A Journey of Connection:

When Natural Beekeeping Pioneers Came to Australia

When Nathalie B and Les Crowder reached out to Adrian Iodice, the plan was simple: standardise Les Crowder’s Kenyan Top Bar hive designs across different countries. What happened instead was much more meaningful—two weeks that built lasting friendships and brought real hope to Australian beekeepers facing the devastating Varroa mite infestations.

After talking with both Adrian and Nathalie B about their experiences, what struck me wasn’t just the beekeeping knowledge they shared. It was the human connections they made and how those relationships might just change everything for Australian beekeepers facing Varroa.

When Timing is Everything

Sometimes the universe has perfect timing. Just as Varroa mite is establishing itself across Australia, bringing fear and uncertainty to beekeepers everywhere, Les Crowder was preparing for his first visit to our shores. The original designer of the modern Kenyan top bar hive was coming, along with Nathalie B—a passionate advocate for treatment-free beekeeping from Texas—and her apprentice Brad (affectionately know as “Bee-Rad”).

Adrian told me how significant this felt: “We found ourselves at a crossroads, with the choice between following the chemical-intensive path taken by many other countries or embracing a more natural approach that works with bees’ innate resilience.”

It wasn’t planned this way, but suddenly Australia had access to exactly the voices we needed to hear at our most critical moment in modern beekeeping.

Beyond Beekeeping

What surprised Adrian was how quickly the group connected over things that had nothing to do with bees. Les grew up in the New Mexican desert, learning from Native American communities. Adrian has spent years working with Aboriginal people here. The common ground was immediate.

“We discovered remarkable parallels in our spiritual approaches to life and our relationships with the natural world,” Adrian shared with me. They lived together for two weeks—same Airbnbs, same car, sharing every meal. Instead of getting on each other’s nerves, they felt like old friends reconnecting.

The connections went deeper than philosophy. Both Les and Adrian built their homes using natural materials—slip straw, light earth, working with what the land provided. It reflected something fundamental about how they approach the world.

“We spent hours sharing Indigenous creation stories from different continents, discussing our understanding of the sacred relationship between humans and bees,” Adrian told me.

The Question Everyone Asked

At every single talk—from small intimate groups to packed venues like Narara Eco Village—the same question came up: “How do you keep bees without treating for Varroa?”

Here’s the thing that challenges everything conventional beekeeping teaches: Les and Nathalie’s colonies in Texas have lived with Varroa for decades without any treatments. Not only do they survive, they thrive.

Adrian explained it to me simply: “The secret isn’t a secret at all: they’ve allowed natural selection to work. Colonies that couldn’t handle the mite pressure died out, while those with the genetic tools for resistance and tolerance survived and reproduced.”

This isn’t some romantic notion. It’s happened in Cuba, Jamaica, parts of France, England, regions of Sweden, parts of Russia, Turkey, the USA and many other countries. When beekeepers stop propping up struggling colonies with treatments, survivor genetics emerge faster than most people expect.

But here’s what really got to Adrian: Les is still surprised by how many people don’t believe them. “Even beekeepers in the United States don’t believe them to this day, even though it’s been 30 years. Les just shakes his head and says, ‘I don’t understand why they don’t believe that we don’t treat because we don’t.’”

Australia’s Secret Weapon

Nathalie brought some fascinating insights about why Australia might have it easier than other countries. She talked about the significance of the research presented at the Natural Beekeeping Summit by Doctor Kelly Whittaker that showed Australia has an unusually high concentration of wild honeybee colonies—significantly higher than most places worldwide. Add our relatively mild climate and abundant forage, and you’ve got ideal conditions for bees to adapt quickly.

“My prediction is that within three years or so, you’re going to start seeing swarms for locally adapted survival stock,” Nathalie told me. That’s much faster than the typical five to eight years other places have experienced.

And we’re already seeing early signs. “There’s a commercial beekeeper in Canberra who’s already catching mite resistant wild swarms in Newcastle because he knows that the genetics there are already starting to come to existence,” he shared.

A Cultural Difference

One thing that really impressed Nathalie was how Australians approached the whole situation differently than Americans might. “People in Australia were a lot more attuned with nature,” she told me. “Australian people in general seem to be more attuned with nature, and there was a lot of interest in trying to not put any pesticides in the hives as a choice from the get-go.”

What surprised both visitors was the openness they found even in conventional bee clubs. “Even the people at those clubs were quite open to hearing a better approach, an approach that wasn’t chemical-based,” Adrian observed. “And that’s what really surprised her.”

