I am experimenting with different varieties of handmade soap and I recently made some citrus soap bars. They turned out great, so I want to share this variation using a base of gentle olive oil soap with beeswax. I call it Beeswax Citrus Soap. Beeswax softens and protects skin from environmental elements and is naturally nourishing, antibacterial, and anti-allergenic. […]

Modern beekeepers commonly wonder what to do with all the beeswax their hives produce. Thankfully, the possibilities are endless, from holistic and decorative uses to various homemade health and beauty products. Learn how to make beautiful, useful gifts with Petra Ahnert’s book, Beeswax Alchemy (Quarry Books, 2015). This excerpt offers a recipe for a Solid Lotion Bar. […]

Visiting more than 2 million flowers to produce a single pound of honey, bees are some of the hardest workers on our planet — and quite possibly nature’s best cosmetologists. These wondrous winged creatures pollinate about one-sixth of the world’s flowering plant species and about 400 agricultural plants, and from their hard work springs forth […]

If you’re like me, when it comes to adding livestock — or any animal for that matter — to your home, you relish the research. It’s fun to flip through literature and find the breed, species, or whatever the subspecies (also called ecotypes) may be called that jumps out at you and finds its way […]

Good raw unpasteurized honey tastes very different from the plastic clover honey bear that you purchase at the supermarket. I compare it to processed cheese vs. a homemade varietal cheese. Honey bears are simply an accumulation of many types of honey that have been mixed together, heated, and made into a homogeneous mixture which lacks […]

  Honey is as sensational as it is sweet, but if you thought that honey-making was the only work occupying bees inside that hive, think again. A mind-boggling array of insect activities is creating amazing honeybee products right under our noses. And our noses themselves even benefit, since some of these products can be used to treat […]

If you have some extra honey and you are looking to try something new this year, why not try making a batch of mead? Mead is a delicious wine made with honey. Depending on what recipe you use, it can be sweet, dry, sparkling, or flavored with fruit and spices. Honey, yeast, and water Mead […]

Bee stings can be deadly if a person is allergic to the venom. If you or a family member is allergic to bee stings and gets stung, remove the stinger and seek emergency medical attention right away. Do not rely on a natural bee sting treatment alone. Use an EpiPen (epinephrine auto-injector) if you have one. Any […]

In my opinion, there is nothing more olde-kitchen, Americana, hearth and home than a pie. Some of my favorite pies are what I like to call “Humble Pies”. And not in the sense of the proverbial gesture to be more unpretentious. But more in the sense of humble ingredients. Things you have on hand, in […]

Pumpkin Custard 1 cup milk 1 package (8 ounces) light cream cheese, softened 1⁄2 cup brown sugar 1⁄4 cup honey 2 eggs 1 cup pumpkin 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon cinnamon Whipped cream, optional Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 6 ramekins or custard cups; set aside. In a saucepan, combine milk, cream […]

1 ¼ cup coconut oil ¾ cup cocoa powder 4 tbsp  honey 3 tsp vanilla extract ¾ cup nut butter (we used peanut butter) salt to taste Line a muffin tin or mini-muffin tin with paper cupcake liners and set aside. In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of coconut oil over low heat until melted. […]

As the beekeeping season comes to a close and my hives need less of my time, I’m confronted with the jars and bags and racks and bowls of beeswax all over my house patiently awaiting my attention. There are a million methods for all things beekeeping out there but I’d like to share this very […]

This is a super delicious apple butter that is easy to make, and you don’t have to stand over the stove and stir for hours. MAIN ARTICLE: Save Money by Canning Food at Home Honey Apple Butter Recipe 12 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples (I really like the McIntosh and Gala apples for apple […]

Download this episode (right click and save) Join beekeepers Becky Tipton, Charlotte Brunin, Robert Riley, and Steve Tipton as they discuss the best way to harvest honey from a Langstroth hive. To hear more podcasts from MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends, click here.

What is robbing? When I wrote this in July, my area’s (southeast Georgia) nectar flow has stopped and all that is available to the bees is some pollen. With foragers going out and returning empty handed, or finding nectar that is sub-par, I find that my hives get a little hot this time of year. When […]