Hog Bay Apiary
Kangaroo Island is the oldest bee sanctuary in the world.
Location: South Terrace, Penneshaw
P.O. Box 250, Penneshaw S.A. 5222
Telephone: 08 85531237
Facsimile: 08 85531289
Website: www.users.on.net/~hogbay/index.htm
Email: hogbay@kin.net.au
Jim and Betty McAdam’s desire for
a complete change of lifestyle has resulted in one of Kangaroo
Island’s most valued honey producers.
Jim and Betty started holidaying on Kangaroo Island in
the 1970s, as a break from their jobs as a computer analyst/programmer
and office manager in Adelaide. Eventually they gave up
their jobs and moved to the island, without a clue of what
they were going to do.
The McAdams bought two bee hives as a hobby, but as neighbours
and friends kept asking for more and more honey, they registered
the Hog Bay Apiary as a business in 1993. Hog Bay Apiary
honeys are now sold in Singapore, Japan and throughout Australia,
with increasing interest from customers in its certified
organic liquid honeys – Cup Gum, Eucalypt, Sugar Gum
and Wild Flower. Betty, who is also secretary of the Kangaroo
Island Beekeeping Association, says that in global terms,
the island is a very special place for making beautiful
honeys.
Kangaroo Island is the oldest bee sanctuary in the world.
The wealth of native vegetation on the island, together
with its geographic isolation, ensure the honeys are recognised
and appreciated as a gourmet regional food. The pure strain
of Ligurian bee exists only on the island and is an invaluable
genetic resource. The bees thrive in the mild climate and
have abundant sources of nectar and pollen.The access to
native vegetation, such as sugar gum, pink gum, white mallee,
cup gum, stringybark and mallees, is vitally important as
certified organic honey must come from natural, not planted,
nectar sources.
The isolation has also enabled the bees to remain free
of diseases that are present on the mainland, so no antibiotics
or other chemicals are used in apiary management.
Hog Bay Apiary has found that the pristine environment
and disease-free status are of increasing importance to
customers overseas, and also in Australia.
The products are available through the island’s
retail outlets. Hog Bay Apiary’s organic honeys are
certified by the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture,
Australia (NASAA).
As well as its four organic liquid
honeys, Hog Bay Apiary produces a traditional creamed honey,
made from spring flowering pasture and food crops on Kangaroo
Island..
Good Food Kangaroo Island is an industry group
formed to encourage and support value adding producers and
protect the integrity of the Island’s produce. Regional
food groups have been established throughout South Australia
and are actively working with producers to establish regional
branding and long term relationships with major retailers
seeking access to high quality, branded products.
Contact us
for more information about produce, transport, reservations
and tourist attractions.
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