Bees

I found a new book to get my mind off goats and onto bees, which is much more fitting considering tomorrow I am going to go order them (and purchase my hive equipment). Thankfully this book is just as poetic as "Goat Song" and is having the same effect on me... I am completely caught up in the world of honey bees.



I am both excited and nervous about this new venture. The more I read the more I realize just how many wonderful things you can do with honey and beeswax. But I am also learning how one mistake or one unfortunate act of nature can cause the whole hive to collapse.



And while I'm on the topic of bees, I forgot I still need to write down my recipe for the handsalve I made over Christmas.

For starters I should note that the best place to get all the oils is definitely the bulk section of a co-op. The canisters came from Michael's (they are actually sold for candle making but worked great for this too). The beeswax came from Michael's too but I won't make that mistake again. The local beekeeper and dealer that I found where I'm getting my bees sells his beeswax for almost a forth of the price (not to mention is it's probably much purer).



When you're heating beeswax you can't heat it directly in the pan so I put a bowl over a pan to create a double boiler (and it is now my "beeswax" bowl as the wax does not really come out that easily).



Herbal Salve Recipe (found here and adjusted for a bigger batch)

Ingredients:
12 ounces Beeswax
18 ounces Sweet Almond Oil
6 ounce Jojoba Oil
3 oz. Canola oil
60 (or more) drops total essential oil of your preference

Makes about 24 ounces of salve

Simply heat the Sweet Almond, Canola oil and Jojoba oil in a saucepan and add Beeswax. Pour into tins and let cool. Next time I will experiment with the oil to wax ratio (and try adding more oils) to get it a little bit softer. But overall I am loving this salve. It is so great for dry hands and even cuts and scrapes.