The Practical Stuff

Behind all the philosophical connections, Nathalie had come to Australia with a specific goal: fixing a problem that’s been frustrating beekeepers for years. While Les Crowder designed the original Kenyan top bar hive, different variations have spread worldwide, and not all of them work well everywhere.

The popular Phil Chandler design, for example, works beautifully in colder climates but causes real headaches in Australia. “When you take that deep comb design and apply it to a hot climate, such as Australia, then you get a lot of what’s called comb collapse,” Adrian explained. “The heavy honeycombs get too hot in summer and they tend to collapse off the top bars into the bottom of the hive.”

Through their workshops, Nathalie demonstrated construction techniques that keep internal dimensions consistent while adapting to local conditions. Her Flex Hive concept particularly excited people—a simple adapter that lets Langstroth beekeepers experiment with top bar concepts without abandoning their existing equipment.

In the end, the group reached a collective decision that a hive design optimised for Australian conditions was the best approach, rather than trying to force international designs to work in our unique climate.

Breaking Down Barriers

Something beautiful happened at the hive-building workshops. Nathalie discovered that beekeeping isn’t just for people with serious woodworking skills. “It was interesting to see how many women were in the group that realized that they too could do it and that it was not just reserved for expert woodworkers,” she told me.

All the workshops sold out, and people learned they could build their own hives with basic hand tools in about four hours, including theory. It proved that natural beekeeping stays accessible to anyone willing to learn.

Adrian emphasised that the hive design isn’t just about ease of construction—it’s about working with how bees actually want to live.

The Summit Magic

Everything culminated at the Natural Beekeeping Summit in Wilson’s Creek, and from everyone’s descriptions, the energy was something special. “It was magical,” Nathalie told me. “It was in such a beautiful place that had such ties to the land. We started with greetings and thanks to the land and to the aboriginal populations and it was just so powerful.”

Adrian felt it too: “Going to the summit was just another beautiful, big gathering there of like-minded people and beautiful-hearted people. It really cemented all that in again.”

The whole thing ended with a sweat lodge ceremony. As Nathalie put it: “There was an amazing energy both from the land and the attendees and the speakers—everybody. It was such a beautiful energy.”

The Real Impact

Between all their speaking events and workshops, they reached about 500 people—a significant chunk of Australia’s natural beekeeping community. But numbers don’t capture the real story.

“My whole goal for my presentation was to provide people with hope,” Nathalie explained. And that hope wasn’t just feel-good optimism. It was grounded in real advantages: Australia’s wild colony density, abundant forage, mild climate—all creating perfect conditions for rapid adaptation to Varroa.

Adrian saw the response at every event: “What I saw at the talks, at every talk we did and everyone we spoke to, whether they were conventional or non-conventional folks, everybody was relieved to hear Les and Nathalie’s approach and get an understanding that there is hope.”

Choosing Our Path

Maybe the most powerful message from the whole tour was about having a choice. Australia stands at a crossroads where we can learn from other countries’ mistakes instead of repeating them.

This really gets to Adrian: “We’re just going to do the same stupid thing that doesn’t work time and time again. It really drives me crazy. It’s mind-boggling. Why don’t they ask that question when they say, ‘Oh, we need to use pesticides. But it fails. It doesn’t work. I’m not saying don’t use treatments, i’m saying don’t use miticides! There are a bunch of different treatments we can use and they can work if applied correctly. 

The tour showed that there are proven alternatives, backed by decades of successful practice. It’s not a choice between treating bees and losing them—it’s between short-term chemical dependency and long-term sustainable adaptation.

What This Changes

The tour shifted something important. Before Les and Nathalie arrived, Australian beekeepers were focused on managing a crisis. Now there’s a different conversation—one about working with natural processes and trusting bees to adapt.

Seems to me the tour’s biggest impact wasn’t the technical information shared, but the community and connections created. Whether you’re new to beekeeping or questioning methods you’ve used for years, there’s an opportunity for everyone to be a part of this community and move toward more bee-centered practices.

In the end, the tour delivered more than anyone planned—not just technical knowledge, but proof that a different approach to Varroa is possible, and that Australia has the community and conditions to make it work.

To learn more about natural beekeeping approaches and connect with the growing community of Natural beekeepers, check out resources at Happier Bees or consider joining one of their hands-on workshops to experience these methods firsthand. If you can’t attend one of our in person courses, we offer an ONLINE alternative.