Rendering bees wax the easy way

Bees wax is rather useful for a variety of purposes.  If you have a bee hive you eventually end up with extra wax.  This doesn't tend to store very well unless it has been rendered.  I also can't imagine using it for anything other than eating before it was rendered.  So rendering beeswax is an important skill to have.

I have read some descriptions of how people render bees wax.  Quite often they are difficult, time consuming, and sometimes even sound rather dangerous. 

Below is how I render bee wax the easy way.

To be clear:  I am not an expert.  I am self taught.  This is almost certainly not the best way to render wax.  This method is fast, it is simple, it is safe, it is cheap, and it uses things I have in the home. 

I don't know for sure, but I think once something has wax on it there will always be wax on it and I would hate to ruin pans that we use for cooking.  My kids have a play kitchen in the back yard with old pots and pans and things, so instead of ruining pots and pans that we use I 'borrowed' these from the kids (just don't tell them).

I got a pan and another pan with holes in it that fit on top.  The bottom pan needs to hold a few cm of water so there needs to be a gap between the two pans.  If the pans are the right size they maintain a gap nicely, but I was using things that were never meant to fit together and were old and bent out of shape so I think I used an old metal cup or something to maintain this gap between the two pans.

Two pans, the bottom one is half filled with water

I put a sheet of paper towel on top.  Once the wax melts it drips through this paper towel onto the water.  Dust, dirt, debris, propolis, parts of dead bees, and other impurities get caught in the paper towel.

One sheet of paper towel on top

I then put my old dirty wax on top.  Feel free to stack it high, it will melt down considerably.  We don't tend to have a lot of spare wax.  I collect it and keep it in an old ice cream container until I have enough to bother rendering wax.  My kids eat little bits of this wax throughout the day for some reason. 

I think I ended up with around 150 grams of wax at the end of this, which isn't too bad.

Pile the old wax on top of the paper towel

I then put all of this in the oven.  I set the oven to 200C and left it to melt.  In hind sight I should have set the temperature lower.  The flashpoint of beeswax is 204.4C, so I cam close to disaster!  I think as the wax heated it melted and dripped through to the water, which could have kept it slightly cooler.  The beeswax only needs to reach 62 to 64 to melt, and anything over 85C causes discolouration.

The more wax you have the longer it takes to melt.  This lot was small so only took half an hour while I took the kids for a walk, but it can take a few hours if you have more wax.

Wax melts quickly, it looks and smells kind of appetising at the start

The wax melts and drips through the paper towel

Once it is finished the wax will have dripped through the paper towel and is floating on top of the water.  The paper towel will have strained out most of the impurities.  My kitchen smells a little like honey and baking at this stage.

The paper towel strained out most of the impurities

This part is very important: when everything is still warm remove the paper towel from the tray.  If it cools too much it will be stuck to your pan and can't be removed.  If this happens, don't worry, just pop it back in the oven for a minute to warm slightly and then try again.

I am told that the paper towel can be cut up and used to light camp fires etc as the wax etc burns long.  I haven't tried this myself.  I would not use it to light the fire at home because it would likely not burn completely and the smoke may clog up the chimney.

Melted wax floating on the water, let it cool!

Rendered wax ready to be used or cut and stored

If you want the wax really clean you can render it again, or even render it several times to get it even cleaner.  Each time it should come out a little cleaner.  I only render once and it comes out a lovely yellow colour, but it really depends on what you want use you have in mind for the wax.

Once the wax has cooled it will solidify.  It has been floating on water so put it somewhere to dry, then cut it up, put in a container or zip lock bag, and then it is ready to do whatever you want to do with beeswax.  Rendered wax should last a very long time and possibly never go bad.

As I said at the start of this post, I am not an expert and this is likely not the best way to render wax.  This method is incredibly simple, very safe, low cost, and yields decent results.  If you know of a better way to render bee wax, or have any hints and tips that may be useful, please leave a comment as I would love to hear it!

