How We Started With Bees

An unexpected trade that kicked off our beekeeping journey

When we first moved to the farm, the land was still covered in vineyard infrastructure—40,000 timber posts, kilometres of dripper line, steel wire, and old vines that needed pulling. Clearing it all took about two and a half years.

Once the vines were out, we started giving the posts away. We didn’t want to dump them, and plenty of people needed them. So we put the word out and said they were free to anyone who could load them up. Over the weeks, we had a steady stream of people coming through—trailers, utes, and trucks. Most were building up their own hobby farms or small setups, so we usually had something in common. Lots of chats, lots of good stories shared over fence posts.

One of the very last to come through offered us something unexpected. We got talking, and somewhere in the conversation, we mentioned we’d always wanted bees. He paused, then said, “I’ve got a spare hive if you want it. You just have to come pick it up.”

So we did.

That was our first hive. No gear, no experience—just a hive full of bees and the willingness to learn as we went. We read what we could, watched a few videos, and gave it a crack. The bees mostly looked after themselves that first year, and we started slowly picking up what to watch for.

Since then, we’ve added a few more hives. We keep them for the pollination they bring to the farm and the honey we share with friends and family. It's not a business for us, but it’s something we really value.

We’re still learning—every hive teaches you something new—but that one random offer over a pile of vineyard posts kicked off a whole new part of what Rustic Harvest has become.

Chloe inspecting a honey frame during one of our first harvests — sunset light, sticky gloves, and a whole lot of learning