We had a last minute guest last night from Yokohama. He is another of the city dwellers who thinks he might like to live in the countryside and so is going around a few places trying to find the best place to live. The only problem he has is that he hasn't told his wife that he is even thinking about moving to the countryside and she doesn't know that he is currently travelling around researching places! This also seems to be a growing trend - the husband wants to move, but the wife is more than happy being close to the shops etc.
Because of this guest (who LOVED to talk) I couldn't get as much done today as I had hoped to, but I did finally try something that I had been wanting to try for a long time - make some beeswax. One of our hives had been evacuated by the bees and they left behind them some honey comb that had no honey in it. I figured it was a waste to just throw it away so thought I'd melt it down and make some bees wax... easier said than done! I followed all the instructions in my book and melted it down in a big pot of hot water. The main problem was that there was actually only a very small amount of wax in the honeycomb... most of it was rubbish. 
So after a few times filtering it, remelting it, filtering it etc. I finally got my bees wax.... about 100mls in total! Of course there is still plenty on all the pots and utensils I used to do it, but that seems like an impossible task to remove. I think I have worked out a good system for next time though... here's hoping no more bees disappear in the near future so I don't have to test it out. My dreams of making candles, soap, handcreams etc. are still a long way off!
Because of this guest (who LOVED to talk) I couldn't get as much done today as I had hoped to, but I did finally try something that I had been wanting to try for a long time - make some beeswax. One of our hives had been evacuated by the bees and they left behind them some honey comb that had no honey in it. I figured it was a waste to just throw it away so thought I'd melt it down and make some bees wax... easier said than done! I followed all the instructions in my book and melted it down in a big pot of hot water. The main problem was that there was actually only a very small amount of wax in the honeycomb... most of it was rubbish. 
So after a few times filtering it, remelting it, filtering it etc. I finally got my bees wax.... about 100mls in total! Of course there is still plenty on all the pots and utensils I used to do it, but that seems like an impossible task to remove. I think I have worked out a good system for next time though... here's hoping no more bees disappear in the near future so I don't have to test it out. My dreams of making candles, soap, handcreams etc. are still a long way off!
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