Beeswax is a natural wax that is produced by honey bees and has a variety of health benefits, such as relieving pain or reducing swelling caused by inflammation.
However, if you’ve never used beeswax, you might be wondering where is the best place to buy and source beeswax.
In this article, I will cover some key information about beeswax, including where to buy it and how to use it around your homestead.
So, let’s get started.
Where Can You Buy Beeswax?
There are several places you can purchase beeswax. If there are any beekeepers near your homestead, buying beeswax from a local beekeeper is a great way of supporting a local business.
You can also buy beeswax blocks online and in-store in bulk or in smaller quantities depending on what you plan to use it for.
Alternatively, if you raise your own bees for honey on your homestead, you can easily harvest the beeswax to use around your homestead and make your own beeswax blocks or bars. This is the best option if you’re striving for self-sufficiency on your homestead.
So, how do you make your own beeswax bars?
When collecting wax from your honey bees, it’s important to place it into a pail before topping it off with water. Following this, you will need to pour it through a colander to wash it.
After thoroughly washing the beeswax, you will need to melt it in a double boiler. This step is important, as beeswax is highly flammable and using a double boiler means that you’ll avoid melting beeswax directly over an open flame.
Following this, you will need to strain the melted beeswax through cheesecloth and then pour it into a mold.
What Are The Benefits Of Having Honey Bees On Your Homestead?
Bees Produce Beeswax
A huge benefit of having honey bees on your homestead is that they produce beeswax.
Being able to produce beeswax on your homestead, as opposed to sourcing it elsewhere, means that you can use beeswax for a variety of different purposes without relying on another business.
Collecting your own beeswax from honey bees that you’re nurturing on your own homestead is not only incredibly rewarding, but also means that you’re being more self-sufficient in the process, too.
Bees Produce Honey
Having your very own supply of bees means that you have access to natural honey on your homestead, and therefore don’t need to buy it at the store.
Natural honey is an effective sweetener, but is richer in antioxidants and can help improve blood pressure and cholesterol more than the honey you’d buy at a grocery store.
Bees Pollinate Flowers Around Your Homestead
Bees are important pollinators! Pollination is required for plants to reproduce, meaning that a variety of plants on your homestead rely on bees and other insects as pollinators.
Keeping bees on your homestead means that you’re not only being self-sufficient in terms of the production of honey and beeswax, but they will also help benefit your plants hugely!
How To Use Beeswax Around Your Homestead
There are a variety of creative ways that you can use beeswax around your homestead that you might have never thought of.
These methods include but are not limited to:
Wax Wooden Furniture
If you’ve got any wooden furniture around your homestead that is in desperate need of some TLC, you can easily use beeswax to polish them up!
Simply mix equal parts of linseed oil, turpentine, and beeswax together in a small bowl. Warm the mixture and apply it to the desired wood with a clean cloth, use a little elbow grease, and they’ll look good as new.
Coat Your Cooking Pans
Beeswax can also be used to coat your cooking pans. Using beeswax can be a healthier alternative and saves you from using fatty butty and other unhealthy oils to coat your pans before you begin cooking.
In addition to this, adding beeswax to cast iron pans provides it with a protective layer. This can prevent rust from occurring, meaning that it remains in better condition for longer!
Unstick Stubborn Drawers
Over time, drawers can become stubborn to open and require a little lubrication to make them easier to open, especially with all the possessions you cram in there. This is where beeswax comes in! Simply add a few drops of beeswax to make your drawers slide open much more easily.
Wax Your Own Homemade Cheese
If you keep sheep, cows, or goats on your homestead to make cheese, you can also use your beeswax to wrap your cheese up in a proper seal. This ensures that the cheese stays fresh for longer.
There are also more common ways you can use beeswax too:
Make Beeswax Candles
If you want to get creative, you can make wonderful candles with beeswax. With a bit of ribbon or twine, they even make great gifts for friends and family!
Simply melt down the beeswax blocks from your own hives and add a variety of your favorite essential oil combinations for the perfect scent.
Make A Pain-Relieving Balm
Beeswax is great for relieving pain, as it has anti-inflammatory properties. This means you can make a very useful pain-relieving balm for a variety of different ailments with your beeswax.
You’d be surprised by how useful it is having a pain-relieving balm to hand for a variety of different aches and pains!
Seal Envelopes
When it comes to sending out Christmas cards around the holidays, why not use beeswax to seal your envelopes? Not only does it look great, but it will also save you the effort of sealing each envelope the traditional way.
You could even get yourself a stylish envelope seal to emboss each envelope.
In Summary
There you have it! Hopefully after reading this article you know where to get yourself some beeswax.
Now you know some of its uses around your homestead and to get the most out of it, you might even be interested in getting your own honey bees!