Daffodils

This year we grew a few different daffodils.  I really like them.  As last summer was extremely harsh not all of our daffodils flowered this year, but the ones that did flower were lovely, so I decided to take pictures of a few of them.  

 

Below are pictures of some of the named daffodil varieties.

 

Daffodil: Ice King 

Ice King Daffodils

Daffodil: Replete

Replete Daffodil - white and orange

Replete Daffodil next to Marieke

Replete Daffodil and Marieke - side on

Replete Daffodil - turns a pinky/orange as it ages

Daffodil: White Ideal

White Ideal Daffodil

White Ideal Daffodil

White Ideal and Marieke

White Ideal Daffodil next to Marieke

White Ideal and Marieke

White Ideal and Marieke

Daffodil: Marieke (the larger of the two, the smaller and less impressive 'King Alfred' is included as a comparison)

Marieke Daffodil

Marieke Daffodil

  Daffodil: Bell Song

Bell Song Daffodil

Bell Song Daffodil

Bell Song Daffodils - they get slightly pink as they age

Mixed daffodils and tulips

There are a few places that sell these daffodil varieties so if you want some you should be able to find them if you look around a bit.  I have never sold flower bulbs, if I ever do sell any they will be listed on my for sale page. 

Honey Bees foraging close to the hive

There have been many studies conducted on the maximum distance from their hive that honey bees will forage.  Honey bees are fascinating and have a lot of financial implications, so they have been studied rather extensively.  To the best of my knowledge there have been no peer reviewed studies on how close to their hive honey bees will forage.

I am often told by beekeepers that honey bees don't forage closer than 30 feet [or some other precise distance] from their hive.  The theory goes that they don't have a waggle dance for such short distances, therefore they can't find flowers very close.  I have never believed this.

Some beekeepers tell stories of seeing bees on flowers next to their hives and cite that as evidence of bees foraging over short distances.  They are often scoffed at because these bees are probably from some other hive.  Let's be honest, most honey bees look alike.  Seeing bees foraging near a hive proves nothing.

I have a bee hive in the chicken run under some fruit trees, the other day I stood for some time and watched the bees.  The honey bees foraged in the flowers, then they went into my hive.  I watched for a while and saw dozens of bees forage in the fruit trees and then fly into that hive.  This shows that bees can and do forage very close to their hive.

I have never seen bees fly from the hive to these close flowers so I can't know if they unsuccessfully attempted to forage further afield and visited these flowers on their return trip, or if they flew directly to them, but it doesn't matter.  What matters is that the bees were foraging on flowers this close to their hive.

Even though I watched quite a lot of bees go from that tree into my hive I don't know if after they return to their hive and have some way to communicate about the location of these close resources.  Perhaps they have a different waggle dance for short distances, perhaps they have some pheromone or other way to communicate this, or perhaps communication is not needed as scouting bees will forage close to the hive rather than go further looking for forage.  I don't really know, what I do know is that honey bees do forage within a few feet of their hive, so any close flowers are not wasted.

Bee hive under fruit trees in chicken run

You can't see them in this picture, but this tree is full of honey bees

Honey bees forage within a few feet of their hive, this tree had almost finished flowering

Spring flowering bulbs

Spring came early this year, some of my spring flowers began to bloom the first week of August.  Some have already finished flowering, others are not going to flower this year after barely surviving last summer, while others are not even starting to emerge from dormancy yet.  I haven't seen a spring like this before, it is all over the place.

I got a bunch of different daffodils and had planned on mass crossing them and planting out the seeds in the hopes of producing something nice.  One daffodil variety I grow is called 'Marieke'.  It is said to be the best yellow daffodil.  Large flowers are almost double the size of my other yellows, good colour, lovely shape, strong stems, flowers last a surprisingly long time, to be honest I don't think I can breed anything better.

Daffodil 'Marieke' - said to be the best of yellow daffodils

Crocus 'pickwick' produces lovely stripey flowers that last well in the garden.  I like crocus, but don't grow many types.  For some reason I don't see many in people's gardens around here even though they are simple to grow in this area.  I quite like pickwick, they are one of my favourite crocus.

