Honey Tasmania in Exeter | Shopping & retail

Honey Tasmania

Locality: Exeter

Phone: +61 3 6331 9300

Address: 124 Main Rd 7275 Exeter, TAS, Australia

Website: http://www.honeytasmania.com

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24.01.2022 Tomorrow and Sunday, be there or be square! You’ll learn so much about where your food comes from, you don’t want to miss it! Check out the website in the bio for details @farmgatefestival I’ll be talking bees all weekend - my dream come true! The two girls will be serving customers in The Beehive. Come stock up on honey, candles, gifts, alcohol and enjoy an ice cream while you’re at it! And the boys will be at the market as usual @harvest_launceston They’ll be loaded up with our delicious honey and honey mead!

24.01.2022 Getting ready for another weekend of farm fun! Check out the Farmgate Festival in November - a great way to find out where your food comes from! (And nice new artwork by Agnieszka Sikorska-Meikle Illustration ;) )

24.01.2022 A few more queen cells going into nucleus hives...

23.01.2022 CHERRY POLLINATION Took the bees to a small organic cherry orchard this morning. The flowers are coming on strong, a bit earlier than normal... This is the only pollination job we take. We like the farmer. He doesn’t use chemicals. We used to pollinate apples as well. The farm wasn’t organic, for one, and for two, we find it a bit tough on the bees. It’s really best to choose to pollinate or to gather honey. Both in one season seems to put too much strain on the girls. ... (Had to let some air out of the tires so we wouldn’t get bogged - it’s been a bit wet lately! )

23.01.2022 WERE SUPER EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU! LEATHERWOOD HONEY is proving itself medicinal in scientific studies! Weve known this for years - all the old-time beekeepers have known it on an instinctive level... Theyve used it on cuts and for colds for decades!... There is currently a full-time PHD student - Katharina Schmidt - doing a three year research project on the medicinal value of leatherwood honey. She is half-way through the study, and results are very exciting! Katharinas study is focusing on antibacterial activity by looking at growth studies with bacterial cultures and hydrogen peroxide determination. The study is also looking at leatherwood honey authentication markers using IR Spectroscopy (to determine identification of honey adulteration, the botanical and geographical origin, and quantitative analysis of physical and chemical measurands.) Will share results of this study so far in next posts...

21.01.2022 One of the beekeepers most necessary tools - the hive tool. Some say third most important after the veil and smoker, but you can tend hives without those tools, however its very difficult without a hive tool... (Pictured here with a gorgeous gift from lovely Nick a few years back - couldnt find anyone legit doing Rude Honey to tag .) Hive tools come in various forms, this one doesnt have the usual hook at one end. They are used in hive inspections and maintenance. T...he hive tools jobs include: prying lids off the hive (where bees use propolis as an insulation material), removal of bur comb (extra comb between frames and lid when hive completely full), separation of supers or boxes, removing debris off the floor board, loosening some hive components such as frames, scraping out stings, killing wasps, scooping medication out of buckets and spreading onto tops of frames - to name just a few. Really, this is an invaluable tool for any beekeeper! See more

21.01.2022 Bee Garden III All the plants have come along so well in the two years since we started the garden! The soil is super rich, the plants were all very healthy and we accidentally added A LOT of slow release fertiliser (which was either going to kill the plants are have this effect... ) The bees (natives, honeys and bumbles), as well as all the other pollinators and insects in general, have sure seemed to enjoy what weve created. And lets not forget the birds - the gard...en is constantly visited by our feathered friends. Looking forward to this coming summer, we expect everything to take off with even more vigour! Come visit us anytime, but especially in January when the garden is at its peak of beauty!

20.01.2022 Happy First Day of SPRING!

20.01.2022 Ever tried buckwheat honey? Its one of the darkest honeys around, with a very earthy, nutty flavour. Super high in antioxidants and minerals, raw buckwheat honey helps with coughs and sore throats,(like manuka). Ive even read that in a Russian study, survivors of the Chernobyl accident who were the healthiest were those who ate buckwheat honey! Supplies are limited, so come in for yours soon. Shop open Thursday - Saturday, 10 - 3, Harvest Market Saturday 8.30 - 12.30 and Ill be popping them online shortly.

