We are all a-buzz about bees!

Next Saturday, April 30, Zan Asha of The Renegade Farmer will be here - from THE BRONX, folks - to teach us natural beekeeping!

This is going to be a GREAT class, chock-full of information you won't find elsewhere. Zan is a third-generation beekeeper, and uses techniques her grandfather used! She has extensive experience in urban beekeeping. It is going to be an AMAZING class.

Please note - you do not need a farm to keep bees. You do not need a lot of special equpment, and given the yield, it does not cost a lot. Urban beekeepers are welcome to this class! It's a wonderful class for brand-new beekeepers (such as us at Prairieland Herbs), but will also contain helpful information for experience beekeepers interested in learning more natural techniques.

We have negotiated a "package deal" on a basic beekeeping setup with local bee suppliers at Spring Valley Honey Farms. Here's the breakdown:

2 deep hive bodies, assembled and painted
20 frames for deep hive bodies
Screened bottom board
telescoping cover
inner cover
2 honey supers, assembled and painted
20 frames for honey supers
smoker
hive tool

All this for $260.

You can choose to buy the hive bodies & supers unpainted and unassembled, and do that yourself. That option costs $214 total.

The bees cost $75, and he would like if you could reserve your package by today. HOWEVER, if you don't reserve your package, he will still be able to supply you with bees after the class.

Last but not least, you will need some protective clothing; however, the cost on that varies, depending on your comfort level. I chose to go with a simple netted hat and gloves and will wear thick white clothing; you can purchase special bee jackets or even full bee suits. The costs on your protective gear will be $40 for the simplest, and up to over $75 for the full suit. That choice is entirely up to you.


This should be everything you need to keep bees!!! Amazing, right??

If you want to take the class you are in NO WAY obligated to purchase anything from Spring Valley; they are just a local option and Curt and Connie have been very helpful to us and have everything needed to get going in beekeeping. Curt also mentioned that the smoker he offered is the most expensive on the market; he said that is because he feels it is the best, and therefore the only one he wants to sell. However he was very clear that you could easily order a cheaper smoker for elsewhere if budget was a concern, so I am passing that information on to you as well.

There are still spaces in the class, we would love to have you come! Please register here if you are interested.

Feel free to contact Spring Valley Honey Farm at (515)480-6076 if you would like to chat with them about gear, or order your supplies. They are located just past Perry on highway 141.

The Great Beeswax Project of 2008 is nearly done! John has spent HOURS melting, straining, and pouring beeswax into a variety of sizes - 1 lb blocks, 2 lb. blocks, .75 oz. cubes, and 2.5 oz containers. I believe he has cleaned over 150 lbs of beeswax in the last week or so. We'll get a picture of ALL of it together when he's done.....but isn't it pretty here, cooling on the table? and it smells amazing!

It's the Great Melt of 2008. After lots of snow and ice, it's now about 50 degrees here, and the whole world is a drippy, melty, muddy mess! The mud is no fun but the warmth sure is nice!

We got our yearly beeswax purchase last week - 150 lbs of raw, delicious-smelling beeswax! It's pretty clean - the local fellow does a really excellent job of giving us the cleanest, best bits from his hives, but we still have to melt it all down, strain it through cheesecloth, and then pour it into 1 and 2 lb. bread pans to make the lovely cakes of beeswax that we use and sell all year long. melting and cleaning the wax is a long process that takes *several* days, but it smells sooooooo good!!!!

BEESWAX! We get our beeswax from a local fellow - he's super nice, and has GREAT beeswax. And we love to support our local farmers. Here is what it looks like when we get it. It's fairly clean, but there's pollen and bee bits and stuff in it. This is what about 100 lbs of beeswax looks like.


We put it in a biiiiig pot we have (purchased from our local secondhand store, and kept used just for this purpose) and melt it over low heat. Everything smells SOOOOOO good when we do this! The smell of warm beeswax is one of my most favorite scents in the world.

Then we strain out the ooky stuff from the melted beeswax, using very high-tech tools such as cheesecloth and an embroidery hoop. :) We've read that actually used sweatshirts make fabulous straining material - we plan to try that as soon as we get to Goodwill to pick some up.


This is all the stuff we strain out from the beeswax. Aren't you glad that doesn't end up in your lip balms or salves? :)


And here it is cooling in metal loaf pans. The large ones hold 2 lbs of beeswax and the small ones hold 1.