algomah acres honey farm booth Nov. 28th, 2009

here is our booth at the "home for the holiday's gift market" at the MTU Rozsa Center in Houghton, MI. It was a lovely show...great lighting in the AM Sun!

holiday season shows....

Our first show at a holiday art fair in Houghton. We have a few more lined up with honey, hive products, and encaustic art.

so many apples

today we decided to take a walk to our back field and front field to check the apples. I decided to document them to maybe find out what varieties we had. They look exceptionally lovely this year...lots of them and very little diseased. Maybe the honeybees helped out with this!

new hive products

Healing Honey & Beeswax Balm
This balm will heal and rehydrate. Honey is antibacterial and works as a humectant, meaning that it pulls moisture to the skin. It may be used on nicks, bruises and minor burns to encourage healing. The three varieties that we have prepared in ¼ oz. quantities are described below. We also have a honey, beeswax, and vanilla lip balm!

Lavender:
Olive oil, beeswax, honey, lavender essential oil
The health benefits of lavender essential oil include its ability to remove nervous tension, relieve pain, disinfect scalp and skin, and enhance blood circulation. Lavender has been long valued as a headache remedy. It can be taken in a mild infusion, or can be rubbed on the temples, or sniffed like smelling salts to provide relief from headaches caused by stress. Lavender oil is antiseptic, and has been used as a topical disinfectant for wounds.

Propolis:
Olive oil, beeswax, honey, propolis, cloves, lemongrass essential oil
Bees make propolis, which they use to glue the materials of their hives together, by mixing beeswax and other secretions with resins from the buds of conifer and poplar trees. Those resins have natural germicidal properties. Propolis has proven antibiotic and antiseptic properties and may also have antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects.
Due to its antiseptic properties, clove oil is useful for wound, cuts, athlete’s foot, fungal infections, bruises, prickly heat, etc. It can also be used insect bites and stings.
Lemongrass oil works well to relieve stress and can alleviate muscular aches and pains.

Comfrey:
Comfrey infused olive oil, beeswax, honey, lavender essential oil
Comfrey is used to treat wounds and reduce the inflammation associated with sprains and broken bones. The roots and leaves contain allantoin, a substance that helps new skin cells grow, along with other substances that reduce inflammation and keep skin healthy. Comfrey ointments were often applied to the surface of the skin to heal bruises as well as pulled muscles and ligaments, fractures, sprains, strains, and osteoarthritis.
The health benefits of lavender essential oil include its ability to remove nervous tension, relieve pain, disinfect scalp and skin, enhance blood circulation and treat respiratory problems.

swarm season

the beeman cometh.....

we have had 4 swarms so far this summer! Not sure why it is occurring, and we have consulted other beekeepers about it. Today, we are thinking it could be the limited water source that is available...? Look at how lovely they draped themselves over this tree...

we have had a lot of swarms this summer--still trying to figure out why!!

growing our apiary

added 10 hives this week and 9 more in a few weeks!

processing the beeswax

here are some images of my adventures in melting and filtering unfiltered beeswax. this is the procedure I used with the cappings wax and unrefined beeswax that I got from the local beeman, Les.
Step 1: put the wax with several cups of water in a double boiler (yes, there is wax and water in the inside pot..the water "washes" the wax.
Step 2: allow the wax to become completely melted...so there is just soup in the inside pot
Step 3: ladle out the wax by skimming the top of the pot--pour it through nylon mesh that is clipped to your strainer...catch the wax in a flexible container.
Step 4: depending on how much wax you have, you may have scooped up some water...it will settle in the bottom of your container....wax floats to the top and will harden.
Step 5: after the wax is hard, pop it out of your container and discard the water.
Step 6: you may want to melt and filter the wax again, but also you may find it pure enough to work with. I usually just throw away the nylon after several uses...but you could also clean it out and re-use it. Have fun! (sorry, pictures go backwards!)

step 5

step 4

step 3

step 1 and 2