The spread of the deadly varroa mite in NSW is deeply concerning to beekeepers across Australia. The mites were recently detected in biosecurity surveillance hives at the Port of Newcastle, prompting a statewide emergency order to control the movement of hives to stop the spread.

Authorities have destroyed around six million bees in the red zone in what is a devastating loss for these family businesses.

There are over 30,000 registered beekeepers in Australia – who own a total of 668,000 hives.Credit:AP

Bees are an important part of our family. We started with one hive. At last count, we had 14 hives dotted through the region.

Our hive hosts are keen gardeners who don’t spray chemicals (it would kill the bees). They want a hive to improve pollination in their garden. In the summer months, their tomato plants boom.

Our daughter bravely first pulled on a tiny bee suit to tend to the hives when she was six, completely unperturbed by the prospect of being stung. We gifted her an empty hive for her seventh birthday. She caught a swarm and rehomed it her hive in a midnight mission with her Dad she’ll never forget.

This pint-sized wonder give talks about the importance of bees at her school with us, teaching her schoolmates to admire bees for their pollination prowess. She’s also the official record keeper, filling in her beekeeping diary, so we can keep track of our efforts.

Lola (9) and Miles (12) Hendy in their bee suits prepare to collect a swarm from a tree.

Our son can single-handedly prise off the hive lid, pull out frame after frame of bees and inspect each one, selecting frames ready for honey extraction as he goes.

For three wonderful summers, the kids attended a monthly junior beekeeping course, where they learnt about bees, meeting other kids perhaps not as brave, and also those braver than them. Beekeeping has taught our kids so many important lessons. Bravery and commitment, for a start.

They’re also learning the importance of hard work, regularly working up a sweat in their suits as we travel between the hives and let ourselves into our neighbours’ backyards to tend to the hives.

We collect a few swarms each season. There’s always families eagerly waiting for the chance to host a hive for us in exchange for a bucket of honey. It’s helped us make some wonderful friends over the years. The kids are adept at checking for disease in the hives. They know how to check for small hive beetle, chalk brood or the less common fowl brood. They can tell if a hive is robust or struggling by the brood pattern.

They can spot a drone from a worker bee, locate the queen in a hive brimming with 30,000 bees and can extract and jar honey, which they regularly take into their school teachers to keep them sweet.

Siblings Miles and Lola Hendy with a frame of freshly extracted honey.

But it’s swings and roundabouts. Occasionally, we’ve opened the lid of a hive to discover that the bees have absconded. Once, the entire hive was filled with dead bees. The discovery was a moment of deep sadness as we questioned what we could have done differently.

We sell our honey in an honesty box out the front of our house and sell lip balm from the beeswax in local shops, saving what we make in our children’s bank account. It’s for their future, we tell them.

If it’s a bad season, we spend more on new hives, petrol, honey jars and equipment than we earn. We know beekeeping families who have left their jobs to start a small business beekeeping. We admire these fearless farmers from afar as their honey business grows big enough to be stocked in local independent supermarkets.

We promise ourselves that we don’t want any more hives. But then the phone rings, and a school teacher has discovered a swarm in their yard, so the kids pull on their suits.

Beekeeping days are long and tiring, but they have easily been some of our best days together as a family. If anyone gets stung, they love telling the grandparents, who reel in horror when we video call while the kids are covered in bees out catching a swarm.

With the emergence of the varroa mite, the 30,000 registered beekeepers – who own a total of 668,000 hives across Australia – are watching on, mourning the loss and praying that the deadly mite can be eradicated. Our family stands with them.

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