School holidays have meant everyone has spent lots of time out in the paddock. This means long sleeve shirts, jeans, boots and hats must be donned to offer protection from the sun. The kids are good getting better at organising themselves and the appropriate attire.

I’m not sure why Hamish passed up his “work hat” for the $2, bright yellow fancy dress hat of Andrew’s ( a legacy of Melbourne Cup..) on this day however.

It could be coincidental, but while checking some fences last week-end, we spotted a native bee hive. Something to do with the yellow hat, perhaps?!

The boys were intrigued and not timid of these stingless creatures. The swarm was very busy and a hive of activity in this ironbark tree.

Dad seemed a little more cautious while Hamish & Lachlan were devising a plan to rob honey. Unfortunately native bees aren’t as productive as their honeybee relatives. A Google search has told me that a hive produces a meagre 1 kg of honey per year.

Never the less, these little workers play a very important role in a biodiverse environment carrying out the task of pollination.

Just goes to show that school may be out, but the learning never stops…..

There is 1 comment on this article:

• On 6/01/2013 sharon said:

  neighbours of ours across the way were tidying up some trees the other day and chopped one down with a hive in it…so far they have drained in excess of 5kgs of honey from it, it was/is HUGE! We’ve had to scrounge around and find bottles for them to store it all in!