An Interview With.....
Logan’s buzzing off
When it comes to being a young entrepreneur, beekeeping is not something that first comes to mind. But that’s exactly what Year 11 St Anne’s College student Logan Kempinski has been excelling at since he was about 11 or 12 years old.
Logan was in Primary School when he first got interested in beekeeping after hearing about the practice. That was enough to spark a passion that has continued to grow into the business that he runs successfully today.
Starting off with just one hive, Logan now has around 110-120 beehives.
“They are generally housed on bushland near Murchison but as it is springtime at the moment it is a very busy time for me as I move my hives around the orchards which is essential in helping the fruit crops to pollinate,” he said.
Thankfully, as his mum will attest, Logan recently got his license which has made this busy time of moving hives a little easier on her. Logan’s dedication to his passion is unwavering, spending every night after school and weekends on his beekeeping. He dedicates hours of his time around attending school, often working well into the early hours of the morning.
Logan said he is also currently working on the tedious task of splitting up his existing hives, which can be time-consuming but also incredibly rewarding.
In order to achieve this, Logan must breed new queen bees.
This process is fascinating. Logan said he does this by establishing special hives with lots of bees that do not have a queen which results in them trying to breed a queen.
He then extracts the larvae from existing hives and places them in special cells that work to form a queen. Before the larvae hatches, he extracts the special cell it is growing in and places it into a new hive. It can take up to 3 to 4 weeks for the queen to hatch once placed in a new hive and it can be a nervous wait as not all queen bees will survive this process.
“I split the hives to make more hives to sell to other beekeepers and anyone who wants a hive. They sell for about $250 for 5 frames housing around 20000 bees,” he said.
It is not the only method for getting new hives, however, as Logan is often called to collect swarms of bees from trees on farms throughout the Goulburn Valley.
He said he does this by placing a box under the swarm and shaking the branch - they fall into the hive, and once the queen bee drops, any bees that are flying around that haven’t made it into the hive will follow.
Logan is gearing up for harvesting season when he concentrates on processing his honey from November until the end of February.
“I estimate that the bees will make around 1500kg of honey which I will process for sale. My sales locations have increased to four different locations,” he said.
Logan’s honey can be found at the following locations:
- MOVE Car Museum
- Hunters Hardware
- Mooroopna Hardware
- Paul Wickham’s Pharmacy, Mooroopna
As Logan will soon start an agricultural apprenticeship, it is the last opportunity to purchase his honey through the College. Logan sells the honey which he packages into 500gm and 1kg tubs as well as 500gm squeezy bottles. If you'd like to give Logan's honey a try, you can complete an order form here.
You can read some of the media attention Logan has received over the years via the following links:
ABC TakeOver
Country News
https://www.countrynews.com.au/news/logans-busy-with-his-bees/