Urban Bee Education

Over the past 200 years care for our environment has taken a back seat to economical growth especially in the agricultural industry. We are only stewards of this land for a short period in history. Its important to remember that we must work with the environment and not try to have dominion over it.

The Urban Bee Co started as a Christmas present of a beehive to my husband in 2018. Talis had been begging me for a while to let him have a beehive. However, reflecting back, I suppose that my hesitance was based on a naive understanding and fear of bees. If we think about it, for the majority of people, their first experience of bees is being stung as a child. This creates the foundations for a negative view of these beautiful little insects. So a week before Christmas, our first beehive arrived. We were lucky enough to have a beekeeping friend who mentored us for out first year as beekeepers. The anxiety was high the first time we opened our new hive, it was the fear of the unknown, it was irrational. For in reality, when we opened the lid and peered inside the hive, there were no vengeful bees out for blood, just thousands of busy little bees, running around the frames, solely focused of their jobs. With the gentle background hum from the hive, we lifted each frame and were utterly mesmerised by what we saw. Brood, honey, pollen, it was all there and so interesting to see up close. We spent some time just watching, observing the bees in awe and wonder. The anxiety we had previously felt seemed to melt away as we welcomed the newest member of our family. She was our first hive and her name is Queeny.

Queeny sparked our love of bees, she is the inspiration for our journey. She changed our lives for the better. Because you can't have an affection for bees without appreciating the ever-interconnecting world that is life. The life in the soil feeds the plants and trees, which allows them to thrive and flower. But for trees to create new life, flowers need to be pollenated by another flower. Amazingly bees do this as a bi-product of collecting pollen and nectar for their hive. Without bees, plants and trees would find it difficult to reproduce, and similarly, without flowering plant, the bees would not exist. Both need to work and live in unison for all to survive. So is the interconnected relationship humans have with the natural environment, however, this is something as a species we have forgotten over the years. However, it is something the bees reminded us of. Our natural world is so beautiful and so inspiring that through the gateway of beekeeping, our eyes were opened to the amazing world we live in.

Soon one hive turned into 10, which turned into 80 hives. We were expanding beyond the limits of family and friends back yards, and just as we thought we had reached our limit, the universe smiled and by chance we were approached by a stranger who offered up a small space in their back yard to host some of our beehives. This was the start of our Host a Hive program. Eventually our Host a Hive Program led us to the backyards of so many wonderful people. This program wasn't just about making more honey, it was about educating our hosts about regenerative beekeeping and the magic of these little creatures.

To backtrack slightly in our story, prior to getting our first hive, we did a lot of research into beekeeping, we looked at different methods and ways beekeepers around the world looked after their bees. We also read quite a few peer reviewed journal articles on bee research being conducted internationally, and what we found interesting is that environmental chemicals from both the agricultural industry and the back yard gardener who sprayed pesticides or herbicides in their gardens can build up within the hive, in both the beeswax and pollen stores and the research suggests that this has a negative impact on the health of the hive. So as we got to know Queeny, we made the decision to priorities the health of our hives over anything else, including honey production.

So armed with the knowledge we had obtained so far, we decided to build on the foundations of natural beekeeping by developing our own method of Regenerative Beekeeping. Our method of regenerative beekeeping was founded on the basis of constant brood rotation and cold pressing honey. This negates the ability to reuse old wax back in the hive. The bees then have the ability to create new wax in the hive, reducing the residual chemical build up that can happen in a hive.

In order to help support Queeny and her sister hives now living in our yard, our lawn around the family home soon made way to garden beds and fruit trees and has become our urban paradise, with the bees in their element. Who needs a mowed lawn when you can grow food and connect with the soil from which we all came. This evolution of our yard into a little urban farm is credited entirely to our bees and the lessons they have taught us.

And so our business evolved. We started to bottle and sell Regenerative, Raw, Suburb Specific, Cold Pressed Honey (100% plastic free), through organic supermarkets and awesome independent fruit shops.  We soon realised that we were not just selling honey, we were creating a community. Our network of followers and collaborators, many of who we now consider close friends, became champions for our environment, all with the same passion and caring for our fragile world. 

Soon our passion for education was bursting at the seams. We wanted to make a real difference in the lives of our community, and from this need, The Urban Bee Co evolved into Urban Bee Education. A business with the mission to educate and inspire the young and young at heart. Our flagship Bees in Schools Program was developed to educate our next generation. This program not only teaches students how to beekeep using a regenerative method, it builds their character and self-determination . It is nothing less than an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to inspire our next generation, after all, they will soon hold the fate of our world in their hands.

In a male dominated industry, we pride ourselves on the fact that, while in schools and out in the community, we can showcase the power of women in beekeeping using a loving approach to our bees. Students who enter our program are taught through a lens of values based education, highlighting the importance of living the five human values of Love, Peace, Truth, Right Conduct and Non Violence, in all facets of our lives. Through bees we have the ability to connect with our students and allow their inquisitive exploration to shine bright.  

From small things, big things grow! And while we have seen the wonderful evolution of our business, it still didn’t feel complete. We felt that we could do more. So over the past 2 years, The Urban Bee Co has partnered with Woolworths and other small supermarkets to collect their vegetable scraps to build the foundations for a regenerative, organic, micro farm in Carbrook. We have composted over 80 tons of vegetable waste that would have been destined for landfill. This is the engine to power our 150 newly planted fruit tress and soon to be market garden. In the very near future, this land will be home to The Urban Bee Co’s training centre, where we aim to work with young people and families in our community, to inspire them to become the best they can.

Could this business focus on profits and improving yields? Yes. However, this does not align with our values or core beliefs. In a world that is so fast paced, where everyone’s focus is directed to the almighty dollar, we are breaking the chains. We are unashamedly the diamond in the mud and we welcome everyone to join us in the dirt.