How to Refine Beeswax

We extracted honey this past weekend... 309 lbs!  Couple that with our earlier harvest and it brings us up to 576 lbs for the year, so far!  We still have one hive not on our property and possibly a final small draw here.

The second harvest was a bit darker, as expected.  More notable however, was the difference in the Baker's Honey (cooked down to separate from the wax cappings).

On left is the Baker's Honey from first extraction.  On right is from the second.
It's as dark and rich as molasses!

With all the wax laying around, it was about time I do something with it.  I had buckets of it...buckets.

Here are some of the cappings before I cooked them down for the Baker's Honey:

And of course, what it looks like separated and cooled from the honey that remained in them:

We still have last years wax!  Aye!  Better get on it...

I put this off for so long because just like pressure canning, the stories I read online and in the books, scared the bajeepers out of me!  That was last year.  This year, I simply did my best to remember the important steps and just did it.  No time for fear, just do it! 

Pft!  It was so simple and possibly one of the coolest things I have ever learned!

How to Refine Beeswax

Any pans and even some utensils will never be the same after processing wax.  Therefore, I have my designated tools.  You may want to also. 

• Fashion yourself a double boiler if you don't have one you are willing to sacrifice to the wax.  I used a set of nesting pans my mom gave me years ago and they worked perfectly!  The handles of the wax pan held itself at just the right level in the larger pan:

• Add enough water in the larger pan to come up the sides of the inner pan an inch or so.  You can do this before you put the smaller pan in if you are worried about getting water in the wax pan, which you don't want. 
• Add your wax and cover inner pan with a lid.

• Turn on the heat and bring to a very slow boil. 
• Meanwhile, spread wax paper on your countertop if you like.  Any time I work with honey/wax, I have found it just makes for easier clean up.
• Open the tops of your reserved milk, half/half or OJ cartons.  You want to use the cartons because they are already lined with a light layer of wax and wont adhere to your finished product.  Start saving them up for future use if need be.  A quick rinse, dry, shove'em in a corner and they are good to go when they are needed!
• Cut your cheeseclothe and place over the opening.  Make sure you leave some give at the top for pouring and catching the debris.  I taped mine down pretty tight as I wanted no slippage. 

Ok, so maybe I went overboard.  You don't need that much cheeseclothe and maybe not even that much tape.  I wasn't taking chances.  :o}

• When your wax has completely melted, lift inner pan from the water and quickly wipe it with a towel.
• Pour the contents of the pan into the carton.  I filled my containers about 3/4 full. 

Here is what it looks like freshly poured ~ liquid gold!

Isn't it lovely?

• Let the wax rest until it is cooled to solid:

It cracked because I kept being all touchy-feely with the first one.  It couldn't be helped. 
The others are smooth as butter.

• Tear off the carton and behold...clean beeswax!

This one weighed about 1.25 lbs.  I have others cooling in cartons and more wax to go!

Here is a comparison of some refined wax that I spilled on the counter (see...I told you!) compared to the unrefined wax:

 Again, one of the coolest things I have ever done!  Now, what to do with it all???

You Are What You Eat

Last week at the State Fair, I saw an impressive display of honey.  So many colors!  It was amazing!  Naturally, I did not take a picture.  But I found this one on the internet to give you an idea of the variations:

Since several people have commented either here or directly to me, that our honey is very light in coloring, I thought I would share a little information with you.

The honey produced by the honeybee in any given area is a direct reflection of the nectar / pollen supply available to the honeybee. 
Maybe you've heard of honey referred to as Clover Honey, Orange Blossom Honey, or possibly Buckwheat Honey, just to name a few.

These are not honeys that have been flavored to taste that way; it's what the bees are "eating" that gives honey it's particular flavor.  They are what they eat!

Years ago, our neighbor kept honeybees and his honey was light too!  He shared with us the reason:  Our honeybees have an abundant supply of the Basswood Tree. 

Also known as "The Bee Tree"!

Therefore, our honey is considered Basswood Honey. 

In researching Basswood Honey, I was surprised and pleased to learn alot of new things!  For instance, according to http://www.health-benifits-of-honey.com/:   "This is a monofloral honey highly prized for its distinct flavors. Beekeepers that are lucky enough to have this special nectar source growing nearby are said to be in honey heaven when the pretty blossoms are in season.  You will need to be quick to grab yourself a jar of this type of honey because the blossom on the basswood tree is only in bloom for about 10 days which makes it quite rare."