20.01.2022 Happy Friday, hope you’re all doing well! Enjoy watching these little ladies, packing up their pollen baskets.

19.01.2022 What’s behind the green cloth? Mature queen cells! This lot of cells are getting placed in some strong nucleus hives where they will emerge in the next 4-18 hours... You can see from the last two photos how thin the cell has becomes the tip - looks like you can almost see some royal jelly.

19.01.2022 Forgot to make a post showing the beautiful frames of honey and brood in our top bar hive a few weeks ago... It had been months since we opened this lovely hive that sits happily in our bee garden at The Beehive. We knew they we’re doing well by the comings and goings at the entrance, but finally took the time to open it up. What a beautifully strong hive! The girls have gathered so much honey and raised so much healthy brood, we were super pleased with them!... Top bar hives are a more natural way of beekeeping, with the bees building all their own honeycomb down from just the one wooden bar. The frames are set up horizontally rather than vertically. There is no heavy lifting needed with this type of hive. Less invasive for the bees, fewer frames exposed to the open at a time. These types of hives wouldn’t suit commercial beekeepers, but they sure are a lovely way to keep bees. Anyone else out there do any top bar beekeeping?

18.01.2022 Just letting you all know, the N Beekeeping Branch has announced their upcoming beekeeping course for September! It fills up very quickly, so get in touch with them!

17.01.2022 Thought I'd share this again, get on the waiting list!! :)

17.01.2022 Swipe through to see the development of our bee garden. (More to come in following posts...) When we bought the property, it only had wire fences and a field of grass. We had an earth-mover scrape soil off the side of the building to put in a driveway to get to the rear of the property. (We had numerous loads of gravel brought in to make the driveway stable for our big bee truck.) The extra soul from the scraped driveway was used to shape the mounds in the garden, both around the perimeter and the two hexagonal cells that make up the middle. We fenced the entire property with wooden palings. Then we got a start planting natives around the perimeter. It only took one winter to learn that many grevilleas are not frost tolerant! Still trying to grow the border plants to give privacy from (and to) the neighbours. More tomorrow...

17.01.2022 Time to stop, there are other ways to make a living, people! These are some of the last remaining temperate rainforests left in the world... Jobs can be replaced, old-growth forests cannot! It isn't a question whether you support the Greens or not, but whether you support the trees and all the species that these forests support.

17.01.2022 More top bar footage... First photo features a lovely shot of a drone, isn’t he handsome!

16.01.2022 Gearing up for queen breeding Featuring Ecrotek queen cages... Were really excited to announce our first sponsorship in beekeeping. Partnering with one of the leading beekeeping companies in New Zealand and Australia, were happy to share our experience with products from ECROTEK Australia. Their ethos is much in-line with our own - focusing on innovation and sustainability - we hope together we can inspire others to do the job properly and keep better bees. Ecrotek Beekeeping Supplies Australia Updates to come on the two types of queen cages as the season ramps up!

15.01.2022 Manuka 250+mgo Great for boosting your immune system! Rumours galore spreading about its ability to help aid against coronavirus, wouldnt doubt it... Its highly antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antimicrobial and has anti-oxidants as well. Why not give it a try?! In store, at Harvest Market in Launceston and online (link in bio)

15.01.2022 SWEET HONEY MEAD cont... The remaining four sweet leads have these tasting notes and suggested food pairings: CYSER ... apple blossoms, fresh baked apple pie, sweet with a hint of acid * delicious with fresh apple crumble MEADOW warm day, summer garden, sweet with a hint of acid, gentle nutty finish * great with mild cheese PURPLE BERRY BUSH dark chocolate, fresh light acidity, brazil nut finish * perfect with a dark chocolate tart BEEKEEPERS SPECIAL rich, dark chocolate, smoky perfume of leatherwood * best with a cheese board

