Summer is finally arriving in Taranaki New Zealand, after a wet and very cold spring. We are flying hives into our remote Manuka Honey sites this week, the trees are bursting with buds, and flowers are starting to show. After a disappointing flowering across New Zealand last season, so far this year is shaping up to be pretty good.
Hives are flown into areas where it would be un-economical to create and maintain roads or “tracks” as they are called. Operations start at first light, our pilot is highly skilled and knows this “backcountry” extremely well. In this picture, you can see a pallet, which contains 4 hives arriving at the Manuka site. The opening to the hives is temporarily blocked for transportation with a piece of foam that we remove upon arrival at the site. The stabilization fin just above the pallet helps keep the load from spinning in flight as a cube is not very aerodynamic.
On a good day (like this morning), we can fly 150-200 hives into their sites. It is an exciting time for us, all of the promise and hope for a good season, the renewal of the native forests all around you as spring gives way to summer. Taranaki in the Summer is magic, and so is the honey our bees produce. Now You know where Your honey comes from.
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