Louis Smith's family has called Mangawhai home since his great grandfather purchased the land in the late 1940s. Mangawhai Honey, established in 2015, is the continuation of that deep and rooted relationship with this particular corner of Aotearoa.
Louis tends his hives with the kind of care that understands honey as the product of an entire ecosystem, not just a single hive. He plants mānuka, kānuka, harakeke and tī kouka to nourish the biodiversity that supports his bees, an approach that sees the land and its living systems as partners rather than resources.
We are proud to have Louis tend hives on our property in Te Arai, which means some of the honey we carry is made from the native flora of our land.
Each jar carries the work and care of so many bees, the character of the land it comes from, its seasonal rhythms, its wildflowers, the specific quality of soil and air that makes honey from this place taste unmistakably of it.
