I spotted a small article in last weekends Herald about an organic beekeeper by the name of Kerry McCurdy, and was so interested in what he had to say that I gave him a call and arranged for him to come and tell us more. Kerry – based in Mangere Bridge, Auckland runs an organisation called Beez Thingz – and is dedicated to getting bee’s back into the city and neighboring countryside. For $400 a year, McCurdy supplies and services the hives, and his customers can have 15kg of organic, non heat treated honey a year.
“The hobbyists have died out. It is difficult to keep bee’s now; you have to be a master beekeeper pretty much. And the varroa mite knocked out the wild bees”. says McCurdy.
“People want hives for all sorts of reasons. For some its a nostalgic thing; others want the natural food for their families. Some simply want to help out the environment. Having bee hives at the end of your garden makes a big difference to people, environment and plants”.
Kerry chooses the hive sites carefully, considering things such as the supply of pollen, washing lines, trees, swimming pools and the earths magnetic lines. In our case, the proximity of the Manukau is a consideration – although it seems that they cover a wide area and soon get to know where to go to collect pollen.
Our hive is due to arrive this week – watch this space for an update on our experiances keeping bees in West Auckland.
