I’ve spent a lot of time lately playing with beeswax. And I say it that way because it’s just so much fun melting the oils and wax to create salves, and soaps, and all sorts of great stuff.
Back in February I participated in a salve-making workshop with a wonderful older woman by the name of Gerta who studied with Gail Fail Edwards at Blessed Maine Herbs in Athens. The workshop took place at Gerta’s lovely old farmhouse is south Solon, the kind of storybook farmhouse with open-beam ceilings, hardwood floors, and a cast-iron wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen.
Gerta taught a small group of beekeepers from our Somerset group how to make a healing cream and a rose oil lotion cream–both were exquisite. After that my eyes were opened to the uses of beeswax.
The more research I did, the more I realized that the possible uses of beeswax are endless. Beeswax is utilitarian, medicinal, and beautifying and has been used for thousands of years for a thousand and one purposes–much like duct tape!
This summer when Keith and I harvested honey, we carefully collected the wax cappings, I kept the bits of burr comb I scraped from the tops of frames or under the hive’s inner cover, and comb that broke during the extraction process was reclaimed.
So far I’ve made non-petroleum jelly, hand-butter, lip-balm, lotion bars, and soap. And I’m excited to announce Runamuk’s new line of all-natural beeswax products. Yay! Check out our prospective product line in our Farm Store, on our Products page. In time we will have the option to purchase products directly through our online-store.
Friends and family have been testing my products as I perfect my recipes and techniques, and I’ve gotten rave reviews and the orders have already begun pouring in.
My first soaps will be available at the end of November, with more and more of our great beeswax products becoming available over the next 6-12 months. At least one local retailer has already agreed to sell my products, along with my honey, and I’m toying with the idea of joining a couple of farmer’s markets and/or craft fairs next summer and fall–but that would be dependent on what happens with Runamuk’s prospective move next year (more about that later).
I’ve got a lot of things in the works, so check back soon for news about what’s going on at Runamuk.