As to the coloring of Basswood honey...
"This is a beautifully pale honey, almost white at times with just a hint of a green glow, this maybe yet another reason it is known as Lime honey. This special honey is slow to crystallize which would be nothing to worry about if it does. Stand the jar in a pan or basin of hot water and it will revert back to a liquid form in no time at all."

And the flavor of Basswood Honey...
"When you open a jar of this honey the first thing you will notice is the same aroma that attracted the bees to this source of nectar. A gorgeous fragrance; slightly fruity and yet herbal at the same time. Pop a spoon into the jar, dive in, taste and savor this fruit flavour which has a delicious aftertaste. Some liken the taste to crisp apples with a hint of mint thrown in. The taste and flavor will vary slightly with each jar depending on whether this honey was made by honey bees in spring or summer."

Another website I found called it a "Premier Honey" and said the intensity of the flavor is stronger than the color would indicate.  And I agree, it's looks are deceiving!

Deceiving...hows that for a segue?  (Had to look that spelling up myself!  Seg-way)  Onto a sinister matter that our blog-friend Judy mentioned here in comments yesterday.  Thank you, Judy!!

China is in the news again.  Honey tainted with lead from improper storage, antibiotics not approved for use or consumption in the US, and straight up adulterated-watered-down-fake mix of a look alike.  Here is a GREAT ARTICLE, I encourage you to read it!

This "Tainted Honey" is said to be nearly impossible to keep out of the US.  Other countries have banned it, we've imposed stiff tariffs, but it is being taken across other borders, repackaged and shipped here.  And the major honey packagers here...knew about it.

It is sitting on the grocery store shelves, and it's being used in processed foods.  You may never know you are eating it!  The US banned lead in paint back in 1978.  We have enough antibiotics in our poultry, beef, dairy etc. and now our honey.  And we wonder how to treat super-bugs?

What can you do?  Buy it from someone you know!  Seriously, do not support these criminals!  If you demand a better product...you will get it eventually.  But you will have to think smaller.  Small farms, small operations...that's where to look.  You may have to wait.  You may even pay a bit more.  I always look at honey prices when I am out and about.  Last check ~ ours is .14 cents more than what is sitting on the store shelves.

Now, would someone please figure out how to make my favorite cereal?  Honey Nut Cheerios. 

Oh, there is one more thing you could do...

The Spelling Bee WINNERS!

First of all, thank you all for the wonderful gut laughs and insight with The Spelling Bee.  You all just crack me up and this was super fun! 

So I had to use the old fashioned method of names in a bowl.  Check the picture, make sure you see your name, and if not...cry foul and I will make it right!

17 Comedians and Philosophers entered!

 Not including Jan and Jen = family.

And here are the lucky winners:

Congratulations!!!!

Please email me with your mailing info when you get a second.  I am super excited to share with you and I hope you really enjoy your honey! 

Who knows...maybe someone will be wooed over to the dark side of Beekeeping!

Muahahahahaa!

The Spelling Bee

My Maternal Grandmother never graduated from High School.  She married my Grampa when she was 16 and raised 8 kids on the farm.  That wasn't all that uncommon back in the day.  Don't get me wrong, she was most certainly not uneducated or a dunce.  She had more "cents" than most 16 year olds of today combined.

When she was a young girl, she won The Spelling Bee at her school.  It was a very proud accomplishment for her.  My Aunt Bena still has her achievement certificate, I believe.  Until recently, I had completely forgotten this tale.

So in honor of my Grama and her wonderful spelling abilities, we are having a Spelling Bee...right here!  Right now! 

And here's your word:

Sharing.  S-H-A-R-I-N-G.  Sharing.

Sharing is defined as:  To allow someone to use or enjoy something that one possesses.

Well by golly-gosh, what could I possibly possess that I could share with you?  Something you might enjoy?

Honey, anyone?

All you have to do is leave a comment and brighten my day with your wit or wisdom.  That's it!

Pst!  Family members need not apply...you'll get yours! 

The drawing will close this Thursday at 9 p.m. and I will post the winners - yes - winners (plural) on Friday.

