Our story
What is Australian Manuka Honey?
Australian Manuka Honey is the honey produced by bees that have foraged nectar from Leptospermum, (also known as Tee Tree, native to Australia and New Zealand).
Thought to have been used for thousands of years by Native Maori and Australian cultures for its believed medicinal properties. Not to be confused with regular honey, Manuka honey is super special!
The potency of the believed medicinal and healing properties are measured in MGO (Methylglyoxal), which is the active ingredient. Traditionally, Manuka honey has had many uses including natural treatment of minor skin irritations, sore throats and to help heal minor digestive issues, to name a few.
Why Manuka Honey?
Whist out regenerating our property and caring for our land we made the most amazing discovery! Right under our noses we found three of the highest active tea trees. With the help of University Honey Lab, who lead the way with the identification of Leptospermum (Australian Manuka) we tested our nectar samples and identified we are actually living in a Manuka hot spot.
How?
Matt collects the Manuka seed from our tea trees. I then propagate and nurture them into seedlings before we plant them out. Simultaneously creating more delicious food for our bees and regenerating our land.
After pouring much time and effort into caring for our property, our first year of harvest was very exciting! Our bees produced a beautiful jelly like honey. We sent the samples off to the lab and results were wonderful! The honey our bees produce have MGO’s ranging from 100 -1130 MGO (Methylglyoxal – the active ingredient in medicinal Manuka honey).
Growing our honey has been a steady learning curve with many skills involved. What drives us is a love for our bees and their environment. Caring for their trees and watching nature thrive nourishes both of us and we include a few other rituals in the process we believe make all the difference. For example we love to play soothing Balinese music whenever we are inspecting their hives. That seems to keep us all happy.
Who are we?
Myself (Megan), Matt and our bees, are surrounded by pristine nature on our coastal bush block at Peregain Beach on the Sunshine Coast. We have a love of the ocean and check the surf most mornings before our bee keeping and land regeneration work day begins.
We love good coffee, quality food and being outdoors in our beautiful natural environment. We both have a background in food and wine and really appreciate high quality, locally grown, small batch products like ours.
