PODCAST EPISODE 58: Daniel Wood from Monsons Honey and Pollination, Mildura, AustraliaIt’s amazing where life takes you if you let it. Originally from Blackpool in the UK, Daniel Wood did not expect to fall into the profession of beekeeping when he came to Australia almost 11 years ago. Coming from an army background, it was romance that led Daniel to bees— when he met one of beekeeper Trevor Monson’s daughters Shiree, he fell in love, and he also fell into the family business! These days, Daniel is a very happy and skilled beekeeper, having worked for Trevor’s business Monsons Honey and Pollination for 7 years, helping with pollination, including the hectic annual 3-week event where Trevor and his family and staff coordinate approximately 120,000 hives around the state to help pollinate almond orchards. Daniel also spends a lot of time breeding queens for the company, with an aim of breeding 160 queens every 2 weeks!Based in Mildura—a regional city in northwest Victoria, Australia, on the banks of the Murray River— Monsons Honey and Pollination are noted as being one if not the leading pollination specialist and provider of pollination services in Australia. This is due to the businesses many years of experience, research and their development of practical and innovative solutions that can maximise crop quality. It is the Monson’s deep knowledge of bees, and their passion for pollination, that makes Monsons Honey and Pollination such a reliable provider of bee-related services in Australia. Trevor, Daniel’s father-in-law and the co-founder of Monsons Honey and Pollination, is much sought after by government and consultants for trees and plants, such as almonds, apples, pears, stone fruits, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, avocados, vegetables, melons and seed crops— why? Because of these crops rely on the magic of bees to be pollinated. Together with his wife Carolyn, their children, nephew Reece, and son in law Daniel, Monsons Honey and Pollination have taken pollination services to a new level of excellence.Tune in to hear Daniel and I chat about moving to Australia from the UK, falling into beekeeping, and learning about pollination through the family business. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/bees-with-ben/id1512755530?i=1000525711036 www.monsonshoney.com.au ... See MoreSee Less

Bee Watching Your Way to Higher Consciousness Watching bees is the perfect way humans can connect with a greater consciousness, practice mindfulness and add years to their life. I recently came across this little (yet profound) image on the Internet, and while I can’t provide you the scientific evidence to back up this claim, I feel it to be true from the bottom of my heart. “Bee watching is a secretly miraculous meditation. As bees dance from flower to flower, absorbing the sun and distributing pollen along the way, they emit a healing frequency that reverses disease and promotes soul and emotional restoration.” As someone who has spent more years of his life watching bees than years without, I can vouch for the relaxing and meditative effect of watching these miraculous creatures go about their lifesaving, world-changing business. Connecting to consciousness is a big thing, and although I am still coming to terms with the idea that there are forces greater than ourselves, nature shows me each and every day that this is in fact true. Religion and other human-cultivated spiritual belief systems aside, a belief in nature—which is something I hope everyone cultivates during their lifetime—can teach us how to act with goodness; provide lessons in respect and humility; show us the natural cycle of all things and help us to feel at peace in our own journey; and encourage us to embrace flow, resist greed and realise that true beauty exists in all creatures, plants, elements, and people. Another thing I know is that beekeepers DO seem to have long and happy lives, and as this little picture I found suggests, this could be due to the meditative effect of watching bees rejuvenating humans on a cellular level! Miraculous. Although I don’t claim to have the answers, from my personal experience as a beekeeper and as someone who spends most of the time with other keepers, I can say that being with bees, being aware of their processes, and helping them to do their job leads to a lot of bee-watching, which, in turn, equates to much meditation! Being in nature and understanding how this small but mighty insect impacts on the whole ecosystem is surely also a huge dose of therapy for those of us feeling overwhelmed by this modern life. So, when you are feeling anxious or lost, when you need to calm your soul and tune into the bigger picture, go out into the garden or to your local park or bushland and walk about until you find some yellow bee friends. Watching them carry out their world-saving business is a balm for us humans who are often unsure of exactly what we should be doing or how or for what reason. While the mere buzzing about is therapeutic, there is also much guidance in watching a creature who despite being small knows that every tiny good deed makes the world a better place. ... See MoreSee Less

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