Crocus 'Pickwick'

Crocus 'Pickwick'

Grape hyacinths smell lovely, attract and feed honey bees early in the season, are small so take up next to no room, reliably flower even in the harshest years, divide well, can be grown from seed, and generally look after them selves.  I only grow the common blue ones, and some seed grown blue ones.  I keep saying that I should try to get a few more varieties, but never get around to it.  I think they are very under rated spring flowering bulbs.

Muscari grape hyacinth

Dwarf iris 'harmony' is said to be the best of the blue dwarf iris.  I like these little ones, hopefully I can divide them somewhat and have more next year.  I would like to grow some from seed but have had little luck in getting them to set much seed.

Dwarf iris 'Harmony'

Hyacinth - smell lovely and look nice but only some flowered well this year.  Notice the pink one on the left has a lot of flowers, the one on the right has disappointingly few flowers.  They have a bad habit of only lasting a few years and then not returning, so I will need to look after them and lift them at the end of this season.

Pink Hyacinth

Blue hyacinth

Snowflake - these were here before we moved in.  They are mostly in places I would prefer to grow other things.  I don't love them, so each year I dig some up and give them away, every year there are more to replace them.

A honey bee investigating the flower

Time to maturity grape hyacinth Muscari armeniacum from seed

I wrote an earlier post explaining how to grow muscari grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) from seeds.  Muscari grow very easily from seed, but they will NOT flower in their first year.  Growing them from seed is simple, but I thought I should record some timeframes to provide an indication of what to expect.   

Germination was inconsistent, but almost every seed germinated if they were left in the fridge for long enough.  After they germinated I planted them in a little punnet with soil and watered them occasionally.  Eventually I planted them in a larger pot of soil, and they pretty much just looked after them selves. 

Muscari grape hyacinth flowering

Unfortunately I grew my seedlings in a cup of soil for far too long and they were somewhat stunted, and when planted out I had them in poor soil, so they have not grown to their potential.  Few people are going to give them perfect conditions so I think it still shows the rough time frames that can be expected when growing muscari grape hyacinth from seed.


Days to maturity Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)

Seeds in the fridge     02/12/2018                           Day 0
Seeds germinating    31/01/2019 to 11/03/2019     Two to Three months
Flowering                  Late August 2020                 Around twenty one months

Muscari seedlings flowering in under 2 years

Some of my seed grown plants are flowering now, meaning it took them a little under two years from seed to maturity. 

Some plants are far larger than others.  Some are not flowering this year, these will most likely be large enough to flower next spring.  Considering how little effort and how many new plants I now have, just under two years from seed to flower is a really good outcome.

It took less than two years for muscari to flower when grown from seed.  I have read in gardening books that muscari take up to six years to flower from seed, other places claim 3 to 5 years from seed, there seems to be unilateral agreement not to bother.  I guess these people never actually tried to grow muscari from seed themselves.

Very few places in Australia sell muscari grape hyacinth seeds.  When I have fresh seeds I list them on my for sale page.  I don't know how long the seeds remain viable, when the next lot are ready for harvest I plant out all of my remaining seeds.  This way the seeds are always fresh.  I really should keep some aside and see how long it takes for germination rates to decline.

Hot & Spicy oregano

I have grown oregano on an off for years. They are a common and readily available herb, so every time I move hose I leave it behind and get another. Most of the time I grow unnamed varieties, some claim to be ‘Greek’, others claim to be ‘Italian’, while some have been far better than others, none are ever bad.

No oregano I had grown has ever really impressed me, their leaves are too small, the plants are not compact enough, the taste is not strong enough, some don't cope with winter, and so on. So I started to consider breeding an improved oregano. I enjoy breeding improved things, and my success rate in breeding improved varieties of vegetables is reasonably high, so I gave it a go. I got a few oregano varieties, planted them very close together, allowed insects to open pollinate them, and planted lots of seed.

