Ummmm…..that’s sooo good! I hear that phrase over and over when someone tastes my home-grown honey for the first time. Their face lights up and a look of total delight transforms them when they dip their fingers into the sticky sunshine. Most people are used to the purchased plastic bear of generic clover honey (sometimes …
Continue reading "Wannabees Thinking About Honey Bees"
It happens every Fall - honey extraction! After babying the bees, feeding, monitoring, re-queening, splitting, and just plain worrying about them, now is the moment of truth. How much honey did they deposit in the combs for me to rob from them? I won't leave you in suspense - I extracted 160-180 pounds from two …
Continue reading "Spinning Honey"
Beekeeping has moved from the pastime of fusty middle-aged men to young urban couples and singles. It is trendy now to become a beekeeper! Who could have predicted that? When I worked at the bee booth at the Fairgrounds recently, I was amazed at the young (under 30!) people, both male and female who were …
Continue reading "Beekeeping For Newbees or Wannabees"
Ummmm…..that’s sooo good! I hear that phrase over and over when someone tastes my home-grown honey for the first time. Their face lights up and a look of delight transforms them when they dip their fingers into the sticky sunshine. Most people are used to the purchased plastic bear of generic clover honey (sometimes adulterated) …
Continue reading "Wannabees Thinking About Honey Bees"
Winter is the time that I make use of all my beeswax that I have collected from the hives in the summer. I have melted and cleaned it right after harvesting in August and it is ready to be made into something creative and useful. To see how I clean the raw beeswax, go to …
Continue reading "Scented Beeswax Sachets"
Expensive to buy, but easy to make using ingredients found at any drug store, body butter is a perfect antidote for winter dry skin. Following a simple recipe with tools found in any kitchen, you can whip up a batch in less than an hour.
Used for thousands of years as the duct tape of the ancients, today beeswax is still collected from the beehive and is an environmental friendly solution for many applications. Read how to make beeswax fabric for food storage, candles, soap, and honey body butter as well as some amazing facts about how bees produce it.
 I am experimenting with different varieties of handmade soap and I love orange flavor, and recently made some citrus soap bars. They turned out great, so wanted to share this variation using a base of olive oil soap. I call it Beeswax Citrus Soap. Think how good this soap is for your skin with all this olive …
Continue reading "Beeswax Citrus Soap"
I love handmade soap, preferring it to the commercially overly scented variety, picking it up at local craft fairs and boutique stores.  The cost was adding up, plunking down $5 or $6 for a small bar, and I looked into making it at home. I have always hesitated to make soap due to the use of caustic lye …
Make your own honey body butter in the kitchen with readily available ingredients and tools for a fraction of the cost of commercially bought cream.
