Valla Beach husband and wife duo Brenton and Beverley Dyer have, for the past seven months, been jarring and selling their own sweet elixir under the Three Sons Honey, Sweet Love by B and B label … in between full-time work and raising three young boys.

It’s a rewarding venture that has seen a huge spike in demand for the Three Sons Honey brand. To get to this point, Brenton spent two years learning from, and helping, beekeepers across the Nambucca Valley and now has three hives of his own – with plans to get more.

Brenton’s fascination with honey started with an interest in how honey is made - a natural process that is complex and perfect. To put it briefly, honey comes from the nectar of flowers. Bees suck the nectar from in season flower blooms and store it in their stomachs. While there, the nectar mixes with protein and enzymes, which breaks the nectar down from sucrose into glucose and fructose. Once at the hive, the bees deposit the converted nectar into the cells of the hive and fan it with their wings until enough moisture evaporates that it has become the thick syrup we know as honey. The bees cap the cells with wax for storage (because honey isn't just food for us — bees feed on it as well), which indicates to a beekeeper that the honey can be collected.

However, despite its romantic allure, traditional beekeeping is actually a very messy business. Covered in protective gear, beekeepers have to crack open a hive to the predictable anger of its defenders. They then fire up a smoker – a device that helps mask the alarm pheromones that a colony’s guards naturally release. This is to help keep the bees calm, but when a giant human hand reaches in to start plundering the sweet golden treasure they have been gathering for winter, the bees are bound to grow angry.

Keepers then have to lift heavy boxes, pull out frames filled with honey cells, transport those frames to their processing shed, and then hand carve honey out of each wax cell. All the while they struggle in vain not to squash or injure the bees. The final step involves filtering the wax from the honey, before returning the frames to the hive.

The method of extracting honey from beehives differs between beekeepers, but Brenton said traditional is best and not commonly known.

“There’s something about honey that can just hook you in – it’s an art that isn’t commonly known,” Brenton said. “And we hand spin the honey out of the frames – we do not rely on any machines … it’s all done by hand.

“I became interested after helping an old friend with his hives, and took them over from a man who could no longer manage them.

“It’s definitely a learning process, and it’s the type of thing you never stop learning – I still rely on experienced beekeepers for guidance and advice.

“The amount of honey varies on the season. In summer and spring when there are more flowers out, you get a better flow. But with our operation, it’s not about the honey so much – it’s about educating ourselves and learning as much as we can while we are on a small scale. This allows us to make sure our honey stays clean and pure.”

And despite the warnings and advice to practice slow, fluid movements, which are least likely to upset the bees, Brenton said being stung is inevitable unless you are zipped from head to toe.

“I’ve been stung countless times,” he said. “But the more confident I get, the less I get stung. I think I’m used to it now, but I still get swollen, so antihistamines are a must in our house.”

Beekeeping has provided a great source of satisfaction for the Dyers and Bev said it has been a source of joy for their children as well.

“Our boys love honey … this journey is teaching Jedd so many important lessons. Not only is it teaching him about bees, it's teaching him about work, money, saving and he loves delivering and handing out the honey to customers.

“Lewis, our two-year-old, has his very own pair of jeans he has labelled his ‘bee pants’. He loves watching Brent from afar check the bees and is always near when we are extracting it at home.”

Not only is Three Sons Honey a hit with the locals of the Valley, it’s been a winner at market days.

“It’s blown us away how quick it’s taken off. We have a naturopath who uses it in some of her remedies. It’s a nice feeling knowing it’s going out into the wider community and people are enjoying it in so many different ways – whether it is for medicinal purposes or on their toast of a morning.”

Aside from jarring honey, the Dyers have used the wax to create beeswax insect repellent candles that are 100 per cent beeswax infused with citronella, cedar and eucalyptus essential oils.

“We like knowing that we are producing a product the old fashioned way and that it is 100 per cent pure,” Bev said.