Harvesting honey on Kangaroo Island
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In this Sunday’s Travel section, I wrote about harvesting Ligurian honey on Kangaroo Island, just off the coast of South Australia. My experience at the Island Beehive was possible because of a program called WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), where travelers volunteer five to six hours a day on organic or sustainable farms in exchange for food, accommodation, knowledge and a one-of-a-kind food-centric experience.
Here’s an excerpt from the article to whet your palate:
‘Unzipping my bee veil, I popped a piece of fresh honeycomb in my mouth. The nectar, warmed by the South Australian winter sun, was delicate, perhaps because it’s produced by the only purebred population of Ligurian bees on the planet. Or perhaps it’s because I, a worker bee from the city, harvested it.’
WWOOFing helped me travel the globe, volunteering on all sorts of farms, from coffee plantations in Thailand to wineries in the Barossa Valley. It’s a great way to give back to the farming community while having a truly unique agrotourism experience on the cheap.
-- Krista Simmons
More photos after the jump:
Ligurian bees at work.
Eucalyptus flower that bees use to produce honey.
Sporting the apairy’s snazzy bee suit, about to take a bite of some warm honeycomb.
How the island got it’s name: a kangaroo on Kangaroo Island.
Australian brew Coopers Pale Ale on Vivonne Bay’s beach after a long day of harvesting honey.