Bee My Passion is more than a name, it is a philosophy for Melinda Kasai, a bee keeper, bee mentor and honey seller based in Tomerong on the NSW South Coast. We chatted to Melinda about the business of bees, and why – and how – we could all become backyard beekeepers.
If you have seen a woman in a bee costume selling honey at the local markets, that’s probably Melinda Kasai from Bee My Passion, who is obviously buzzed about bees. But there is a lot more to her passion than the obvious. Melinda is highly knowledgeable about the lives of bees and she is an asset to the bee keeping community on the South Coast and throughout NSW.
The bee costume is an effective device for Melinda to attract customers to her stall, where she can showcase the many aspects of her bee obsession, and might even convince you to become a beekeeper, too. She is generous with her knowledge, calling herself a bee “assister” rather than “keeper”, supporting these winged pollinators and helping them to thrive.
Bee keeping is in Melinda’s blood. She learnt about the magical world of bees from her grandfather, who was a beekeeper, while growing up in Hungary. She recalls from a young age sitting with him and being engrossed in his stories. He taught her about different flowers, what they did for the bees and how it helped shape their honey characteristics. Melinda also grew up on a sustainable farm, where everything they grew or raised was consumed, and naturally bees formed a part of this way of life.
Melinda’s life hasn’t always been in the beekeeping game. After moving to Australia in 2007 and studying at university to be a counsellor, she couldn’t have been further away from her passion. A feeling of disconnection due to being so far away from her family and a chance discovery of a video on Facebook reignited her passion. The video about the new (at the time) Flow Hive piqued her interest and the memories of her grandfather and parents came flooding back.
“For me it was a way of feeling close to my parents and grandfather again,” says Melinda, “I jumped right into it again with my first hive in 2018.”
Melinda had a hair salon business called Honey and Hair during her crossover into full-time beekeeping and bee education. Her salon had a focus on natural hair and beauty products with a sustainable approach which harked back to her days growing up in Hungary. It is a theme that has ran through her life and forms part of her passion for bees. Having the salon in her house with a view of her backyard beehives and chickens, it started to generate interest with clients. Melinda was starting to sell her honey and eggs in the salon, then educating people about raising backyard chickens before landing on bee keeping education.
Covid impacted Melinda, as it did with many businesses and things we take for granted, including hairdressing was ruled out. But with people spending time at home and looking to fill their time, beekeeping and gardening became popular hobbies. This was the final straw that turned this passion into a career.
Melinda says, “Bees are beautiful and complex creatures.” When asked to share something interesting about bees, her face lit up: “Can I only share one interesting thing?” A wonderful answer that further shows her passion for her craft and the creatures she cares for and works alongside.
“Bees can travel a radius of roughly 6-9 kilometres from their hive to collect nectar and pollen,” she continues. “They are very social, they will find all of the other hives in that area and communicate their whereabouts. This ensures there is genetic diversification as they don’t breed just within their own hive.
“They are also very smart, they are visual learners and will learn from their surroundings knowing which flowers are in bloom, which tree serves as a reference point, even learning the face of their beekeeper, all of which they pass on for generations in their hive.”
Become a Backyard Beekeeper
Melinda has a growing list of clients who are joining the ranks of backyard beekeepers, with a hive or two taking up little space in a suburban garden and providing plenty of honey to share with family and neighbours for very little effort.
Besides the honey, Melinda says people should put a beehive on their property for the simple reason of fertilisation of plants in your own garden. There are many agricultural studies that she has read, as well as her own firsthand evidence from all the gardens she visits of her clients, proving that their yields have improved 30-100% with the addition of a beehive.
Melinda says around $500 will set you up with a good beginner beehive, the box and frames, a bee suit and smoker, and a starter hive, all of which she can help you to set up including bees bred by her.
The best time to set up a new hive is in the Spring, when most hives create a new queen bee and are ready to swarm – or split off a new colony. This happens every Spring, and Melinda is on-hand for many of her clients who need help to split their hive and rehome the new starter colony – recently, she took 10 small hives to Newcastle where many beekeepers had lost their hives in a varroa mite eradication program (a destructive parasite).
Backyard beekeepers in the Shoalhaven can have four hives in their yard and Melinda recommends two if you can fit them in comfortably as the hives can support each other if one is experiencing difficulties.
A two-metre radius around a hive is adequate space, according to Melinda, who often visits the yard of an aspiring beekeeper to inspect the orientation and use of the space – such as where you bbq and where the kids play plus where the house lights shine or reflect at night – to help choose the ideal spot.
There’s not much to do for a hive. Melinda says suiting up once a month to inspect the hive – for their general health, signs of any disease, and whether there’s enough room for the honey – is a good idea. She suggests that honey harvesting is done two or three times a year, and a single hive can yield around 25-30kg of honey.
For a newbie keeper, Melinda will mentor you through a full year so you become familiar with what to look for through the seasons, then when Spring rolls around again, you can choose to set up a second hive, or if you stick to one, she will split and re-home the new starter hive.
Melinda offers many services to ensure that every aspect of the beekeeping can be successful and made easy to feel supported from an absolute beginner to someone with experience. Once you purchase a beehive and your bees, the service doesn’t stop there. She breeds bees to ensure that she has the best possible genetic lines that serve as excellent backyard bees. Melinda teaches beekeeping basics in private classes or in workshops to ensure all owners are confident, this begins with learning how to understand and connect with bees to ensure more success and harmony in the relationship an owner has with their hive. And of course, honey!
Get Up Close to a Hive
Melinda believes that people don’t know or see what bees are doing unless you really stop to look and investigate them.
“Come and talk to me about putting on a bee suit and we can explore the magical world of bees together,” says Melinda, an offer that would help to uncover one of the most important creatures in our world, in our ecosystem that helps the production and fertilisation of more food and potentially healthier diets. The conversation with Melinda seems to stay away from honey but is certainly a major part of hive management.
Most summers, Melinda opens her own garden to visitors, who can put on a bee suit and take a look inside a hive. Melinda explains what you can see: how the bees breed, make honey and conduct their social structure.
You can find Melinda at many local Shoalhaven markets, she will have her delicious honey and dressed in her bee costume! She is always ready for a chat about the wonderful world of bees, living her business name daily and sharing her passion with the world.
