Like an angler leery of revealing his favourite fishing hole, beekeeper Mat Stafa is guarded about advertising the exact location of his bees. We agree that I can report it’s somewhere in the lower Hunter Valley.Every few years, at oddly random intervals, the spotted gums in these paddocks, and on the wooded hills above, will flower late in the season. It provides his bees with enough nourishment to make it through winter fat and healthy. Between flowerings, he butters up the farmer who owns the land with jars of fresh honey, securing this plum real estate while waiting for the eccentric eucalypts to blossom.Greg Bearup is a senior writer for The Australian Financial Review. Send encrypted tips to gregbearup_1234.09 on messaging platform Signal.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?
It’s not just the birds, the bees are buggered too
Beekeepers are going broke, feral honey bees are dying and there’s a very real possibility there won’t be enough hives to pollinate all our crops.
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