Welcome to our family of beekeepers, where tradition and passion meet to bring you the finest honey. My name is Millena, and this is the story of our journey, which began with my father, Murray Edmonds, after the Second World War.
My father received his first hive from his Uncle Len Williams and spent holidays working with family beekeepers near Tallangatta on Red Gum honey flows. He started keeping bees in Ruby (Gippsland) while working as a teacher, and later moved back to Geelong, managing bees at the You Yangs, Brisbane Ranges, Bannockburn, and Balliang. As a child, I would often accompany him, helping out until bee stings sent me off to explore the bush.
When I started working at Hawkes Bros, times were tough, and the company faced potential closure. Every night, Dad and I would nail bee boxes and frames, and I began keeping my own bees. In 1982, after purchasing bee hives and a honey-extracting caravan from a retiring beekeeper, Dad suggested we form a partnership.
Our first major harvest was a huge honey crop from Grey Box at Castlemaine, but the market was saturated, and we couldn’t sell it to Honey Packers. This challenge led us to start packing our honey and selling it at various markets. Our business grew, and soon we were supplying honey to fruit and vegetable shops, as well as distributors who sold it at markets and other stores.
Initially, we reared queens for our own hives, but other beekeepers soon wanted our queens too. After experimenting with various bee races, we found that Carniolan bees were the best for Southern Victoria due to their thriftiness, docility, productivity, disease resistance, and excellent wintering.
Dad retired from the business in 2001 after a severe car accident. I then took over the Beekeeping Equipment sales from my friend Leon Layton when he became ill. Today, I manage approximately 500 bee hives in the western half of Victoria for honey production. Our hives are mostly placed on forest sites or on farms adjacent to natural bushland.
We continue to operate nucleus hives for queen breeding around Geelong, ensuring the highest quality and sustainability of our bee populations. Our commitment to natural and chemical-free honey production reflects our dedication to preserving the purity and health benefits of our honey for you to enjoy.
Thank you for being a part of our journey and supporting our passion for beekeeping.
