Make beeswax! Didn’t expect that did you?
I have these beeswax cappings left over from this fall’s honey making process. They have been sitting and waiting patiently for me to render the honey out of them and collect the wax. I have a special pot that I keep just for this job. It is impossible to clean up after working with wax, so I don’t bother. 
This is actually pretty simple. Take all the cappings left over from your honey gathering. Wait for a miserable gloomy day. Pop them into the big melting pot. Sit it on a warm woodstove and slowly heat until the whole mess is melted. 
It will look like this. Not appetising at all, which is good because you are not meant to eat it, though of course you could eat it if you were desperate. Which I am not. So I won’t. 
Now get those beautiful new black silk stockings that you never got to wear because you never go anywhere in those ridiculously high heels. Tie the nylons firmly over a little old bowl kept specifically for this purpose because you will never get it clean, so don’t bother trying. 
Carefully strain the mess through the stockings. And there you have it. The wax will rise to the top and the honey will sit below. Wait while the wax cools and sets.
Bit longer. 
Bit longer.
There. 
Now take the wax off the top, clean and put aside for making into lip balm and candles, on another miserable gloomy day. And pour the honey into vessels. Mark it as heated. 
This honey I use in the bread. 
OK Daisy, maybe you can have a little honey with your beet shreds in the morning. Such a spoilt cow. She is getting bigger you know. Such a spoilt pregnant cow!
I will rummage about and find all the makings for lip balm and we can cook up a batch of that soon. Now I am off to make miniature Party Pies!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
90 responses to “How do I ruin a perfectly good pair of Sheer Black Stockings?”
That’s a really cool photo progression with the wax hardening. Nifty.
it is cool isn’t it yummy! c
I’m with all of the others who are fascinated with your explanation of this process and delighted you share such things with those many of us who would never otherwise have a clue what it entails. You never cease to astound me, woman!
Does Miss Daisy get any lip balm? She is so pretty, after all. 🙂
Daisy is just pretending to be such a lady, when push comes to shove she is a shover! c
I’m learning so much from you and your posts 🙂 this is awesome! still, i am not going anywhere near a bee hive though! Daisy sure looks like she approves 😀
As long as you are still eating good american honey.. all good! c
What an absolute treat it is to visit your blog. Fab post. As always so interesting.
Regards Florence x
Thank you Florence, I bet you are crazy busy making fantastic christmas presents! .. c
You know, Daisy might like some lip balm of her own. She looks the sort who enjoys a little pampering : )
Trickery!! Though most of all that cow loves to be scratched under her rather enormous chin! c
What an entertaining writer you are. That was fascinating. I don’t keep bees so I had no knowledge of what you just did. Your honey looks wonderful.
The honey is such a bonus, bees are a mystery really, and it is pretty special having a real life mystery living on my own land!.. c
Ok, now I’m a full fledged believer that you can be totally sustaining! You are really going to be dangerous when you start getting your own milk. Giving you sad puppy eyes for some honey. giggle t
I know Miss T, and Busy! once the milk starts to flow I will be very busy! c
I’m so amazed that you do all these things! My grandfather kept bees on his farm and mom talks about how good the honey was. They lived through the depression – had coupons for certain items (sugar, coffee, gas). Everything on their small farm was used. Perhaps it would be better if all of us went back to those days – when everything was used and nothing wasted.
I agree Phyllis, in fact that is our mantra. I know that the old days were crueler and worse than we can imagine but I would like to take the lessons they learnt then and use them now.. c
Cecilia, Daisy is looking just adorable! I guess it’s that healthy glow that they say comes with pregnancy! And speaking of that, we are now thinking of getting a Daisy Jr. next spring. We’d love to get a ‘Pregnant Daisy Jr.” so we’ll be looking around for a Jersey cow. Our goats won’t be giving milk until 2013, as they are still babies now. Any hints on buying milk cows?
Also, I loved this post on rendering honey from the beeswax and making things with it! I am presently reading ‘Beekeeping for Dummies’ in preparation for starting our hives in the spring. It says I should be ordering our bees and queen now, but I’m afraid to do it yet. The Beekeepers Meetings begin in January, and I want to ask people who know way more than I do about so many things. Hopefully I’ll be able to buy the hives and even the bees locally. I’ll keep you posted!
It would be great if you can get the bees locally, January is not too late for ordering surely. And all I know for sure about buying a cow is to buy her from a farm where you can go and look at the whole herd. Find someone who knows cows to go with you. In calf is good, and Jerseys are the sweetest little things, they are small and have wonderful creamy milk.. . There are blood tests to ensure they are actually in calf. Do NOT buy from a sale barn. I asked at my local vets office and got a list of names of the Good Guys when I was looking for Queenie. My BIL has Jerseys but that is a long drive.. Also for a home milk cow you will need a cow that has been handled a lot, that is why I bought Daisy as a baby. Pretty exciting stuff! c
Again, not to sound like a stalker, but can I come live with you!? 😉 I’m happy that I can finally take a little breather from all of the house “stuff” and catch up on my blog reading. I so look forward to yours, Cecelia!
Ha Ha.. i am coming to live with you, i want to push ALL the buttons on your new kitchen appliances!! c
Daisy isn’t spoiled, just well appreciated. 😉
Of course she is not spoiled, darling c
You are too much! Wow. I suspect you’ve got enough for a good, practical handbook on living sustainably, including the most beautiful photographs!
What a great idea! Know any agents?.. c
You know, I was in radio for 9 years and interviewed people all that time. I still have many of my publisher contacts. But they are publicists, not agents. Good luck! And don’t forget Amazon’s self publishing tools – many burgeoning authors self publish and then sell on Amazon, then work on getting a publishing house to pick them up and distribute their books (or republish under the publisher’s auspices).
Had dinner with a former agent a week or more ago, dear woman from the east coast. She said publishers are only interested in finalized manuscripts anymore – they don’t even bother with unedited/unfinished works. Hope this helps.
It does help Bela, I guess the agents get you TO the door of the publishers. There are so many good writers out there.The Amazon thing is interesting. But I would not think of self publishing unless I had worked with someone in the business i.e an agent, editors, etc. A good one just knows so much that I do not. I could not bear putting up an inferior product. Having a script writing background helps.
However if they want a finished manuscript then that is what I shall work on producing… AM working on producing. Thank you Bela.
c