hi everyone! It has been several days since beekeeping camp has ended however I promised that I would post a few recipes that you can do at home with beeswax and/honey. All of the recipes are taken from the book entitled, "The Backyard Beekeeper" by Kim Flottum.
Ellen's Hand Butter
1/2 Cup Cocoa butter (I also used olive oil)
1/2 Cup beeswax
4 tablespoons avocado or coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon fragrance or essential oil
Melt all the ingredients except the fragrance or essential oil in a stainless steel pan (2 quart pan). Stir constantly until the beeswax is melted completely and blended with the other ingredients. Do not heat to more than 120 F. Add the fragrance after removing the pan from heat. Pour into decorative containers and allow to cool.
Nancy's Lip Balm
1 Cup shredded beeswax (you can use a grater for this)
1.6 Cups coconut oil
5 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoons honey
Heat the wax in a saucepan over low heat (150 F). In a separate saucepan heat the oil to the same temperature. Add the oil to the wax and stir until well blended. Add the honey and vanilla extract and continue to stir until well blended. Pour into tubes or small tubs. Allow to cool overnight then cap the containers and store at room temperature out of direct sunlight.
Jeanne's Hand Cream
2 Cups olive oil
1/4 Cup palm oil
1/2cup coconut oil
2 vitamin E tablets or 6 drops of vitamin E oil
40-50 drops of essential oil
Combine the oils in a 2-quart stainless steel sauce pan and stir over medium heat until the oils are melted. Add the beeswax to the pan and stir until melted. Test the mixture by dropping a few drops onto a sheet of wax paper. Let it cool and test the hardness. If it is too hard it will be difficult to rub onto your skin and you will need a bit more oil to soften it. After removing the pan from the heat add the vitamin E drops to enhance the cream. When well mixed pour cream into containers and cover them. Store out of direct sunlight.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Friday, 22 July 2011
Final day of beekeeping camp
We have enjoyed getting to know each of you this week and hope that you had an enjoyable time at camp. Today everyone went home with their candles, a bottle of honey and their journal. I will also post recepies for products to make from beeswax and where to order beekeeping supplies in addition.
Today we completed our candles, bottled honey and worked a few hives in Shelly Bay. This time Quincy mostly stood back and let us work the hive. We also went to look at some hives in Tucker's Town. We saw a toad who was sampling bees for lunch while we were there. Back at the hive we talked about what we liked most about the camp and what we learned.
If anyone is interested in learning more about beekeeping you can always contact Quincy at mangobonsai@yahoo.com.
So long beekeepers! Have a great summer!
Today we completed our candles, bottled honey and worked a few hives in Shelly Bay. This time Quincy mostly stood back and let us work the hive. We also went to look at some hives in Tucker's Town. We saw a toad who was sampling bees for lunch while we were there. Back at the hive we talked about what we liked most about the camp and what we learned.
If anyone is interested in learning more about beekeeping you can always contact Quincy at mangobonsai@yahoo.com.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Beeswax Product recipes
Hi everyone! During the camp we have had a chance to experiment with making candles from beeswax. There are so many products that are made from beeswax. If we had more time we could have explored some of these however I will be updating this section with recipes for use with beeswax.
For now please check out this link that I found concerning using beeswax for furniture polish. I haven't tried this one yet but perhaps some of you will try this (with your parents nearby) and let me know how it works out.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/117508/making-beeswax-furniture-polish.pdf
For now please check out this link that I found concerning using beeswax for furniture polish. I haven't tried this one yet but perhaps some of you will try this (with your parents nearby) and let me know how it works out.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/117508/making-beeswax-furniture-polish.pdf
Fourth Day: Observing and Doing
For the past 4 days we have had the opportunity to use the observational hive in the honey house as a quick reference point for the life of bees in 'real time'. Today it was time to split the hive. Beekeepers split the beehive when the hive appears to be getting too full so that the hive itself does not grow a new queen and half of the hive ends up taking off with the new queen. Those who felt able put their beekeeping skills to work.
In additon to spliting the observation hive a couple campers also got to practice marking the bees. Sometimes a beekeeper will mark the queen bee so that she can be easily identified however we now have several marked bees flying around Bailey's Bay with purple abdomens and red wings. Let's just say that one particular person got carried away with the bee markings...:) A new term was also coined to identify this new proceedure called 'beetox' or cosmetics for bees.
We also had a chance to finish painting our bee supers, extracted more honey, painted several more frames and dyed beeswax for molds and candles. In the afternoon, Mr. Thomas Sinclair, Vice President of the Bermuda Beekeeping Association came and spoke with us about bees and beekeeping. Just before the day ended we took a walk around Fractious Street to see exactly where our bees were collecting their pollen.
Overall, we hope that the marked bees are happy with their new look:)
In additon to spliting the observation hive a couple campers also got to practice marking the bees. Sometimes a beekeeper will mark the queen bee so that she can be easily identified however we now have several marked bees flying around Bailey's Bay with purple abdomens and red wings. Let's just say that one particular person got carried away with the bee markings...:) A new term was also coined to identify this new proceedure called 'beetox' or cosmetics for bees.
We also had a chance to finish painting our bee supers, extracted more honey, painted several more frames and dyed beeswax for molds and candles. In the afternoon, Mr. Thomas Sinclair, Vice President of the Bermuda Beekeeping Association came and spoke with us about bees and beekeeping. Just before the day ended we took a walk around Fractious Street to see exactly where our bees were collecting their pollen.
Overall, we hope that the marked bees are happy with their new look:)
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Third Day: The Sweet Life
Today was our third day at beekeeping camp. Since we were becoming beekeeping experts quickly it was now time to steal from the bees...oh I mean harvest the honey:). We traveled by car to Tulo Valley in Spanish Point where Quincy's largest apiary is located. After taking a walk around the property to see which trees the bees in that area were collecting pollen from (Fiddlewood) we suited up and got ready to go into the hive.
As soon as we opened the hive and smoked the bees we saw golden honey comb dripping with honey. As we harvested the honey we took the foll frames of honey and replaced the hive with our freshly painted supers filled with empy frames for the bees to draw out new honey comb. As we drove home a man on a motorcycle flagged the Burgess mobile down to let us know that there were bees in the car:). We didn't have the heart to tell the man that there was also 50lb of honey in the back of the car as well.
When we returned to the Honey House we learned the art of taking the wax cappings of of the honey. This process is called uncapping. In order for the honey to come out of the comb during the extraction process the beekeeper must uncap the wax. We remembered not to throw away the wax since it is more expensive than honey. We placed our wax into the strainer to be melted down with other wax in the near future. Darius was stung twice but there was no reaction noted while at camp. We hope that he is having a good night's rest:).
Almost everyone went home with a cup full of honey and honey comb. We hope that you have all had a sweet day!
As soon as we opened the hive and smoked the bees we saw golden honey comb dripping with honey. As we harvested the honey we took the foll frames of honey and replaced the hive with our freshly painted supers filled with empy frames for the bees to draw out new honey comb. As we drove home a man on a motorcycle flagged the Burgess mobile down to let us know that there were bees in the car:). We didn't have the heart to tell the man that there was also 50lb of honey in the back of the car as well.
When we returned to the Honey House we learned the art of taking the wax cappings of of the honey. This process is called uncapping. In order for the honey to come out of the comb during the extraction process the beekeeper must uncap the wax. We remembered not to throw away the wax since it is more expensive than honey. We placed our wax into the strainer to be melted down with other wax in the near future. Darius was stung twice but there was no reaction noted while at camp. We hope that he is having a good night's rest:).
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