HONEY MONTH SPECIAL May was deemed to be Honey Month here in Australia. A Committee was set up by the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC) to celebrate the month. The aim was to educate the public on not only honey but the beekeeping industry in general. It was thought that you might like to see the reports but in by some of the States on their activities. I think you will agree there was a lot of hard work that went into the displays and events. Will there be one next year? This will be raised at the AHBIC AGM to be held on 9 July, 2014 in Melbourne. Page 1 of 12 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Honey Month 2014 in West Australia was a great success as we currently launch into its fourth year. This year our Honey Month included a Honey Festival, A Slow Food Long Table Autumn Brunch and SciTech displays. Each year our Honey Festival evolves and takes on new ground. This year we had perfect weather which enabled us to reconfigure tents and traffic flow. The overall effect was great and we thought it was our best festival to date. We received more funding this year (as we get better at drafting forms to raise money) for the main event, “The Honey Festival” 4 May. The City of Swan and Capilano were our two newest donators this year which enabled us to make the festival more professional. We included some new ideas and had a band playing for most of the day to bring a festive note to the day. Our MC directed traffic and talks so that no one missed out on what was happening. An estimated 2,000 + people came to the venue hosted at The House of Honey to learn all about bees and beekeeping. Our presentation talks were very well received and were definitely one of the highlights of the day. Talks included, How to get started in bees, why are the bees dying and Commercial beekeeping (what’s involved) coupled with a sub talk by Wescobee. The Capilano bee was present, as well as Michael Bellman Branch Manager of Wescobee. Donations of honey and other information were handed out by the friendly bee as well as hats and other goodies which the children had fun with. The Capilano bee was the most photographed person with everyone lining up to pose for a photo with her. CIBER from the University of WA brought along a display hive as well as viewing material on scientific aspects of beekeeping. We collected money in tins for donations to The Future Bees Fund. A total of $753.35 was raised. DAFWA had their first stall this year and was manned by Rob & Darlene giving out information and brochures. It was a great addition to the day and they had many people in their tent for most of the day. Everyone was interested in their posters and informative knowledge and we were pleased to have them with us. Other stalls included the Burnham’s Training (Cert III in Agriculture, Beekeeping), SciTech, Beginning in beekeeping and WAAS. Dan Beeson, the president of WAAS, came to talk about the WA Apiarist Society as he built beehives and frames. WAAS is an important link for people to learn how to get started in beekeeping. Page 2 of 12 Scitech discovery centre again had an important role with interaction with the children, from colouring in to face painting to making Dry Ice Icecream, their stand was a hit. We also had a new stall with a colourful display of fruits and vegetables to educate the public about the importance of pollination and the important role that bees play in the diversity of food in the world. Guilfoyles Beekeeping Supplies have been a great support to our Honey Month/Festival and were with us again for the third year. Their display gets bigger and better as does their enthusiasm. Boxes and frames were getting made and it is always one of the most popular stalls. Honey Month honeys were rebranded this year and the honey looked great. We sold three varieties (packed by West Coast Honey). Every year we offer it to a new business and buy the honey from them. Other businesses donated their own branded products which were sold in goodie bags (similar to a show bag). We increased sales in this stall by adding a few new items like t-shirts that were designed especially for the event (copy attached). Local Beekeepers demonstrated the use of their cranes and trucks to move hives and the public were fascinated by the different cranes being used as they talked about the efforts involved to harvest honey and move bees. A new respect was born. Another highlight of the day was the children’s bee dress up competition. This year we had a stage were the children could show off their amazing fancy dresses. It was a fantastic addition to the day and the parents really got involved. They were tiny babies to 14 year olds all vying for the best bee outfit. Page 3 of 12 Similarly this year the “light the bee smoker competition” (pics attached) went off well with enthusiastic budding beekeepers trying to win a bee smoker. We introduced some other additions to the core stalls this year, some of those included a local lady making beeswax candles (she was reported to have had a bumper day’s trade), coffee van, potato van and sausage sizzle were a hit too. Feedback forms were given out at the entrance and filled in with a prize of $50 in the form of a gift voucher from The House of Honey. A door prize donated by Guilfoyles Beekeeping Supplies that was drawn at the close of the day and a brand new beehive was won by a very happy customer. We are currently collating the feedback forms to see what the public say regarding the future improvements. On Sunday 18th May we held the Slow Foods Long Table Autumn Brunch at a local Swan Valley hall. We had 90 guests and it was a ticketed event ($45/head). An extensive variety of dishes using honey was cooked by local chef Vincenzo Velletri. We included honey tastings and Mead tasting (donated by Bartholomews Winery). This was advertised through radio and the local newspaper. A local artist donated a painting to be sold in her gallery and was on centre stage for people to appreciate. Barbara Boris-Baer talked about The Future Bees Funds and answered many questions raised by the diners as they sipped non-alcoholic wine and ate pears marinated in honey. Honey sales were conducted during the course of the morning. All profits from this venture will be put into the Future Bees Fund at UWA for furthering bee investigations and experiments. We were lucky to have the assistance of the local Cadets at The Festival who volunteered their time to help set up and assist with parking. Without volunteers the festival is impossible to manage. Advertising was generated by radio, local papers, websites and tourist centres. Flyers were designed and donated by Label Magic and these went out to various venues. The five committee members did a great job and dedicated a lot of work and person time to the cause. They all deserve a pat on the back as the job is monumental and it still difficult to get commercial beekeepers involved (donating time especially). However, one of our biggest drives is to ignite new interest into the industry which I think we successfully achieved. Page 4 of 12 National Honey Month 2014 SOUTH AUSTRALIA - REPORT SA representative - Martin Gilbert [email protected] 0417824739 report compiled June 2014 BACKGROUND Planning for a "National Honey Week" promotion in SA during 2014 commenced at the June 2013 SAAA annual conference held in Remark SA. Martin Gilbert as an elected member of the SAAA executive with the portfolio of "resources", was given the responsibility of SA representative for what was mooted to be a "National Honey Week" in 2014. A motion was passed at the 2013 SAAA conference to go to the 2013 AHBIC national conference in Perth requesting that the dates for "National Honey Week" be set for the next 5 years to facilitate a planning frame work. In addition an "ideas board" that was placed at the SAAA conference for members to put forward ideas regarding the 2014 planned promotion. 2 telephone link ups were hosted by AHBIC for state representatives to link up in, mid October 2013 and end of March 2014, being chaired by Leilani Leyland - WA. During the October link it was agreed that the mooted National Honey Week become a National Honey Month format to be held MAY annually in Australia for the promotion of all facets of the beekeeping industry, with a planned outcome of each state utilizing the month of MAY to provide a framework for state based activities. The National Honey Month format has enabled flexibility within each state to plan around existing state fairs / conferences/ activities etc. at local and state level. Leilani also kindly made available WA developed advertising material / logo that was reconfigured from Honey Week to Honey Month. AHBIC during the latter part of April 2014 released a press release on National Honey Month as well as forming a link page on the AHBIC website http://honeybee.org.au/national-honey-month/ in addition to brief updates in the monthly AHBIC newsletter. The foundation for SA National Honey Month activities was formed by revisiting the AHBIC Strategic Plan 2012 -17 http://honeybee.org.au/pdf/BUSINESSPLAN2017.pdf 9.0 PROMOTION OF AUSTRALIAN HONEY 9.1 Strategic Goal For the Australian Honey Bee Industry to remain viable, it is the interest of the whole industry to promote increased consumption of honey and in particular Australian honey at the expense of imported and artificial honey.