Nigel Lawson grew up in Quirindi and I have known him for many years. He is quintessentially one of the nicest blokes you will ever meet!
Even thought he is one busy man, he is always happy to help and kindly gave me some of his time so that I could learn all about his craft! We also know Nigel's lovely wife Lisa and our children are buddies as well.
When I found out Nigel's property was called Sunny Side, it made perfect sense to me because that describes Nigel's nature to a tee.
Nigel is an apiarist, which means he enjoys working with an unusual type of insect- the honeybee. Yes, he's in the business of producing honey and he's extremely good at it!
Nigel has a great relationship with local farmers who are happy to work with Nigel. In fact, Nigel put his boxes on our property many years ago and I was so happy receive a big tub on honey by way of thank you.
Nigel keeps a close eye on when the local trees are budding so he can plan where to plant his 370 hives and boxes next. As soon as the trees are in flower, Nigel's bees and boxes are loaded onto the truck and taken out to their new home. It may take one day or three months to reap the rewards of his hard work- depending on all of the environmental elements.
I am happy to confess Nigel's local yellow box honey is the best honey I've ever tasted. And coming from a honey lover, that's saying a lot. Nigel has a true passion for what he does and loves our local environment.
And it's not just me who thinks like this. Nigel's local honey has a great reputation in our district on The Liverpool Plains. Having this secret local knowledge prompted us to choose this precious local bush commodity to launch our very first new limited edition collaboration project MADE for Country Culture collaboration range.
Nigel's skill is a hidden talent from our small community- and you would only know about his product if you lived here. And that's why we're sharing it with you.
The batch of honey we have launched Country Culture is Nige's famous organic, native Yellow box or eucalyptus mellidora batch made locally at Caroona. Yellow box is an Australian favourite and has an aromatic, smooth and buttery flavour.
The honey itself is a beautiful, light amber colour and is buttery on the tongue. It's fairly sweet and quite dense so it's perfect to add to tea. The honey is slow to crystalise but can do so in the colder months. Just pop your jar in some hot water (with the lid closed so water doesn't get in) or just pop in the microwave for a few seconds until it warms up. And yellow box is classified as low GI too.
Nigel has now moved his hives onto some local bloodwood eucalypt trees so hopefully we will get to taste his next drop!
Just in case it slipped your mind, World Cocktail Day is on the horizon! It falls on May 13th, 2024 - yes, it's a Monday, and we feel your disappointment. But who can stop us from kicking off the celebrations t...
Read More
At this stage of my life, for me personally, Mother’s Day is a celebration. However, I totally acknowledge that it’s a bittersweet and sometimes very sad time for others. Being in the gifting business, however,...
Read More
As we approach Administrative Professionals Day on May 3th , let's take a moment to honour the incredible team members who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. Here are some sim...
Read More
Angela recently travelled out to beautiful Orange to discover and meet with talented, resourceful, self-made producers. In this interview with Richard Dowling, she discusses the origins and inspirations of ‘Fra...
Read More