Right from cotyledon stage the seedlings displayed a wide array of diversity. I really liked some and wanted to see how they performed, most were grown out for a while before being culled, while others were culled really early. I knew what I wanted, I had heaps of seedlings, so I culled hard.

One seedling was rather unique and I think it had a lot of potential. Instead of growing leaves in pairs along the stem it grows leaves in sets of three. This looked interesting, and provided more leaf than the others. It got larger than the others pretty quickly. I was really excited to see what this plant would become.

Then last summer all of my oregano seedlings died.

Not long after I started my quest for improved oregano I heard of a variety called 'hot and spicy oregano'. This variety was said to have a much larger leaf than regular oregano, it was meant to grow more leaves and be more vigorous than other varieties, and it was meant to have a bolder and more impressive taste that almost borders on mild heat.

I started looking for "hot and spicy" oregano, several places stocked but they were either out of stock or they were on the other side of the country, and none would post.

I eventually found a hot and spicy oregano plant and bought it. While the plant was only tiny it had a lot of rather large leaves. I tasted a leaf and was underwhelmed, it was neither hot nor spicy. I wasn’t even sure I could taste oregano at all. I crushed a leaf and the smell was only noticeable if I used my imagination. I assumed the plant had been pampered too much or was stressed and it may taste better after I had grown it for a while, but I didn’t like my chances. I planted it in the garden and watered it well.

Hot and Spicy Oregano

This plant grew fast, it continued to grow reasonably large leaves, and due to its short internodes there were plenty of leaves per stem. If nothing else these traits could be useful in breeding something better. Then I crushed and smelled a leaf, the scent was bold and imposing, this was rather impressive. I tasted a tiny leaf, and it was so spicy that it almost felt like mild heat.

Hot and Spicy oregano is what oregano should taste like.

I have started to use hot and spicy oregano in meals, it is certainly a keeper. If you prefer bold taste then this is for you, if you prefer mild you simply use less.

I may not bother to keep trying to breed improved oregano as this one is great. If I do continue to breed an improved oregano I would like to use this as one of the parents as it has a lot of desirable traits. The leaves of hot & spicy oregano are pretty large for oregano, it produces a lot of leaves, and the plant is pretty compact, so the only improvement I can think of is if the leaves were even larger or if it produced more stems.

My plant has grown a lot since the photo above, it has since flowered, and died back a bit over winter, and started to grow larger again. The flowers attracted honey bees and a host of other beneficial insects.  I collected some seed and am attempting to grow it out.  Over winter it dies back somewhat as oregano does in my climate, but kept a surprising amount of leaves.I really need to take another photo, but I keep forgetting and the weather is not going to allow such things today.

I will likely sell hot and spicy oregano plants when I have enough to spare.  When I do they will be listed on my for sale page along with perennial vegetables, heirloom vegetable seeds, edible herbs etc.

Dwarf Iris (Iris reticulata) 'Harmony'

Dwarf iris (Iris reticulata) are lovely little spring flowering bulbs.  It is late winter here, but winter has been so mild this year that some plants are flowering out of season and other plants never went dormant at all.  I have never seen a winter like this before.  My dwarf iris are just starting to flower.

The pictures below are of Iris reticulata 'Harmony'.  Harmony is meant to be the best blue dwarf iris.  It is nice, but is it more purple than blue?

I enjoy plant breeding and growing things from seed.  Dwarf iris are simple to grow from seed, they just take a while until they are large enough to flower.  Regardless of its parentage, every seed will grow into a unique plant.

I am hoping to save some seed from the flowers below and grow out some interesting new dwarf iris.  None of the seeds will produce 'harmony', some may look very similar, others may look different, but each should be nice.  Next year I wouldn't mind getting a few different colours and crossing them like crazy in the hope of increasing my chances of growing a really nice new variety.

Only time will tell if I can grow anything worth keeping.

Iris reticulata 'Harmony'