By Jessica Dermody, Shepherdess
"Farming is really hands-on, and veterinary tech work is really detail-oriented. Beekeeping is a good mix of both." Photo: Shepherdess / Francine Boer Photography
Tessa Bryant never thought she'd find herself in the heavy, white folds of a bee suit. But she has found a sweet life among the hives at Bluff Station, a winding 15 kilometre drive inland from Kēkerengū, learning all about beekeeping and, in the process, realising she can give anything a go.
It's not where you'd have always found Tessa Bryant.
"I grew up on Onetai Station in north Taranaki, where my parents ran a Perendale sheep stud, Rua Peka Peka, that my grandfather, Graham Bryant, established. I've always loved agriculture and the outdoors, so when the family farm sold, I naturally continued working in the sector. I headed to the South Island with my partner, Matt Wise. Matt was the stock manager at Geordie Hill Station, near Tarras in the Lindis Pass, for a number of years, and I worked a couple of different roles on the farm.
"While down south, I also studied to become a veterinary technician at Telford, in Balclutha. I worked a winter season as a registered veterinary technician and loved it, but it was quite dairy-based, so I wanted to get back to sheep and beef. We'd been looking to move to the Marlborough region for a while. We've always loved being close to the sea and the native bush, and Marlborough has a lot of both. A very good friend of ours, Jonathan 'Jono' Clough, was head beekeeper at Bluff Station.
"When we moved to Bluff Station and they needed a hand with the bees, I was keen to give it a go," Tessa says. "Because I already knew Jono from Taranaki, we worked really well together from the get-go." Photo: Shepherdess / Francine Boer Photography
"In 2020, he told us they were looking for a stock manager - a role perfect for Matt. I came on as a farm hand, but Jono needed help with the bees. So I jumped in and here we are!"
Bluff Station had between 500 and 600 hives for a number of years, owned by another beekeeper who kept them on the property. However, following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquakes, the owner of the hives could no longer access them due to damage to the land.
Taking over the ownership of the hives presented a unique opportunity for Bluff Station to diversify. In addition to 950 head of Hereford Angus cattle and 6500 Merino ewes, the 13,000 hectare property, owned by the Murray family - Richard and Sue, their son, Hamish, and his wife, Jess - is now home to 800 beehives, which Tessa, 30, helps look after.
"Learning about the whole process has been really exciting. It's not all about making honey - that's just the end product. The work is really seasonal. For example, the bees are wintered off when it gets cold, and we maintain their energy by leaving plenty of their own honey and feeding some sugar syrup if necessary. In the spring, we look through every single hive and find the queen. There's one queen in every hive - and there's 800 hives with a couple thousand bees in each one.
"Sometimes the queen ueen is in the first frame you look in - that's the best outcome. Other times, I'll look through a hive 10 times, and then get Jono to look through it, and we still can't find her! Every day is so different, I love it."
On top of that, Tessa's always on hand to help out with the farm's bigger jobs, like mustering, tailing or calf marking. "I've always been a bit self-conscious of not having one thing I've stuck with, like my veterinary tech work. However, I've realised in farming you need to be a jack of all trades, and I know I can give anything a go, as long as I'm keen to learn."
Tessa checking up on the hives and feeding them some sugar syrup. Photo: Shepherdess / Francine Boer Photography
And the help goes both ways.
"There's six of us at Bluff Station full-time. Jono and I get called the 'Bee Team', and Matt and the other shepherds joke they're the 'A Team'. Getting into beekeeping has been really good for my relationship with Matt. We work and live together but I've got my own thing, so it's the best of both worlds.
"I'll help work with him in the yards, and he sometimes gets roped into a bee suit. He's gotten a few stings!"
The most important and busiest time of the year is the honey harvest, which runs from January to March. While Bluff Station is located on the South Island's east coast, there's been a strong Taranaki contingent helping out.
"Two years ago, Matt's younger brother, Flyn, came down from the North Island to help with the harvest. He only intended to stay for a few months, but ended up helping Jono and me with the bees for the next two years. My older sister, Elle, lives in Australia, but this year she took some time off to help with the harvest, too. So, we had my sister, Matt's brother, Jono and myself - all from Taranaki! Everyone's known each other for years, so it was like one big family.
"This harvest we did a sting tally. Matt's brother had about 50, Jono was around 45, and I had 12. It definitely hurts, but it's 30 seconds of pain and then you forget about it. Although, it's so entertaining having someone there that hasn't been stung for a while!"
The station's sheep, beef and bee combination works well together, providing variation and diversification for the property.
Honey and honeycomb on a hive tool. Any extra honey they've made is left for the wintered-off bees after the honey harvest. Photo: Shepherdess / Francine Boer Photography
"A good season for bees is dry, hot and no rain, which obviously isn't good for the farm. Usually, if one isn't doing so well, the other is. This year, we produced about 32 tonnes of honey. It's mainly mānuka, but that also changes depending on the weather. If we get more rain, we get more borage and clover flowering, which makes a multi-floral honey.
"The bees help with the pollination of the clover, which will allow it to go to seed and helps with the next year's clover growth and stock feed. The property lines the coast, and from there to the back of the farm is about fifty kilometres, meaning we have a heap of variety."
Processing the honey is a local affair. Harvesting a truckload at a time, it's then carted up the road to Whakatū Nelson to be extracted and stored. Jars of Bluff Station's honey are a common gift to Tessa's friends and family.
"It's really fulfilling eating your own honey - I think it's so cool. If we have any excess honey, we send it to a local extraction plant in Seddon, which is about half an hour away. I've helped at the plant to bottle it, and it's amazing to see the product from start to finish."
The view looking up the Mead River to the Linburn limestones. "I was on a walk after we'd moved out to Coverham, and I'd gone up to the top of one of the hills on the farm and seen a swarm of bees," Tessa says. "I didn't really know or understand why they swarmed, so I was really intrigued by them. I went and told Jono, the head beekeeper on the farm, and he showed me how he catches as warm. The next day I ended up helping Jono with some hives and really enjoyed it, and the rest is history!" Photo: Shepherdess / Francine Boer Photography
While the past four years of beekeeping has been a welcome challenge for Tessa, there's a new opportunity on the horizon.
"Matt and I got offered a job in Central Otago as farm managers, so we're taking that on. At this stage, there's no bees involved! But beekeeping is definitely something I'm really proud of. I'll really miss the team here at Bluff Station. Being part of a team environment is so fulfilling. You're in a bee suit, it's hot and sweaty, music blasting. The work is great, but it's the people that make it."
* This story appears in the Kōanga spring edition of Shepherdess magazine, out now. Find it in supermarkets, dairies, and specialty book and design stores across the motu, or order your copy online.