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Sharing the Surplus

Ever wondered what we do with the empty honey jars we get given back?  The local Rural Women of NZ group I am involved in has a 'Share the Surplus' project. We often see fruit trees laden with fruit and not picked and it seems such a shame when there are so many people struggling to put food on the table.  Our project turns that surplus into preserves!  We collect fruit from people who have surplus fruit on their trees, make preserves and give it to those in need.   We'v...

Wendyl's Lip Balm

Lip balm is one of those things we all need at times, if not all the time and Wendyl's recipe is great! ...

Beauty and the Bee

The Australian Women's Weekly created a spotlight on the buzz surrounding honey and it's antioxidant benefits swarming around in our beauty routines. As you can see they have included Sweetree Hakarimata Honey, Wild Comb Honey and a Half Egg Candle from our website!...

Products of the Hive: Bee Venom

Bee venom is a bitter, clear, odourless liquid that is injected by bees when they sting you.  A honeybee can inject 0.1 mg of venom via its stinger. ...

Products of the Hive: Royal Jelly

Royal jelly, is also called 'bee milk, is a white creamy substance containing water, proteins, nutrients and sugars.  The worker bees produces royal jelly and secrete it from glands in their hands, which is then feed to the babies in the hives.  All other babies also received bee pollen and honey as part of their diet but the queen baby is feed exclusively on royal jelly. Royal  jelly, with it's special proteins, is responsible for giving the queen bee a long, long life plus ...

Solid Perfume

If you are sick of paying hundreds of dollars for a tiny bottle of celebrity-endorsed fragrance, these solid perfumes allow you to create your own brand of fragrance, as well as moisturise and protect your skin with beeswax and natural oils. The other bonus is that solid perfumes don’t spill, nor do they contain alcohol or synthetic chemicals. Creating a fragrance is a delicate blend of science and art. The general rule of thumb is that the scent must be a balance of three ‘notes’ – top,...

Book Review: 100 Years of Claude Stratford

100 Years of Claude Stratford is a remarkable story of the diverse experiences, challenges and trumpets of Claude Stratford, founder of Comvita.  If you are starting or building a business, are a beekeeper, interesting in nature's healing properties, need some inspiration or just want to read a real story about a real person with dogged determination - this is your book!Claude Stratford, was a walking advertisement for natural bee products, with his daily health regimen consi...

Boost Your Immunity With Bee Products

Winter's not to far away, the time of year that we are more likely to get the dreaded lurgy.  No one likes being sick, especially if you're like us and you work for yourself.  The work doesn't get done and you don't get paid unless you are working.  To reduce the risk of catching bugs over winter the best thing we can do is to boost our immune system now.  The bees produce some of the best natural immunity boosting products around!...

Products of the Hive: Propolis

Trees produce resins and gums to protect themselves against insect or fungi attacks.  Bees are ingenious because they scrap the sticky resins and gums then add wax and some saliva turning into an amazing product called propolis.  They carry it in their pollen sacks, on the back of their legs, and take it back to the hive.  Propolis mаkes аn excellent wаterproof fіlm whіch аlso hаs аntіbаcterіаl аnd аntіfungаl propertіes.The colour varies, depending on it's source,...

Products of the Hive: Honey

Honey is one of the oldest known sweeteners.  It has been an essential part of our diet since earliest times and there is increased interest in its culinary and health properties.  But what is honey?  How is it made?  How is it extracted from the hive? What is it good for?...

Basic Ointment or Body Balm

You can save a lot of money making your own skin care and you get to choose what goes in them.  This recipe doubles and an ointment or body balm....

Products of the Hive: Bee Pollen

Pollen is the male seed of flowers and is required to fertilise the plant.  As the bee moves from one flower to another it collects flakes of pollen and combines these with nectar, this is then moved to the pollen baskets on its back legs for storage, while it continues to collect.  The remarkable thing is that bees start the pollination process without even realising t!  Pollen stuck on the hairs along the bee's body is rubbed from one plant to another starting the fertilisa...

