BOUNTY OF THE BEES
Honey, beeswax open door to array of appealing DIY projects
Slathered on toast or stirred into tea, honey is one of life’s simple pleasures. It’s also just one of a plethora of products you can enjoy thanks to hard-working bees. From sweet and savory treats to gift (or keep) and booze with a Viking pedigree, to lotions, lip balms and even insect repellent, the bounty of the bees is nearly limitless. Bonus: Most of the creations are easy to make and can be done on a modest DIY budget. You don’t even need to be a beekeeper. If you don’t have hives of your own, purchase local, raw honey and beeswax from farmers markets or through local beekeeping groups. A word of warning, however: Like beekeeping itself, once you start creating hive-derived products, you
may not be able to stop.
Addictive projects
“I got bit by the bug,” admits Petra Ahnert, a Milwaukee beekeeper who has nearly 30 hives. She began beekeeping as a hobby and now runs the artisanal online soap, body care and candle company Beehive Alchemy.
She’s also written “Beehive Alchemy” and “Beeswax Alchemy” (Quarry Books, 2018 and 2015), two accessible guides to making the most of beeswax and other hive products. “Once you start, it’s amazingly enthralling. They’re fascinating creatures.”
A colony of honeybees may have 60,000 or more workers at the height of summer. Each worker progresses through a set series of jobs based on her age, including housekeeping and caring for eggs and larvae. As they mature, the bees develop wax glands on their abdomens, which secrete the material they use to build perfect honeycomb.
In the last phase of their lives, worker bees venture miles from the hive to forage for pollen and nectar. They’ll use the pollen to feed developing bees, and turn the nectar into honey.
Most of the honey a colony makes will stay in the hive to sustain the bees in winter and other times of dearth. Beekeepers harvest the surplus, and with it, a portion of the wax comb. Honey can be consumed still in the comb, but many beekeepers extract and bottle the golden goodness. The leftover comb is typically melted, filtered (also called rendering) and used for crafts and personal care products.
Some beekeepers also harvest pollen as well as propolis, a sticky resin made by the bees, with reported nutritional and medicinal value. Collecting and working with both of those ingredients goes beyond the beginner-on-a-budget approach, however.
Stick to honey, beeswax
When you’re starting out, it’s easiest and most affordable to get creative with honey recipes and turn beeswax into lotions and lip balms. Whatever you make, says Ahnert, it’s a process that’s equal parts chemistry and artistry, all of it satisfying.
“I’m creating formulas that require math skills and analytical thinking, but then there’s also the process of creating, (figuring out) how ingredients play together, how can I make the labels more artistic,” she says.
Beekeeper and entrepreneur Marta Dolan, of Windborne Farms in Salem Lakes, agrees that the process of playing with and perfecting a product is fulfilling — even though it can sometimes be challenging.
“I enjoy creating,” Dolan says. “I love the experimentation. I love designing my own logo, marketing the product, having it look professional but also handcrafted.” She makes a range of products that include candles, lip balms and a signature whipped lotion.
Says Dolan: “It took forever to make the whipped lotion look right, to have it go from looking like a clump to a cloud.”
Although some beekeepers turn lotions, lip balms and other products into a successful side hustle, Ahnert cautions that it’s no get-rich-quick scheme.
Patience required
“The biggest mistake for beginners is expecting perfection right off the bat,” says Ahnert. “There’s a lot of ‘hey, I wanna sell stuff, I’m looking for your best recipe,’ instead of spending some time learning why things are done the way they are.”
Some products are trickier than others. Making soap, for example, involves using lye, a caustic agent that requires careful handling and chemical-resistant gloves and goggles. Candles also can be a challenge. If your wax isn’t well-filtered or your wick is the wrong size, the flame may sputter out or shoot up, burn too fast or not at all.
“Don’t get discouraged,” says Dolan. “It takes awhile to get the ingredients dialed in. Enjoy the creative process. And know that it is a process.”
JoAnne Gaudynski of Milwaukee, a hobbyist beekeeper with two hives, doesn’t sell the lotions and other products she makes from surplus wax. They’re more a labor of love. She came to beekeeping at a momentous point in her life a few years ago.
“I had a bunch of stuff happen at once,” she says, listing a series of major life changes, including retirement and becoming an empty nester. And she had some practical concerns. Beeswax proved to be the answer. “I was menopausal and had very dry skin. I came across lotion bars, and recipes for them. That was the first thing I ever made. They’re super easy and super instructive.”
Now, Gaudynski says: “I give it away to all the other dry-skinned old ladies I know.”
You can start experimenting with lotion bars, lip balms and several other beeswax products with a basic master recipe. Shared widely on the internet and in virtually every DIY beeswax book, its origins are unknown.