A YANCHEP beekeeper is keen to deliver talks to schools to educate students about bees.
Roy Murphy said he and his wife Leanne believed awareness started with the younger generation and they wanted to emphasise the importance of bees and what they do for people.
Through their business Sticky Prick Bee Haven the Murphys provide a professional swarm removal service, bee hive rentals and pollination as well as producing raw honey.
“Our honey is processed a lot different from the supermarkets,’’ he said.
“Ours is cold extracted, meaning we use no heat.
“So the honey is totally heat free, is labour intensified but the product is better giving customers honey with all the goodness in a glass jar.
“We want to give clients a product like our grandmas and their grandmas which is raw, unprocessed and all natural.
“I believe it’s time we look at more natural food straight from the farmers and not factories.
Mr Murphy used to keep bees with his father in his younger days before taking up another trade.
A back injury forced him to rethink his future and taking up beekeeping provided him not only with a job but a total passion for the industry and the bees themselves.
“It has been a bit of trial and error along the way but I talk to a lot of other beekeepers and mentors – without giving too many secrets out.’’
He has 40 to 45 hives mainly in the Yanchep and Wanerie districts.
He is also keen to hear from people who come across swarms – usually from August through to November.
“We want people to stop calling the pest control when they come across bees.’’
While collecting honey from bees was a bonus for he and his wife, his main reason was to give the “little pollinator” a home.
“While there is always going to be land cleared by bushfires and housing development, these bees only have a short few days in spring to find a home and that’s why I’m trying to bring bees back into our lives by doing beehive rentals in suburban and rural backyards.
“We supply honey by chasing the flora around WA using farmer’s land in exchange for honey, building up a trust with landowners at the same time.
“We don’t want people to use pesticides.
“While the shortage of honey is not such a huge deal in WA, we do have some of the best bees in the world and need to protect them against imported diseases and viruses with our strict quarantine rules.”
He is always on the lookout for land with jarrah, banksia and red gum trees where he can keep his bees.
