My name is Grass and I am a passionate beekeeper, advocate for bees and creator of Beetopia the NZ Honey Tasting Shed for people to savour amazing honey from throughout New Zealand - my journey also led me to take part in an amazing Honey Sensory Analysis course held by Maureen Conquer, thus gaining specific insight, understanding and appreciation of our unique native honey varietals. Another fun part of my job is our various collaborations with local schools in projects which promote children’s beekeeping courses. I feel that by demystifying bees and providing schools with beehives, hands-on-education and support  we can create future beekeepers with a greater awareness of the importance of the role of pollinators, a sustainable environment and ethical beekeeping.  In my free time I chase Minecraft dragons with my grandson Perry:)

My daughter Michelle is a budding beekeeper and helps in our apiaries by taking meticulous notes on what’s happening in each hive and updating our apiary agenda after each inspection. ​

As a bi-cultural ECC teacher, her skills are fundamental for engaging and promoting our educational projects to Early Childhood Centres and primary schools. ​

Michelle also helps out in Beetopia’s Tasting Shed and store and creates Kōpaki Mīere - beeswax wraps which are very popular.

Her 9 yr old son Perry Paolo is our youngest beekeeper and savvy honey consumer!He has been beekeeping since he could walk!

My husband Anthony is a full-time lifestyle estate manager yet always gets called in to help with the grunt work of lifting or moving beehives and/or assisting in yet another one of my bee-related projects and swarm catching antics.

He is also an artist extraordinaire and has painted many of our colourful and varied beehives, not to mention the GIANT beehive he built for the children at the Big Buzz Festival.

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Meet our youngest bee enthusiasts Perry Paolo, who has been helping in the apiary since he could walk and now at the age of 9 is a confident queen spotter and a connoisseur of fine honey !