gary Wood, the beekeeper and creator of his own Gary’s Honey
I’ve been growing a lot of bee-friendly flowers lately and had been looking to find a beekeeper to interview, but had done nothing about it, when through a twist of fate, one fell into my path.
That beekeeper was Gary Wood, espresso tech at Coffee Supreme known for keeping La Marzocco’s across Brisbane in good shape, who recently launched his own brand of honey into the world, Gary’s Honey.
His honey comes from happy bees that forage through flowering gum, tea tree and eucalypts in bush land along Cedar Creek at hives at the LOOP Growers farm in Samford Valley. If that sounds like a delicious combination, it’s worth getting your order in early because the small batches get snapped up very quickly.
I met up with Gary to hear about how he got into beekeeping and how he collects beautiful honey. I also got a taste of real life beekeeping myself out at his hives to see what it’s like. Life dream realised! Over to Gary!
How did you get into beekeeping?
As a kid growing up in a rural town in New Zealand, l saw a lot of bee hives at nearby kiwi fruit orchards. Something about them excited me, l used to stand close to the hives and watch the bees come and go. Risky!
Years later at Crystal Waters permaculture commune l purchased an old $3 beekeeping book from the 80s called Beekeeping in Australia. l read that book from cover to cover and it hooked me, it hooked me hard! A couple of months later l had my first hive which then lead to more and more hives. One does not simply have one hive! I have 28 now.
What interests you most about bees?
My goal is to raise awareness about bees and the role they have in our local food systems. I also want to raise awareness about our local farmers and producers in Brisbane who are using ethical farming systems to produce sustainable and nutritious produce with minimal intervention, and who put the care of the land they farm as their number one priority.
For example, in this harsh drought, LOOP Growers have had the Cedar Creek run dry which is their farm’s life blood. Instead of pumping all the water that remains they have stopped irrigating to leave the remaining water for the birds and bees to have precious drinking water.
How do you inspect the hives?
I rock the hives back to test their weight to feel how much honey is in there. I inspect each hive to see the colour and how much nectar is being produced. I check for the queen, drones, nurse bees and worker bees. These all show if a hive is in good shape. You can tell the nurse bees because they can’t fly yet. When they get older their job is to go out and forage for the hive. They can forage between 3-5km for food and water.
What have you learned from beekeeping?
The learning never stops with bees, but one thing I have really enjoyed which has come with bee keeping is an appreciation and love for flowers. Looking at them and observing when trees are in flower. I’m a sucker for them, give me a bunch of flowers and my heart is yours.
I also extract the honey at night after the bees have finished working for the day. One night though I got a late visit from a bee that found me right in the middle of my house. It could smell the honey and came in and ate some!
Have you ever been stung?!
Bees don’t like black, so most bee suits are white. One day I was wearing my bee suit and shoes, but I had my red and white stripe Barista Socks showing. I must have annoyed them and the bees went straight for my ankles. I got 3 or 4 bites!
What’s the best part of beekeeping?
Having to deal with MS has its ups and downs physically, but I love when you inspect bee hives it’s almost meditative, you kind of forget about everything in life; you are in the moment. As well as keeping me physically fit and healthy, it has also done a lot for my mental health as well.
How did you choose the name?
I think honey is a simple and honest product. That’s why I just called it Gary’s honey. It’s small scale and small batch stuff which I think makes it pretty special.