Three lucky people will receive one, 12 oz Honey Bear each!

How's that for sharing?  Coming from a big family, sharing is a lesson Grama would have taught very early on!

Harvesting Honey ~ 2011

Since the Swarm took us a bit off guard last weekend, we went ahead and harvested our first honey of the season.  Yes, Pig Pens idea of a cruel joke is to spring things like this on me at ya know...6 o'clock one evening.  I shall sew his pant legs shut one of these days...

For those of you that weren't around last year, I'll take you thru the steps.  The rest of you can just glaze on thru...

First, you remove the frames from the hive.  Brush off all bees if you are bringing them inside.  :o)

Check out Pig Pen's fancy new stainless steel Decapping Tank...pretty cool, huh? 

Another one of his designs.  Last year we put screening over a rubbermaid container and shimmied around it.  Not this year. 

Next is to "Decap" the comb.  The bees 'cap' off the honey combs with wax once they have completed their work.  Alot of folks will use a heat knife. We found a serrated knife and a warm pan of water works just fine.  The goal being not to heat the honey but rather, keep it "raw".

Keith spank shined the decapping tank all pretty like and then he got sticky!  ;o)  Hey, never a relaxing moment around here!! 

Once you decap, the wax falls to the bottom along with any honey drippings as well.  Not to worry, it doesn't go to waste!

Then you load up the fancy new extractor!  Some of you may recall from last year that Pig Pen fabricated his own design on a Honey Extractor. This year, he decided to rebuild it to hold 12 frames as opposed to 4.  And instead of the Dewalt to spin it, he mechanized it. Yup, a motor!

Well it worked pretty good until they realized we need a bigger motor!  12 frames are pretty darn heavy!  Hopefully by this Fall when the BIG harvest comes in...

The honey gets strained thru two screens to remove any fallen bee soldiers, wax, or other particles.  We then bottle it up!

And oh yes, stickers on each and every bottle!

That's it!  No heating, mixing, or funny business! 

Since there is still loads of wax and honey on the wax in the decapping tank, I slowly simmered it on the stove top.  This process melts the wax entirely and it looks like a big pot of golden goodness.  Then it cools.

As the wax re-solidifies, it floats to the top along with any other 'junk' and forms a cap on the pan.

Let me tell ya, you could use a pry bar to get that out! 

Once you remove the wax cap, you run this honey thru the screens also.  The wax will be saved for another day and another project. 

The screens sit on top of the bucket.  Here is what's left after it is done!

This is what we call "Bakers Honey".    There ended up being approximately 20 lbs.

Because it has been heated, I will use it for all my baking needs.  Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad thing!  It's phenomenal tasting with a deep amber color.  But I wont sell this as part of our "Raw" honey. 

Bakers Honey on Left.  Raw Honey on Right.  

As the raw honey settles, the tiny air bubbles from screening and bottling clear to a nice light golden color.  It is outstanding!  It has a wonderful floral honey scent.

We also did what I like to refer to as "Old Timer's Honey".  

Old Timer's will tell tales of taking a spoonful straight from the comb, wax and all!  Enjoy the honey and chew the wax like gum!  Note:  a little dab'll do ya!  Right, Tricia??

These are actually called Ross Rounds and they are placed in the hive boxes in round frames and then packaged as is!

Not including the 32 Ross Rounds, we harvested a whopping...

240 pounds

of honey so far!! 

Last years total harvest was 157 lbs.

According to my calculations, our honey sales might provide us enough grocery funds to compensate for a lousy gardening/canning year!  Bright side to everything, right?

As if on Cue

Well wouldn't ya know, opportunity knocked again.  Word travels fast once you start keeping bees.  In the two short seasons Pig Pen has added this to his resume, he's had at least a half dozen calls to come fetch a swarm or wild hive.  Always a friend of a friend of friend.  Pretty amazing in that aspect. 

Last night he headed out to get another wild hive.  So you will get to see his fashioned "Bee Vac" after all!  This hive was hunkered down in an old tree, so no limb shaking would do.  Sue, this one's for you!!

Basically, he took a large hive box, drilled the necessary holes to attach a shop vac for the suction and inserted a screen so they don't get sucked into the vacuum itself.  Then he drilled a smaller hole that he inserts a long tube into that actually sucks the bees up with minimal loss.

