 |
 |
HONEYHamish and Rob have kept bees since childhood and been commercial operators for over a decade. Manuka honey, the Harper brother's speciality, is produced from the native manuka or New Zealand tea tree. Renown for its antimicrobial properties, manuka honey is a popular health food, used by people with a range of internal and skin problems. It is also being trialed in hospitals as a dressing for wounds, protecting vulnerable patients against infection and reducing scarring in burns cases. When applied internally, it tastes superb, with a rich golden colour and distinctive after-taste.
Beekeeping is a year-round business. In autumn, it's time to repair hives and equipment. In winter, when there are fewer flowers available to feed the bees, they are given sugar syrup, from the half tonne or so of raw sugar kept at any one time in the pantry. In spring and early summer Rob raises new queen bees, by persuading the hives to produce 'queen cells' and then hatching the young queens in a specially designed incubator. In summer he puts extra boxes on the hives, which the bees then use to store the new season's honey. Harvest occurs in late summer.
A new honey house has recently been built at one end of the farm, with an extraction plant. This allows the honey to be removed from the hives on the farm, rather than sending them away to a contractor. We are also licensed to export, so honey is sold to selected wholesalers, as well as private customers all over the world - and from the farm gate. A private supply of honey for the kitchen and some beeswax to make candles for the dinner table are also important! If you would like to try manuka honey for yourself, you can order it here.
|
||||||||||||||||||
Sherrington Grange Ltd |
|||||||||||||||||||
