Every honey harvest is exciting, but our first is something I won’t likely forget! We’d been waiting and tending to our bees for almost two years… hoping, wondering and (frankly) worrying. But that first taste of golden nectar made it all worth it. Since our first harvest quite a few years ago, we’ve somewhat streamlined […]

Let me tell you, if you’re not cooking with cast iron you’re missing out! For years I was intrigued by cast iron but the care and seasoning process intimidated me. It seemed strange and unsanitary that you didn’t use soap to clean it. It also seemed like a pain in the neck to have to […]

We all know that beeswax makes great candles, but did you know that it has many household uses? This is especially true in the movement away from commercially-made cosmetics and cleaning products. Beeswax can be a useful ingredient to have around the home. What is beeswax? Beeswax is created in eight wax-producing glands on a […]

It’s candle season! Time to fill our homes with the scents of everything pumpkin spice, cinnamon stick, and caramel apple cider. But before you light those wicks it’s important to know what’s in your candle. Candles used to be an essential part of everyday life. Especially in the long nights of winter, candles and oil […]

Extracting honey every August for 20 years has honed my honey house preparations. Similar to painting, the prep takes longer than the actual work. I never extract in the house, as it will bring stray bees in along with the frames. I have a potting shed adjacent to my bee yard which I have set […]

Much of the garden furniture today is made of plastic rather than wood. If you are lucky enough to have a set of old-fashioned wicker or bent willow garden furniture, you can use this Beeswax Sealant Recipe for to keep it in top shape. Yield: 1 12-ounce jar Ingredients 1/2 cup beeswax 1/2 cup grapeseed […]

Preserving the wood used to enclose raised garden beds is a conundrum. Popular wood preservatives contain toxic heavy metals that leach into the soil of a vegetable garden, potentially contaminating the soil and any food growing there. But because garden boxes are exposed to the weather and remain perpetually damp, some kind of preservative is […]

These beeswax tarts replace chemical room fresheners, promoting healthier indoor air. These are useful in the kitchen to remove dank odors without toxic chemicals. Each beeswax tart is about 1-1/2 ounces. This project includes three homey scents: citrus, calm, and alert. Citrus Beeswax Tarts Recipe   Yield: 5 beeswax tarts Ingredients 1/2 cup beeswax 1/2 […]

Every fall, boxes of crayons come home with the school supplies. Most crayons are made with paraffin wax and stearic acid. Soy crayons are made with hydrogenated genetically modified soybean oil. So while technically, crayons are “nontoxic,” they are not necessarily benign. You could make crayons by melting beeswax and adding a pigment. The resulting […]

Beard balm is a leave-in conditioner that softens, moisturizes, and helps style your beard. The beeswax in beard balm offers a light to medium hold, but its main job is to seal in moisture. A well-made beard balm will also condition the skin, leaving it soft and moisturized. Beard balm is a thicker, more moisturizing […]

I just recently phased out all of my plastic food storage containers. Now I store our leftovers in mason jars or in a simple glass bowl with some sort of plastic wrap or tin foil over the top. I feel better about not having our food in plastic, however, I do notice that with this […]

We’ve already experienced a 100 degree day here in Michigan. It’s been an unseasonably warm, sunny May, and we’ve been outside from sun up till sun down planting our lavender field for our U-Pick season. My 19-month-old daughter has inherited mine and my father’s pale Irish skin, which when exposed to the sun, rather than […]

Welcome to summer and all it entails: barbecues, hiking, evening walks — and bee stings and bug bites. Take heart: You don’t have to spend the entire season scratching. Many of the best anti-itch remedies are as close as your backyard, kitchen, or local health food store. No single remedy will work for everyone, so […]

Experienced beekeepers are keenly aware of which flowers provide bees with nectar, when those flowers are in bloom, and whether the right balance of rain and shine has encouraged them to bloom in abundance. In beekeeping jargon, when there is a bounty of nectar for bees to forage, a honey flow is said to be […]

Ask 10 beekeepers the best way to remove bees from honey supers and you’ll get eleven answers. As with anything else, every beekeeper has their preferred method for accomplishing any task. In this post, I’ll examine how to remove bees from the super so the honey can be harvested. When a hive is opened, bees […]