I’ve booked myself into 2 workshops, one about making
beeswax and honey based skin care products and one about stepping up to
becoming a commercial bee keeper. On top
of that there’s a whole show worth of stuff to walk through and admire….
So much honey!
So many different colours…
Some fabulous silverware is on offer for those lucky enough to win their class…
I really must find out what I need to do to win the HJ Wadey
trophy…imagine having this sat in your home for the coming year…
There are some cracking contraptions…
Imagine the size of the honey jar you’d need for this
Stirrer….
Or you could have your house number made with little holes
to offer homes to solitary bees…
I had just about enough time before my first workshop to
find my needlework and discover that I’d won !!
Woot!!!
Though with only 2 entries Black-work vs. felt making hardly
seems like a fair comparison – I can’t think of any other place where they’d be
in the same class up against each other!
So into the first workshop of the day. Dr Sara Robb and some simple skin care
products made from bees wax and assorted other waxes and oils.
Who knew that cocoa butter, bees wax and vegetable oil
melted together so easily…
And with a quick warm through and simple stir becomes lip balm
Meanwhile, a different combination of wax, this time
including emulsifying wax and a big spoon full of honey…
Plus some really fast whisking…. Produces emulsification…
And if you can manage to control the whisk well enough to
NOT splatter the entire work bench with your cream, it gradually turns from the
consistency of single cream…to double…to a really light and fluffy hand cream...
All in all I had great fun and came away just in time for
lunch with a small collection of bees wax based cosmetics…
And a chunk of propolis based soap..lovingly chunked up by
teacher…with a gadget that we were all grateful was only going to be used for
chopping up soap!
After a quick bite to eat I went in search of the honey
labels competition. There was quite a
lot more competition in this class than there had been for the needlework, 19
entries to be precise. But even so, I was
disappointed to find that my label hadn’t even got a “commended”. :(
Fair play to those that were placed though,
they all dealt with those pesky regulations in their own way!
The afternoon’s workshop was all about stepping up from hobby bee keeper to commercial production. Dan Basterfield told the tales- warts and all – I got the feeling some of the lessons learnt had bee learnt the hard way by Dan. No photos but plenty to think about on the short drive home…not least of which is where to put the required minimum of 20 hives to get myself on the first rung of the ladder , associate bee farmer, ready to build to a minimum of 40 hives within 2 years of that date!
I think I’d better start with making sure I have enough
honey to actually enter Honey in the show next year! - With MY Favourite Label !
EDIT:
Couldn't resist sharing my rather smart certificate !! SQUEEEE!!!!
Well done H, great Black Work - I hope this will now be hung in a hive for the bees to enjoy!!!! I also look forward to being 'the animal you test on' for your new range of cosmetics!!! And next year a trophy .....
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