of that, the better. It’s about educating people about the importance of bees and what they can do to save them, particularly if they end up in a building.” Scott’s now taking his passion for saving bees into the tech realm, developing an app that will allow beekeepers to improve their record keeping and manage their hives. He and Allyson also run a business that develops websites for artists called Art Hives, which segues them back into their art world. But with spring in full swing, Scott’s gearing up for a busy honey-producing season. Each of his hives produces 40 to 100 kilos of raw, polyfloral honey a year and customers at Maleny IGA and the local football club can’t get enough of it. “At the moment a lot of blue gums are in flower in Montville,” Scott says. “Usually we don’t have a large percentage of eucalypt nectar in our honey, but we will now for our spring harvest. Our summer harvest will also have some rainforest varieties.” He points to a large, stocky tree in his backyard – a rainforest tree called the guioa. Its nectar will eventually become honey with flavours ranging from caramel to slightly minty. It’s clear Scott pours his heart into the honey the hinterland locals will stir into their tea and drizzle on their porridge, and while he could scale up, he’s more concerned with quality and sustainability than quantity. “I’m not interested in having 200 or 300 hives and killing myself trying to manage them and extracting 1500 tonnes of honey out of them a year,” Scott says. “I’ve looked for many years at how there’s a general propensity to get bigger; the feeling you’ve just got to keep having a greater turnover. That’s not why we’re doing it. It’s really just about having a more hands-on approach to the whole process and remaining flexible to change our course of the business as we see opportunity and demand, and as our own personal circumstances dictate.” Saving bees and making honey may be rewarding, but it’s not lucrative at this scale. So what motivates a smart person to do this for a living? “The thing that really appeals to me is that you have to be a bit of a backyard scientist,” Scott says. “You’ve got to be creative and you’ve got to be making decisions on the run. You open up a hive, attend a swarm, do a cut-out, there’s always a decision to be made. You’ve got to be a bit of a tinkerer, a builder, a bit of an inventor. I get to teach people and at the same time, I’m always learning. “I’m driven by the fact that beekeeping is very in touch with the environment and it feels like a legitimately good thing to be doing.”
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