14.01.2022 Our farm and vineyard gates are open for the weekend on 21st and 22nd November - and our ticket sales are open now! Children go free and adult tickets for... the weekend are just $30 for admission to as many farms as you would like to visit. It's a rare chance to hear the stories of farmers and growers and those producing the artisan foods that Tasmania is renowned for. Hop on over to our website to see details of all the farms and book your tickets - available from today See you in the paddocks! * * * Bridgenorth Berries Brady's Lookout Cider Lentara Grove Tamar Valley Organic Marion's Vineyard, Tamar Valley Tamar Valley Truffles Tascargots Wilmores Bluff Waterton Hall Wines Village Olive Grove Honey Tasmania Tamar Valley Wine Centre Blue Berry Barn Cafe and Post Office Iron Pot Bay Vineyard Alpenrose Bistro and Bar Grindelwald Moon Lily Kitchen and Cakes Loira Vines

14.01.2022 Jim Doughty (JTD Fabrication) is the man behind the making of the facade. It took him a wee bit longer to get it all worked out (was by far the largest job of this sort hed ever done), but he came through for us in the end! (It took many, many months, during which time we had no income from a shop - had we known it would take so long, we would have kept the Quadrant Mall shop open during its manufacture...) Jim used his plasma machine to cut out the rainforest and bee ...scene from the heavy corten steel. What took so long was getting the computer program to talk to the plasma machine, with such enormous amounts of details. The files were huge and had to be cut into small, manageable files. (See previous post for photos if you missed them.) Once cut out and assembled, the three panels had to be set into place. We still had the old silver truck with the working crane (thank goodness!), and she did the job beautifully! As did the boys! All went smoothly at that point...

14.01.2022 Tasmanian pepperberry (Tasmannia lanceolata) Looking like a fantastic crop this coming season! After these spring flowers, berries will develop and ripen in the autumn (only on female plants). (Last photo is ripened berries from May...) Used for thousands of years in Aboriginal cooking, it has also become popular around the world in modern cuisine. The leaves and berries can both be used, adding a spicy, pungent flavour to a variety of dishes. The heat is more flavourful ...than regular black pepper, and has a way of building in intensity with time on your palette. These beauties are also four times higher in antioxidants than blueberries! We add dried pepperberries to our creamed leatherwood honey. It’s one of my very favourite’s! Sweet, spicy and so full of flavour - served with cheese is amazing, but my first choice is on toast with butter!

14.01.2022 Something we shared last year, too good to let slip by without reposting ;)

13.01.2022 This beekeeper kisses his bees often! We love our bees and do our utmost to protect them and provide them with the very best conditions possible!

13.01.2022 New children's books in shop now!

12.01.2022 Come learn about bees during Farmgate Festival - and visit the other farms to learn about where your food comes from!

12.01.2022 UPDATE: This course is now fully booked. If you would like to add your name to the waiting list, please contact Bert. If a cancellation is advised, you may yet ...get to come along and learn all about the wonderful hobby of beekeeping! The Club is excited to announce the dates and times of our next Introduction to Beekeeping Course. The full course runs over four sessions. The dates are as follows: Wed 16 Sep 20206:15 pm for 6:30 pm start. 8:30 pm finish. Sat 19 Sep 20208:45 am for 9:00 am start. 3:00 pm finish. Wed 23 Sep 20206:15 pm for 6:30 start. 8:30 pm finish. Sat 26 Sep 20208:45 am for 9:00 am start. 3:00 pm finish. The first three classes will be held at the Lutheran Church Hall in Frankland Street, Launceston, with the location of the fourth class to be advised. Course covers the theory and practice of beekeeping, including biosecurity and pest management, as well as building and waxing frames, and hands-on hive inspection with experienced beekeepers. Cost includes 12 months' membership and comprehensive course book. $190 per person, with one additional family member at $20 extra (no book). A COVID-19 plan is in place. Please bring your own lunch, drinks, and cup/mug. Boiling water and microwave available on site. Places are limited and interest is keen so secure your booking now by contacting Bert before 11 Sep 2020. Email: [email protected] Phone: 0408 082 691 / 6393 6443 (after 7:30 pm) Members please share this post.

12.01.2022 You do realise that each jar of honey we produce takes thousands of bees and hundreds of thousands of flowers to produce, right?! These selfless creatures have got to be one of the most amazing beings on the planet. And the product they create is like no other! Raw honey (unheated and unfiltered) contains: - antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-microbial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antioxidant properties - low GI ratings (more complex sugars, giving sustaine...d energy over time) - enzymes, vitamins and minerals - particles of pollen, propolis and possibly royal jelly - the right environment to prohibit bacteria (acidity and low water content), so will last forever (it never spoils) - amazing aromas and flavours See more

12.01.2022 3 Seconds... watch it!

