BACKYARD beekeeper Lauren Hapgood has had her prized possession of European Honeybees for the past two years.
An impulse decision mixed with her love for the little creatures is what brought her family towards the bee life.
It all started after she visited the Beaudesert markets one weekend and spotted a stall selling beehives.
“I painted them, and I made them look all pretty. Next thing I know, I’ve got bees,” Lauren said.
“I definitely didn’t think it was going to happen as quickly as it did. I just had this interest in them, and I jumped and did it.”
Although Lauren had always dreamed of having bees, she had to learn how to manage and care for them.
“I have some mentors who are just amazing. I was given a book and told ‘Read that, but remember that bees can’t read’,” she said.
“Bees will do what they do because they’re just animals. Never read something and think, ‘My bees should be doing this’.”
Lauren is a strong advocate for sustainable beekeeping and treats her two beehives in that manner.
“My belief is that the bees aren’t making honey for me, they’re making honey for themselves. So, I try not to affect them too much,” she said.
“I got them as an interest; it wasn’t for the honey.”
She only harvests roughly twice a year in order to keep the peace in the hives.
“We don’t want to annoy them. We really do care for them.”
“They’re not just bees; they are what we do in our family.”
Lauren is a mother-of-three, and her second child, Juniper, is developing a deep love for bees already.
“My two-year-old has this absolute love for bees. You’ll see her out in the garden, and she’ll see the little honeybees and go, ‘They your bees Mum’,” Lauren said.
“She’ll have little clothes and dresses with bees on them because she just loves them.”
“Now she’s worked out that the bees at my Mum’s house are GG’s bees, the bees at our house are Mum’s bees and we even got some bees at daycare – so they’re daycare’s bees,” she added.
Lauren said that the most amazing thing about beekeeping as a mother is seeing her children’s love for it.
“It’s just so pure. They love the little creatures,” she said.
“It’s like our one-on-one time too – like a little family thing.”
She encourages anyone with a love for bees to try beekeeping, even if it’s in the backyard.
“If you’ve got the space and the interest to do it, why not?”
