It sounds like the start of a bad joke – a bee-keeper allergic to bees – but that's the reality for Paul Phillips. Packing an EpiPen every time he steps out the back door to his Queanbeyan backyard garden, the pastry chef turned amateur bee-keeper knows he's taking his life in his hands but says he wouldn't have it any other way.
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"I always really wanted to keep bees but I'm allergic and my family were like, 'You're nuts, you can't do it'," said Paul.
Paul took the plunge a couple of years ago, with a course with the ACT Beekeepers Association.
"At the start of the course they made the joke, 'Is anyone allergic to bees?' and I said, 'Yep!'.
"They said, 'What? Are you serious? Why are you doing this?'."
One bee sting would send him into anaphylactic shock and with every new sting, the reaction gets worse. Paul must take extra precautions when tending to his hive.
"I do take medication before I go tend to the bees just in case I'm stung. I have an EpiPen just in case I'm stung.
"I also have the Italian strain of bees and I get them specifically from one supplier here in Canberra. He breeds them to be very docile," he said.
Paul is also well-aware of the warning signs of an imminent bee attack.
"Before they sting you, they actually start smacking you in the face, like, 'We're getting peeved off now, stop'," he said.
Paul got into bee-keeping after losing 110 kilograms gave him more energy to work in the garden.
"I never did a lot with my life and I was always too afraid to do things and just grab life by the balls. People skydive, it's dangerous ... There's always going to be the risk there I guess," he said.
Paul is so passionate about bee-keeping that he has a beehive tattooed on his right leg, a work of art that took more than seven hours. His other tattoos are by the same artist and depict his other hobbies: gardening, cured meats and pastries.
"I just like the idea of gardening, bees, food ... I make whatever I can. And it's not just the benefit for my garden, it's the benefit for [gardens] up to 10 kilometres away."
Paul's honey has a light flavour thanks to regularly changing the combs and the wide variety of plants in the Queanbeyan area.
For Paul, the rewards of bee-keeping out-weigh the risks.
"Just the satisfaction that I've done the effort ... It's my honey."
