This week’s episode of the Bees with Ben podcast features Michael Colvin of ‘High Meadow’.

Michael was born and bred in Guyra, on top of the Great Dividing Range in the New England region

of NSW. He was raised on a fine wool property near the small town of Wards Mistake, and has a

passion for regenerative agriculture, having managed organic beef and sheep enterprises. Michael

also loves his bees and is the President of the New England branch of the Amateur Beekeepers

Association. For the last 12 years, Michael has been employed in a full-time capacity as a fencer;

about 6 months ago he purchased a small excavator in order to diversify somewhat. About 3 or 4

years back, he also started up a small business selling local ‘cold country’ honey. High Meadow is

actually the family farm situated near Guyra at an altitude of 1300 m above sea level, which results

in mild summers and cool winters. The business produces raw, unfiltered honey from chemical free

hives located on selected sites across the Northern Tablelands from Dorrigo in the east to Inverell in

the west. The High Meadow website, highmeadow.com.au, explains that the bees are only kept on

sites where the land managers practice chemical free, regenerative agriculture. High Meadow honey

is harvested during a limited season and is said to have a truly local flavour and pollen profile. It is

cold extracted, raw and unfiltered to preserve the delicate aromas and enzymes, as well as the

natural yeasts and pollens.

Michael describes his location as being ‘a little north of halfway between Brisbane and Sydney and

about two-and-a-half hours’ inland from Coffs Harbour’. He says he currently maintains just under

50 hives and had an awesome season last spring and summer, with a yield of about 16 kg per 8

frames. Guyra is notable for having the highest caravan park in Australia, and routinely gets a couple

of inches of snow in winter. Michael says it’s not easy to keep bees in this area because there is such

a short warm season; from Christmas onwards this necessitates making sure the bees have enough

supplies to get them through to next spring. Once the queen starts laying in spring, the advent of a

cold snap can see a hive run through a full box of honey within 2-3 weeks. The bulk of Michael’s bees

are therefore now located at a site which is around 6 degrees warmer, where they cruise through

winter without a problem.

Michael tells us that he has not been directly impacted by the varroa mite incursion in northern

NSW; in the first couple of weeks after the mites were identified he travelled to Newcastle and spent

4 days working as a volunteer inspecting hives. He says he had a great time and met a lot of

interesting people. He also relays that to date it is estimated that just over 2,100 volunteers have

contributed the equivalent of 47 years of hours worked towards controlling the outbreak. Michael is

quietly confident that we will eventually eliminate the mites; he’s got a ‘good feeling that we will get

round it’.

When asked about his aspirations for the business, Michael replies that he would like to build it up

to the point where he no longer has to fence; he says that he doesn’t want to go too quick, as he

doesn’t want to sell bulk honey if possible. He and his partner Alison, a Research Fellow at the

University of New England, do everything themselves (Alison loves the business side of the

enterprise) and they are gaining some good traction locally. Last weekend they went to Moree to

attend a festival, where they had a great reception and picked up another stockist for their products.

In fact, the highmeadow.com.au website lists a dozen stockists across the New England region.

Runny honey, creamed honey, honeycomb and pure beeswax may also be purchased online from

the website.

Episode 120: Steve Sammut, Steve's Queens, Western Australia