If you want to increase your chance of successfully attracting a swarm, you can add an attractant to your bait hive. Lemongrass is very similar to the queen bee’s scent. Honeybees find the mixture of lemongrass and beeswax irresistible. Lemongrass Swarm Lure Recipe Yield: 3 ounces Ingredients 2 tablespoons beeswax 1/4 cup olive oil 40 […]

While the effect of honey is similar to sugar’s effect, honey is well known for being more nutritious, and therefore healthy. But the truth about that is about to be revealed in today’s post in which we’ll discover if honey is indeed the better option.

Winter is the time that I make use of all the beeswax that I collected during the summer. I 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 Beeswax-Honeybee Gift. When I was […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]