Meant to “bee”
Our fabulous little friends keep our ecosystem alive.
Windy Acres Bees
The benefit the bees provide to our ecosystem is invaluable, pollinating one third of our food supply.
Our bees also assist on a micro level on our farm, pollinating our flowers. Although bees have a forage radius of five kilometres, they are positioned to take full advantage of our lavender.
We hope that this brings a distinct and unique lavender flavour to our raw honey and honeycomb.
Apiary
A place where bees are kept.
Windy Acres Apiary
We decided to invest in bee hives way before we had committed to the idea of lavender. It’s something Alicia has always had an interest in and wanted to do.
Miss M has also shown a great interest in learning about bees, and together we have read books and completed online beekeeping courses.
We sourced our bee nuclei locally and have been fortunate enough to find a very knowledgeable mentor within the local beekeeping club.
Alicia and Miss M built and painted each beehive, as well as building each frame and wiring the frame for the wax foundation.
Each hive contains a bottom board, two 8 frame supers (boxes), an inner lid and a lovely gable roof (designed and made by Pa Windy Acres).
Our two original bee hives - Queen Green Bee and Queen Latifah.
As with lavender, the products that can be made with the beeswax are diverse.
Meet the Windy Acres Queens
Each beehive has its own name is named after famous “Queens” as well as after their sponsored names sake. This makes it easy to make thorough notes on each inspections as well as give each hive a unique look.
Queen Latifah
Queen Green Bee (Sponsored by Green Bee Communications)
Queen Nefertiti
Queen Bea
Queen Freddy Mercury
Queen Beewell (Sponsored by Beewell Aromatherapy)
If you are interested in sponsoring your own hive on our farm, we’d love to hear from you!
Our collection of hives is constantly growing.
Why bees are so important
The importance of bees cannot be denied. Bees have been the secret superheroes of a healthy ecosystem for billions of years. Without them, our food sources would dwindle, and many species of plants and animals would become extinct. Bees pollinate our plants which helps them reproduce, essentially pollinating one third of the food we eat.
A product of the bees’ work is wax and honey and the benefits of these are undeniable. Raw honey contains specific health benefits that pasteurisation and other processes may remove or reduce. These include:
Bee pollen, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
Bee propolis, a glue-like substance that helps keep the hive together
Certain vitamins and minerals
Enzymes
Amino acids
Antioxidants
Anti-inflammatory effects
Antibacterial and antifungal action
Pain relieving properties
These help to make bee pollen an important part of honey and help honey’s natural ability to heal wounds and kill bacteria.
Some ‘regular’ honey products are heat treated and pasteurised and contain added sweeteners that and are high in fructose and corn syrups.