By Alesha Capone
Bees are amazing creatures – just ask Tarneit beekeeper Carmel Gerdsen.
Ms Gerdsen said she became fascinated by the yellow-and-black insects in 2012 after discovering a beehive at a bungalow she was renting.
Her landlord offered to send out an exterminator, but instead Ms Gerdsen asked if she could keep the hive once it was removed.
She found a mentor in Sunshine beekeeper Angela Cassela, who taught her how to collect swarms.
“I collected one swarm and another one, and the hunger grew and my love of bees grew,” she said.
“The number of hives I had grew from one to five.”
At the time, she was working at Yarraville West Primary School, with staff often asking her for honey. Ms Gerdsen said that inspired her to turn her hobby into a profession.
She spent two seasons working for a beekeeper and went on to set up her own business, CMG Honeybee. Ms Gerdsen is also the secretary of the Werribee beekeeper’s group, Werribeeks.
As part of Wyndham council’s free Green Living Series, Ms Gerdsen will run two sessions on making beeswax wraps – on February 7 and February 10 – in Tarneit.
The sessions will be limited to 10 people each, with printed materials and kits also available.
Werribeeks will also host a What’s All the Buzz About Bees session on March 16, from 10am-noon, at Shoestring Garden-Eco Living Centre in Wyndham Vale.
See facebook.com/cmghoneybee, facebook.com/groups/Werribeeks or wyndham.vic.gov.au/greenlivingseries for details.