11.01.2022 Peach and Nectarine blossoms, Bumbles and the beekeeper working in the background...

10.01.2022 More LEATHERWOOD HONEY and medicinal properties as reported by University of Tasmania graduate student, Katharina Schmidt - Preliminary Analysis of Phenolic Compounds - Kaempferol (antioxidant, antibacterial) - Syringic acid (antioxidant)... - Methyl syringic (antibacterial) - Caffeic acid (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory) - Protocatechuic acid (antioxidant) - 3-Phenyllactic acid (Antifungal, antibacterial - p-Hydroxybenzoic acid (antibacterial) - Gallic acid (antioxidant) - Luteolin (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory) - Pinobanksin (antioxidant) - Naringenin (anti-inflammatory) Physio-chemical parameters (163 lw samples) -high mineral content -high variation in colour -low acidity High to moderate Hydrogen Peroxide content in leatherwood (this is what makes for good wound care...) Next Steps in Study (still 1 1/2 years in the study...) - Volatile analysis of honey samples from 2020 - Geographical distinction of honey samples by statistical analysis - Storage trial of leatherwood honey - Investigation of the antibacterial and antioxidant properties - Analysis of phenolic compounds Summary of study so far - Many aroma compounds & bioactive compounds - Rare compound tentatively identified - Low acidity - High mineral content - High hydrogen peroxide content in many samples

10.01.2022 SWEET HONEY MEAD Currently, weve got eight varieties of mead. The following four have these tasting notes and suggested food pairings: MANUKA ... rich toasty vanilla, beeswax perfume, brazil nut finish * great with smoked salmon or cheese LEATHERWOOD perfumed breeze in rainforest, fresh on the nose, spicy and floral * perfect with brie or camembert PRICKLY BOX delicate waft of perfume, beginning of spring, almond finish * great with seafood TAMAR VALLEY BUSH dark chocolate and menthol, fresh on nose, hazelnut finish * perfect with dark chocolate tart topped with raspberries

09.01.2022 Amazing musician, fantastic event, important topic - was great to be a part of!

09.01.2022 Look at this new possible benefit our little bees are making available to us!

09.01.2022 Nice morning for feeding the girls in the cherry orchard. Both nectar and pollen are gathered by bees as they pollinate cherry flowers. Feeding sugar syrup to bees in cherry pollination has been shown to increase fruit yields. Cherry orchards that have nets which don’t allow bees through only produce a 2% fruit set, as compared to orchards allowed to be pollinated by bees which produce a 36% fruit set. That equates to 1.9kg vs 35.2kg!

08.01.2022 Super excited to be part of this wonderful event on Saturday! Celebrating our unique natural environment, with music, art and presentations focusing on kelp, pollen, rain and soil - all amongst the beauty of Table Cape’s tulip fields - what a time this will be! (Got my first bit of slam poetry prepared, super chuffed to try it out.)... Hope you already got tickets as the show was so popular, it sold out straight away, as did the second show that was added!

08.01.2022 Started labelling our honey with the new labels created by the super talented @sikorska_meikle We’re so happy to be moving away from plastic jars, into glass. Australian made glass even! The only way to go in this time in the world’s history. Leatherwood honey is our most popular, with it’s unique complex and spicy flavour, it definitely captures the essence of the rainforest! ... The boys are selling it @harvest_launceston today (and every Saturday 8.30-12.30) and Lizzy and I are selling at The Beehive (10-3 every Saturday - 10-4 Tuesday-Friday)

08.01.2022 Vote now for Tassie's Top Tourism Town (which we think is Beauty Point, not to sway you or anything...)! :)

07.01.2022 Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) This lovely flower is usually pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees, but the bumblebee we have here in Tasmania is a short-tongued species (Bombus terrestris). So in order to get to the nectar, the bumblebees bite holes into the base of the flower where the nectar is stored. The hole is then used by honey bees and other pollinators. It was so fun to discover this and then read about it afterwards confirming what I’d just captured in this footage.... This behaviour can become a problem with native flowers that then can’t produce seed for the following year. There is someone researching wildflowers in Tasmania’s highlands and is finding this type of bumblebee behaviour is starting to have a negative effect on the flowers that native bees have visited for thousands of years. We can’t remove the bumblebee from Tasmania, but we certainly can try to keep it out of the rest of Australia!