And for the record, nope...not me taking all these fine pictures.  I have yet to be stung.  I give them a respectful distance.  We get along just fine this way.  :o)

So up the tree he goes to begin the process. 

Not always can you get the bees out if they are in pretty far. 

Occasionally, and if the homeowner allows, there is some cutting involved. 

This tree is old and starting to hollow, which is why the bees chose it as well. 

So Pig Pen did have to make a cut.  The bees were none too happy about this I'd imagine. 

But as you can see, the homeowner and his kids were right there and not one of them got stung! 

Well, except for LLL who was off in the distance!  Go figure!  The one guy who is allergic and not carrying an Epi!  He got stung in the nose.  But he is doing fine.  I told him not to to be sniffing on those bees any more. 

So now we have another hive hopefully settling in out back!

This was the second call Pig Pen received this week.  Earlier in the week, a guy stopped by our house and asked if we were interested in a tree hive located at a nearby Rec Club.  He made arrangements with Pig Pen for the following day to extract the hive.  Well, when they spoke again, they guy informed him that the club burned the hive out instead!  Why???

Most of you know how beneficial bees are to your gardens and crops.  Bees are slowly being killed off -sigh- by "us" and battling disease.  You do not want this to continue to happen!!

From New Agriculturist on the Benefits of Bees:

Forget about honey, pollen and royal jelly. Just think of a world without beans, tomatoes, onions and carrots, not to mention the hundreds of other vegetables, oilseeds and fruits that are dependent upon bees for pollination. And the livestock that are dependent upon bee-pollinated forage plants, such as clover. No human activity or ingenuity could ever replace the work of bees and yet it is largely taken for granted. It is often not realized just how easy it is to help or hinder their effectiveness as crop pollinators nor how much is lost by their loss.


To United States agriculture alone, the annual value of honey bee pollination can be counted in billions of dollars. Bees pollinate about one-sixth of the world's flowering plant species and some 400 of its agricultural plants. Poorly pollinated plants produce fewer, often misshapen, fruits and lower yields of seed with inevitable consequences upon quality, availability and price of food. One of the few farm activities that can actually increase yields, rather than simply protect existing yields from losses, is to manage bees to encourage good pollination.

I encourage you all to find a local beekeeper and have their number handy.  Next time you are at a local Farmers Market, stop at the booth, go online, or contact (believe it or not) animal control.  You never know when a swarm might appear!  And as I mentioned in the comments section on my last post regarding bees, a swarm is generally docile.  You should always use caution regardless.

A Sale and a Swarm

This weekend we went to an Estate Sale.  These things always bring a bit of sadness as you know someones lives have turned a corner in one way or another.  At the same time, I like to think that when someone like me stumbles upon them, certain things are finding a new home where they will continue to be loved as opposed to being sold at some antique shop and collecting dust.

All sorts of goodies...and yards and yards of fabric for $12!!

It was of course, hot.  A rare day when no one seemed to mind that every person was dripping wet because we all were!

I love this cart!  And my first Crock!!

Towards the end of the sale, we got a frantic call from my Mom saying there was a swarm of bees in the walnut tree.  Uh-Oh.

We were every bit of two hours away from home.  As luck would have it, we made it home in time!

Pig Pen was able to get to it before they actually made a real run for it.  Phew! 

All suited up with a little help from a brave friend not suited.  Crazy!

He believes that they split the hive, but can't be entirely certain until he locates the second queen.  If he doesn't find a second queen, he will order one.  Either way, that puts us at 6 hives if all goes as planned.

Luckily, he didn't have to trim much of the branch. 

For now, into a new hive they went.  He just shakes them down.  Yes...this is the same branch!

Can you see them all flying around?  You may have to enlarge the photo below to see them.

He will let them settle in for a while before he moves them out back with the other hives.

In the meantime, he decided to open the other hives to see how much room they have.  He was going on the advice of another beekeeper this year to keep adding boxes as opposed to mid-season harvest.  The theory being they will continue to build upwards.  Well, they were doing that; however they had so little wiggle-room getting thru those boxes and there are so many bees, that he believes that's why they swarmed. 

So you know what comes next, don't you?  Harvest Time.