Riv on the Record - Thomas Earls

THIS week I had the great pleasure of being joined by local beekeeper and recent Torquay Business Awards winner Thomas Earls. Spin it!

Beekeeping! How did it all start for you?

I started beekeeping during a big adventure through South America and the USA. My travels took me to some amazing countries where I noticed all the different types of honey and their unique flavours.

This led me to working with a master beekeeper , to learn everything about the gentle artform of beekeeping and try honey straight from a hive. I’ve been hooked on honey ever since.

Beekeeping is an ongoing skill and art form where there is always so much more to learn about these humble pollinators.

What do you love about it so much that has kept you in the business.?

I absolutely love long summer days working with the bees, seeing how they adapt to different seasons and visiting all the local flowering native wildflowers.

We work with many different personalities in the beehives some colonies are very calm and some are a little “spicy”!

But seeing the honeybees working hard on a summer nectar flow is always incredible to watch and my favourite time of the year.

The support from the local Surf Coast community and local primary schools continues to inspire me to keep going with Coastal Nectar. I feel like I’m putting a modern twist on the 9000 year history of beekeeping!

How has the business expanded over the years? Tell us what you are now doing with schools.

We started from a very small set up with two hobby hives and now we have over 1 million bees we work with – it’s hard to remember all their names.

We’ve expanded to two different apiary locations, with bees located near Jan Juc and also deep in the Otways. This gives our small batch honey unique flavours and also a snapshot of this region in bloom.

Our School Bee Education programs is now a big part of the business, where we present really fun and interactive bee educational workshops at schools and kinders. Students jump into the world of bees, learning about our native pollinators, how bees make honey and why bees are super important to our environment.

Seeing the students’ excitement to learn about native bees and pollinators has been so rewarding. Environmental education has always been so important to me growing up and I’m really proud to share my passion for bees.

How did it feel to be crowned Torquay Business of the Year?

We’re still buzzing from the award and super grateful for all the recognition.

We absolutely love this coastline, this bee friendly community and the support of local small producers.

It was special to celebrate the award with other local businesses in the different categories. Shout out to Indigo Wolf and Yogi Peace Club.

What’s good about where we live?

We’re pretty lucky to have a coastline full of amazing waves, you’ll probably spot our Coastal Nectar van searching for a wave around Anglesea or me attempting to surf in my beekeeping suit.One of my favourite activities is going for a hike through Point Addis during spring. There is so many wildflowers, orchids, wattles & flowering grass trees. You can normally spot some pollinators collecting nectar and pollen.

How can we help bees locally?

It’s a tough time for our native bees and the honey bees. We have climate emergency, pesticides and varroa mite slowly spreading that is hurting our bee populations.

Here are some ways to help bees at home.

– Leaving a bird bath out for bees (filled with rocks as bees can’t swim)

– Planting a pollinator garden with lots of different types of flowers

– Sourcing pesticide free flowers and letting you garden grow a little wild really helps

If anyone would like some tips for what flowers to plant for each season, there are some free pollinator garden recommendations on my website (under Coastal Nectar Resources).