07.01.2022 You must admit, the fellas are sure cute! These drones were just chilli’ at the bottom of a hive with the fluffy remains of a newspaper that was used to unite two small hives.

07.01.2022 Incredible clouds - been raining most of the day! Gotta love spring weather! Super stoked to be gearing up big time to breed some awesome queens! These hives contain bees with genetics we really like and are hoping to replicate. Watch this space!

06.01.2022 Tunes in the Tulips happened this weekend, with a special performance organised by Big hART focusing on: Kelp, Pollen, Rain and Soil - a team of musicians, scientists and filmmakers collaborating to creative an immersive mix of music, food and understanding. This is the very talented Yyan Ng and I, teaming up to talk about Pollen (and bees). With the gorgeous painted backdrop by Zoe Grey and beautiful tulips grown by the environmentally conscious Table Cape Tulip Farm, Yyan played the 10 string South American Tiple and his beautiful big Taiko Drum while I shared my first ever attempt at slam poetry. ENJOY

06.01.2022 Bee Garden II They said wed have to spray the whole lot with poison in order to combat all the weeds, especially the twitch grass (Elymus repens) - but you all know we cant use poison! We laid down weed mat and used wood chip for the paths (cheapest method we could find). It mostly works... theres still some weeding involved, but every organic garden has that. ... We then had our first bit of guidance from @birchgrovegardenstasmania Mark and Gwen are amazing, so knowledgeable and helpful! They specialise in rare and unusual perennials. Their plants occupy the back square. They also suggested the cypress trees in the hexagonal cells. Were ever so grateful to them! If you ever want beautiful, healthy perennials, pay them a visit (Beaconsfield) @birchgrovegardens For the hexagonal mounds, we put in plants we had collected from roadside stalls and markets. Anne, in Gravelly Beach, has particularly beautiful and healthy plants. You can usually find her stall out on Sundays. Finally, we added the bee garden sign by the super talented @sikorska_meikle And the benches inside the cells. All in all, its progressed nicely the last two years! Next post will highlight its beauty in full bloom...

06.01.2022 Have we got some honey for you! Our unfiltered and unheated honey is made from nectar that our millions of bees collect from Tasmanias forests and meadows. Each variety highlights different aromas and flavours represented by flowers the bees visit. Its amazing what you can pair honey with - things like cheese, seafood and fruit - be creative, be bold and most of all, be thankful to the bees! Come in Thursday - Saturday for your special pot of honey, open 10-3 (or order online)

05.01.2022 Scientific study results of LEATHERWOOD HONEY AND NECTAR: VOLATILE ANALYSIS of Leatherwood HONEY - 97 samples analysed 363 compounds detected in all samples... 72 compounds tentatively identified 36 common compounds in all samples, most interesting compounds: -Benzyl alcohol (antioxidant) -Linalool (antibacterial) -2,3-dihydro-3,5dihyroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (antioxidant) -Benzaldehyde, 4-methoxy- (antioxidant) -Benzoic acid, 4-methoxy- (antibacterial) -Benzldehyde, 3,4-dimethoxy (antifungal) -Benzoic acid, 3,4-dimethoxy (antioxidant) -Benzoic acid, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-, methyl ester (antibacterial) -Lumichrome VOLITILE ANALYSIS - Leatherwood NECTAR Nectar from 3 different leatherwood trees analysed 14 compounds tentatively identified 9 compounds also found in lw honey 5 compounds w/bioactivity VOLITILE ANAYSIS Leatherwood NECTAR - - Octanal - Benzyl alcohol (antioxidant) also in honey - nonanal - 3,7-Octadiene-2,6-diol, 2,6-dimethyl- also in honey - Benzaldehyde, 4-methoxy- (insect repellent) also in honey - 1,7-Octadiene-3,6-diol, 2,6-dimethyl- - Nonanoic acid (antifungal) - p-Anisyl alcohol also in honey - 8-Hydrxylinalool also in honey - 2,4-Di-tert-butylphenol (antioxidant) also in honey - 1,4-Dimethylindanyl acetate also in honey - n-Hexadecanoic acid also in honey - Octadecanoic acid (anti-inflammatory) also in honey - Hecadecanamid Nice to start having scientific evidence of the medicinal properties of leatherwood! (More results in next post...) Come in for your jar today (were open 10 - 3), or order online (link in bio)

