View of Mt Caroline - Central Wheatbelt, WA
Our Story
Mt Caroline Honey is a family run business and our honey is made by bees that live in hives on our farm, which runs onto Mt Caroline in the Shire of Kellerberrin. This is an ancient granite hill typical for the landscape of the Central Western Australian Wheatbelt.
​
Research in the field of bioactive honey and its methylglyoxal (MGO) content took off some ten years ago. MGO is associated with nectar from bush of the Leptospermum species. We realised that we had the uniquely WA Leptospermum nitens growing wild in remnant bush that dots the agricultural land.
​
It didn’t take long to put our two passions together: revegetating and producing honey, and so the idea took shape of starting a planting project of native vegetation to restore and reconnect original bushland.
​
Initial trial plots of planted Leptospermum nitens are currently adding to the wild bush to supply our bees with nectar.​
Above: Leptospermum Nitens plantation trial plot at our Mount Caroline project during flowering.
For our budding Leptospermum nitens plantation we will be planting a mix of native plant and tree species to avoid mono-flora, recreate healthy growing conditions and promote biodiversity.
​
Realisation of the project kicked off in July 2024 with the prepatory work for planting: putting up fences to keep the rabbits out! It may sound strange, but rabbits eating the juicy leaves from young seedlings are the the biggest risk to the plantation.
​
Planting will start in May/June 2025 as, fingers crossed, the rains will have come in. Progress on the project will be at the pace of growing trees (we’ll have to be patient…). For updates please check out the Gallery pages.
​
We are proud recipients of support / Our planting project is supported by the WA State Government’s Carbon Farming and Land Restoration Program and are setting up the project such that it can participate in the recently announced Nature Repair Market.
