Last year, senior student Lily McLeod showed an example of the honeycomb extracted from the hive by Awapikopiko Reserve.
Several weeks ago Kumeroa School's honey hive again produced its honey.
No pictures were available from this harvest but earlier in the year there was another.
Honey production has been part of the school Agri Curriculum since 2017. Groups range from bees, trapping pests, making a sensory garden, to raising calves
and sheep, and possibly pigs this year.
We are heavily involved at Awapikopiko which is a QEII Trust reserve near us. It contains the last remnants of 70 Mile bush from when our settlers arrived. Our students trap pests there, test water quality, learn about and find native eels, help upkeep the tracks, make signs for visitors, make and manage traps for pests and our hive is there.
Last year our group looked after the hives with help from our parent and bee keeper Debbie McLeod. They also created a guide book for the next year's group of bee keepers to help them learn about what to do.
At the start of term one the honey was finally ready. Debbie brought in all the honeycombs and she and the bee group showed the students how to scrape them and create free flowing honey. Every family that wished to was given a jar of honey.