Beekeeping in the Blood

Bees have always been a part of Martin's life, you could say that beekeeping is in his blood!  Martin's granddad always had hives to feed honey to his seven children, extended family and friends.  As you can see from the photo he had quite a few.  We're not sure when he started beekeeping or whether his father was also into beekeeping but the love of bees was passed down to Martin's dad and uncle.  They both enjoyed tending to their hives when they had families of their own. ...

Rolled Beeswax Candle Kits

Did you know that burning beeswax produces negative ions that circulate in the room and attract pollutants and clean your air?  Many people report that burning a beeswax candle in your bedroom 30 minutes before falling asleep produces a more restful sleep. Now you can make your very own candles!  Rolling your own beeswax candles is lots of fun, rewarding and an easy craft.  This kit will make 8-12 beeswax candles, with a mix of large and small, straight-sided or tapered ...

Rose Hand Cream

This is an excellent scented hand cream which softens and moisturises....

Products of the Hive: Beeswax

Beeswax is a remarkable by product of honey.  Beeswax is made by the youngest honey bees in a colony, they are too young to forage for nectar.  To produce the wax they gorge themselves on honey and link themselves together by the hundreds.   After several hours wax starts to flow from pockets in their abdomens.  Each bee then scrapes off the wax with their legs and chews it into soft pellets.  They then use these pellets to make perfectly engineered honeycomb cells....

Products from the Hive

Bees are amazing creatures!  They create so many products from their hives that humans have used for centuries for food and health.  They are:Bees waxPropolisHoneyBee Pollen and Bee BreadRoyal JellyBee VenomOver the next little while I will be blogging about each one of these products.  I will be explaining how the bees make each one, their benefits and uses for each.  The first one will be beeswax, so look out for the blog soon!...

This Season's Honey is Harvested!

We have just finished harvesting and extracting this season's honeys and thanks to our wonderful helpers who have assisted at each apiary location!  We couldn't have done it without you!  We are very lucky to have great family members and friends (and even friend's teenagers!) that make themselves available to help lift heavy boxes of honey off hives, onto trailers and then unload them at the honey house.  There's been some very long and exhausting days but it's been fun along the...

Beeswax Candle Making

Beeswax candles make wonderful homemade gifts.  Did you know that burning beeswax produces negative ions that circulate in the room and attract pollutants and clean your air?  Unlike paraffin wax candles that pollute the air.  Many people report that burning a beeswax candle in their bedroom 30 minutes before falling asleep produces a more restful sleep.  I recommend you read all the instructions before starting to make the candles....

Re-using Sweetree Honey Jars

We use glass jars to store our honey for several reasons.  Apart from the fact that they are more attractive than plastic they are also healthier.  But another reason is that they are recyclable.  They can be put in your recycling bin or you can reuse or repurpose them yourself.  There are some amazing and beautiful ways you can re use glass jars, we have a few ideas on our Pinterest board.   Or you can use them for storing bits and bobs such as food in your pantry,...

How To Use Honey In Your Skincare Regime

Here's some quick and easy ways you can add honey to your skincare regime at home. ...

Beeswax Furniture Polish

This is a really easy recipe to make furniture polish. ...

How to Remove Beewax from Furniture and Fabric

When working with wax there is a chance you could spill some, here's some good tricks to remove the wax....

Book Review: Honey, Nature's Golden Healer

Drawing on her background in the biological sciences, Gloria Havenhand illustrates the many ailments that honey can help alleviate, including IBS and gastric ulcers, and argues it is essential for healthy living - boosting the immune system and helping prevent certain diseases. But honey is also a delicious treat and Gloria claims we should eat it daily, using it as an alternative natural sweetener to sugar. She also tackles other bee products, discussing how propolis, a sticky resin produced by...

Natural Crayons for Kids

Most commercial crayons are made with paraffin, a petroleum based wax that is not easily biodegradable, and other ingredients that may be questionable.  In the past there have been recalls and warnings for lead, asbestos, and most recently, mercury in crayons. It's wonderful to know there are non-toxic options out there now!  One of these is NZ made 'Honeysticks', beeswax crayons.  Honeysticks beeswax crayons are made from New Zealand beeswax and non-toxic pigments so they ar...