Jo and Mark Knobel take good care of their precious bees at Knobel Honey. In return, the bees deliver raw honey, rich with the flavours of central Queensland’s native trees. We spoke to Joanne Knobel about life on the apiary.

What drew you to beekeeping?
Mark got a job in the local coal mine and was looking for a hobby. He grew up with bees as his father and grandfather both had bees, so he started with one hive. We gave the knobel honey away to friends and family, and soon people were literally knocking on our door looking for a natural product. Our business grew from there.

How did you get started?
We started with one hive that we bought in Mackay. So, Mark had to travel all the way home with them buzzing in the back of the car—yes, you read that correctly! We now have more than 40 hives in total and a dedicated custom bee trailer to move them around.

What types of bees do you have?
We have Italian bees for their superior knobel honey production. The Italians are a light yellow in colour. We also have Carnolian bees for their gentleness; they are a much darker coloured bee. With both of these breeds you don’t require much protection as they are fairly gentle; a face veil with long sleeves and gloves are sufficient. As with all animals, their mood can change quickly, so Mark and I wear good quality suits so the bees don’t get in. Both varieties originated in Europe but are now bred in Australia.

How does the environment affect the honey?
Our honey is uniquely Australian. Our bees forage on native trees to our Central Queensland area such as blue gum, narrow leaf ironbark, silver leaf iron bark, dawson gum and red river gum. Some of these trees flower at the same time, so the bees blend the honey themselves. The taste of our honey changes with the seasons, and is lighter in taste and colour through the summer months. The summer honey has a long, sweet taste whereas the autumn and winter honey is darker and has a more complex flavour. Our honey is very distinctive, and we believe this is due to the heat out here and our geographical position being away from coastal species.

How long does it take a hive to create enough honey for you to harvest?
It depends entirely on weather and season. Some of the native species of trees will only flower after rain or every other year. In a good season, when there are lots of flowers on the trees, we can harvest knobel honey from our bees every two weeks. However, we always put the health of our bees first, and harvest only when our bees have surplus foods.

How do you know when the honey is ready?
The honey is ready to harvest when the bees put a wax cap over the cells. This is called ‘ripe’ honey. Honey is ripe when the bees have removed the moisture content in the honey. They do this by fanning the honey with their wings.

How do you take honey from the hive to the jar?
We remove the ripe frames from the hive onsite. We then transport the honey to our facility and remove the wax cappings (which we melt down and use for our beauty products or for the beehives). We then place the frames in our extractor, which uses centrifugal force to remove the honey from the frames. We then run the honey through a coarse filter to remove any wax particles. We then bottle our raw honey. We do not heat or add anything to our honey.

What problems do you encounter on the apiary?
Our biggest issue where we live is drought. Last year we lost hives because of the drought. When there is drought there are no flowers and the bees can become weaker, which allows other pests like ants (the little black ants) to overwhelm the hive.

How often do bees sting you?
Mark seems to get stung on his hands when he works the bees, however, I stand back and let him do all the hard work; so far I have not been stung. My father who also helps has not been stung either, so maybe it is just Mark! It is very confronting when you are first around bees but you need to stay calm as fast movements can aggravate them. Swatting is a no-no; it creates an alarm response, which causes them to attack.

How did your relationship with Brisbane Bakery Flour and Chocolate develop?
We are quite active on social media. We were following Flour and Chocolate on Instagram and they contacted us. They use our honey in their cooking, including in their famous Bee Stings. They also sell our honey in their store. [We also sell to] Finders Keepers on the Sunshine Coast. They found us on Instagram, too, as did the newsagency in Mackay.