05.01.2022 Check out this great article on capturing leatherwood in the wild west of Tasmania by a friend of ours, you'll feel as if you're in the adventure yourself! ;) Well done, Brett

04.01.2022 Super interesting look at soil and how we can help to save the planet, check it out. It's free to watch for a few more days...

04.01.2022 Introducing our new Sweet Honey Mead! Will have some for sale tomorrow Harvest Launceston We've got 5 varieties to choose from, each with their own taste profile! Delicious with a cheese platter or as an after-dinner drink Also in The Beehive - 8 varieties available!

04.01.2022 Bee slam poetry, Tunes in the Tulips, Table Cape @bighart_online

02.01.2022 Got some exciting news to share with you all! We are putting our Exeter premises on the market. Currently we are still open, and will continue to be open, until we sell. Don’t worry though, Honey Tasmania will continue beekeeping and selling honey. ... Those of you who know us, have come to realise that we don’t stay in one place for too long. We love the challenge of setting up interesting and inviting spaces from which to share our passion for honey and bees. But we also enjoy evolving and pushing boundaries. The Beehive has been a labour of love, with its various features, including the metal facade depicting Tasmania’s rainforest and bees; the retail shop full of locally made honey and bee products; the display hives where our bees have allowed a close-up look at their comings and goings, charming visitors, school kids and community groups from near and far; the factory where the extraction of all the delicious honey you’ve all come to love has taken place; and the peaceful and beautiful flowering garden we created for our bees to feast from and to inspire you into planting flowers to help feed the bees. Thank you all for your support, and we hope you continue coming into The Beehive while we are open - we are still a great stop for local Christmas gifts. It’s been an absolute pleasure sharing The Beehive with you. We look forward to bringing you the next evolution of Honey Tasmania.

02.01.2022 Come in for some honey ice cream - they’re delicious!!!

01.01.2022 Hard to believe its been three years since we opened The Beehive! We are constantly asked about our metal facade. Over the new few posts, Ill show the process through photos and videos, hope you enjoy! Because of our love and appreciation of Tasmanias unique and ancient forests, we feel strongly about doing our part to help preserve them. Through education and exposure, we hope to spread the word about this important part of Tasmania. Protecting these rainforest species,... especially the leatherwood trees, is crucial to Tasmanias food industry, tourism industry and the overall health and wellbeing of its people, wildlife and of our planet. This is why we chose to depict the rainforest on our steel facade. Faced with the challenge of an existing nondescript shed, the idea of a facade was born (a great suggestion from an architect friend). The drawings of another artistic friend laid the ground work for the design and were then given to a local steel worker/artist. Included on the piece are as many elements of the rainforest as possible, while of course paying homage to the honeybee, represented by the three different hives depicted - a tree bush hive, an old-fashioned traditional skep hive and the modern, square, wooden (Langstroth) hive. The idea of using steel seemed to be a common thread that links the toughness of beekeeping, the rural nature of Exeter and the steely resolve of the Tasmanian people. (More about the process next post...) We hope you enjoy it!

01.01.2022 Are you a bit over your sourdough starter? Get inspired with this sourdough brioche recipe, I'll be telling Helen Shield on ABC Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania... all about my brioche explorations, why we need to think about planting bee-friendly plants for spring, making gyoza style dumplings and the best places to enjoy sparkling wine in Tasmania this Spring. Tune in at 1430 for food news and Tassie fun. Tasmanian Discover Tasmania Honey Tasmania West-Bee Honey Plants Direct Tasmania Wine Tasmania Harvest Launceston Farm Gate Market Bream Creek Farmers Market Recipe from Home Grown Happiness.