About Us

When I bought a tub of honey from a fruit shop in Kangaroo Flat (a suburb of Bendigo) I wasn’t prepared for how good the honey was going to be.  It was a lovely light golden colour and the taste was yummy with a smooth texture. It was very soothing for my son’s sore throat.

The answer to why the honey was so good was answered when I met up with the apiarist in charge of the business ‘Pure Bendigo Gold Honey,’ 30 year old Zachary (Zac) Long.  He is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about his product, having kept bees since he was 7 years old. ‘I got into it because I had a sweet tooth,’ explained Zac, ‘and I just liked honeycomb and thought I would buy a few bee hives and did so.

‘Three years ago I got into honey packing and have never looked back. I got into this [side of the industry] because my bees got burnt out in the Grampian Bushfires. I think there were 14 beekeepers that lost their hives then. Some were completely wiped out. I had a few left but not enough to generate an income out of; insurance covers materials but not loss of wage or overheads. I looked around and knew I still had to pay the bills. So we started selling some honey that we had stockpiled.’ 

 

The business now buys in honey in its raw form from other apiarists. The honey is then processed to take out all the earwigs and bees’ legs and wax and so on. Then once it has been run through a filter it is put into jars. The product is also sorted to its suitability for either the table market or (to where the bulk of it goes,) into the various food manufacturing areas such as honey hams.

Zac sources the honey from the Bendigo and Maryborough region, basically a 50 klms radius, from about 50 or 60 commercial beekeepers who make their living from beekeeping.

 

Zac travels around Victoria talking to other beekeepers and purchasing honey. He needs to ensure he has organised enough supply of honey for his busy times of the year, usually the winter months (honey on crumpets, porridge et al) when paradoxically it is also the time that bees don’t make much honey. He also spends a lot of his travelling time talking to grocers (such as IGA who ‘have been very supportive’) and butchers in order to get his product onto the shelves. Zac still has a small number of hives at home which are useful for pollinating his cherry trees.  And yes you can buy honey directly from the farm gate if you like. ‘A lot of people rather buy direct …some become almost like part of the family as they regularly return for their 3 or 5kgs buckets of honey, ‘ adds Zac.

 

I asked Zac what’s the best thing about being an apiarist? ‘It is travelling all over Victoria and seeing some awesome things, such as koalas and wombats; and lizards walking around in pairs,’ he enthused. ‘Seeing the seasons change. You see so many sights and smells, camping out…spending a lot of time away from home, which is one of the reasons why I prefer now packing (sic). I can now spend more time with my family—my wife Cheryl, Solomon (4 ½) and Mya (3 ½).

 

‘There’s nothing bad about being an apiarist.’

And finally if someone is thinking of getting bees, what do they need to know?

‘I’d recommend it. Absolutely fascinating, brilliant hobby, exciting nervous, great industry as far as hobbies go. You need to get a license from Department of Primary Industry and they can recommend where to go for more information.

 

‘It is one of the few hobbies that you can do as a weekender…you can also produce a nice little income on the side if you want to go slightly commercial side of things.’

 

When we went for a walk around the farm, Zac elaborated on all the different flavours that can be given from different trees and crops and helped re-educate me on the difference between yellow box and yellow gum honey!

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100% Pure Australian Honey