Bees were moved to Long Island

Due to a request from the new management of the building, we had to remove everything off of our roof in Queens, including the bees. A family friend offered to host the bees in her backyard, so I packed the bees, hired a truck with two guys, and sent everything from Queens Apiary to Long Island. This was my first experience moving bees on a truck.

Hive was reduced to 2 mediums so it could go through our kitchen window and was duct-taped together and ratcheted. The entrances on the moving/robbing screen got closed the night before, so no one could come out during the move.

[Update] March 23, 2014 – The bees were alive and seemed to be adjusting to the new location. Too cold to open up hive. I will be going back there at least 2x per month to check in.

[Update] April 20, 2014 – The bees are doing OK. Saw many worker bees bringing in pollen. New bees came out in the late afternoon to orient. Not exactly a thriving situation, but they made it through the season w/o any supplemental feeding.

To be continued…

 

Featured in Episode of W?RK on Daily Motion

W?RK Episode 5 : Kazumi Terada, urban beekeeper by bicephalypictures

Placed 1st Amongst NYC Honey at the Rockaway Honey Festival

Queens Apiary was at the Rockaway NYC Honey Fest last weekend.

Sold out on most of the products – Please visit out new website, http://www.queensapiary.com to get updates on when the products will become available.

Queens Apiary honey was entered in the honey tasting contest. Although it came in 3rd place overall, the 1st and 2nd place were from out of NYC, so it was the 1st honey within NYC!!! The 1st/2nd place winners also forfeited the prize – A beautiful 8 frame hive with copper roof – so Queens Apiary won the hive! I will be picking it up at Brooklyn Grange this weekend and will post a picture of it later.

Tally Sheet:

It was a beautiful day and we had a blast on the beach!

NYC Honey Festival in the Rockaways

Queens Apiary will be at the NYC Honey Festival in the Rockaways on Saturday, September 7, 2013!

http://www.nychoneyfest.com/

 

Lip Balms, Lip Stains, and Salve-ation Balm

I researched various recipes to find out the ratio between beeswax and liquid oils.
I found anywhere from 1:2 to a 1:4 wax to oil ratio. Since it’s summer, I wanted for the balm to be harder = more wax.

So I began with 100g of beeswax, 100g coconut oil, and 100g almond oil, plus about a teaspoon of Vitamin E oil.
(sorry, it’s just easier to go metric, rather than dealing with cups, fl. oz, oz, etc . etc.)

First batch turned into Mint Lip Balm.
Some of the leftover got turned into Lip Stain, with added red beet powder. I meant to make less lip stain than lip balm, but ended up making more as I had to add more beet powder diluted in almond oil.
The remainder became “Salve-ation Balm”, a panacea for all things rashy and itchy.

=== INGREDIENT LIST ===

Mint Lip Balm:
Beeswax, organic virgin coconut oil, organic sweet almond oil, spearmint oil, rosemary oil, and Vitamin E.

Lip Stain:
In addition to the Lip Balm – organic red beet root powder.

Salve-ation Balm/Ointment:
In addition to the Lip Balm – black walnut tincture, neem tincture, tee tree oil, and lavender.

=== PROCESS ===

Melting Virgin Beeswax harvested from burr comb:

Anticipating Yield (over-anticipated…)

Sifting Beet Root Powder for Lip Stain:

Beet Root Powder mixed in with Beeswax:

Actual Yield… Both Lip Stain and Salve needed to be re-done:

Lip Stain had to be re-done to increase ‘staining potency’ of beet powder:

After Lip Stain congealed:

Salve-ation Balm:
Black Walnut tincture got separated from wax as it congealed, so I ended up mixing up the balm afterwards, re-melting some of it. It’s more creamy than lip balm. Tried on eczema and works great!

Packaging Design Process – in Pictures

Hand Dipped Tapers and Scented Candles

Melting beeswax:

Making wicks from hemp twine – Each one is about 10 ft, dipped in wax, hung overnight from makeshift hanger (un-assembled hive frames). Weighed down with nuts and spoons.

Finished and cut wicks:

Finished hemp wick has the feel and hardness of spaghetti:

Again, using hive frame tops as a drying rack:

Dipping:

Drying:

Finished!

Used leftover wicks to create central, standing wicks in a jar:

Scented with essential oils: Lavender, Geranium, Cedar/Vetiver combo