Bi2-Lancastar Farming, Saturday, December 31, 1994 Bob has about 50 bee hives In different hues, hence the name Rainbow Apiaries. Rainbow Apiaries Provides Training For Beekeeping, Honey Extraction, Candlemaking LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff EAST EARL (Lancaster Co.) —“We call this a Ma and Pa oper ation down on the farm,” said Bob Hughes. Their down-on-the-farm opera tion on Turkey Hill Road is a bee farm, where Hughes and his wife Annette sell everything from hon ey to beeswax candle supplies. Although they have a small bam set up for their business, the major ity of the candle-making is done in their home. That’s because it’s more convenient and economical. “It’s a cottage business,” Hugh es said. “In here we have heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, running water, phone, and a television. We’d have to pay a fortune to have all that in the bam.” The sweet aroma of honeycomb lingers in the oak kitchen that is filled with candle molds, stacks of beeswax, honey and completed candles. “We don’t try to be a craft store, but we do have a lot,” Annette said of the couple’s supply of candle making accessories. Another room of their home is slacked with boxes ready to to fill the many mailorders the Hughes receive for honey and candle sup plies and equipment. They even ship to Germany because made in Germany tastes quite differently than that from Pennsylvania. Many different types of molds are used for candle making. Cast iron, pop-up, lifetime, candy molds, and even imported ones from Holland are used to produce everything from tapers to figur ines. Candles are also formed by dipping the wick in hot wax. Longenberger molds, made for cookies, work well with beeswax. After the wax hardens to the shape of the figurine, it is removed from the mold. The next day, a soft cloth is used to buff it to a soft gloss or to be painted. “We don’t throw anything away,” Annette said. If candles become old or if they don’t turn out quite right, the wax is remelted and formed into new candles. The easiest way, the Hughes have found, to melt wax is in old coffee percolators, which prevents fires from erupting since wax is highly flamable. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to melt a potful. Since beeswax has a much high er melting point than parafin, bees wax candles bum much slower and longer than those made from lower quality waxes. Natural beeswax varies from a light honey color to a golden brown sheen. For those who prefer other shades, the Hughes have 40 Bob fills an order for 200 rolled beeswax candles. A pro ject that Is easily done at the kitchen table. different colors. The Hughes said to make can dles last longer, chill the candles in the refrigerator and the candle will bum almost double the ordinary timespan. If bloom (a dull finish) appears on a candle, wamvit with a hairdryer or wash in soapy water and buff to a shiny sheen. Recently, the couple branched out into maple syrup. They also have flavored honey for pancakes and ice cream in flavors such as cinnamon, lemon, cherry, and raspberry. Hughes keeps about SO hives on his farm and in neighboring areas. The hives ate painted in different colors, hence the name. Rainbow Apiaries. Although the industry has had problems with mites infiltrating the hives, Bob said that a mite resistant queen is being developed. “If you practice good beekeep ing, many problems can be avoid ed,” he said. Bob was only IS years'old when he first developed an interest in tffthi indie beekeeping. After school, he worked on Chicago’s loading docks, where he unloaded tractor trailer loads of packaged bees all night long. After a stint in the service. Bob married and moved to Chicago’s suburbs where he purchased live honey bees from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. “No one was here to help me. So I dumped bees in one hand and held thebook in the other.” he said. With hundreds of acres of prair ie land, there was always some thing in bloom, which allowed Bob to extract many different fla vors of honey. Honey varies in taste according to the flowers on which they feed, the weather, and how it’s blended. When his job transferred him to Lancaster County in 1965, Bob bought a small farm at an auction. He helped children set up a bee project for a church project where the profits were given to charity. (Turn to Pago BIS) SEE YOUR NEARES f£W HOLLAND DEALER FOR DEPENDABLE EQUIPMENT & SERVICI WSYIVANI Annvllle. PA BHM Farm Equipment, Inc. RDI, Rte. 934 717-867-2211 CartWa. PA R&W Equipment Co. 35 East Willow Street 717-243-2686 F&S Supply Co. Enterprise St. 717-489-3642 Messick Farm Equipment, Inc. Rt. 283 - Rheetn’s Exit 717-367-1319 Halifax. PA Sweigard Bros. R.D. 3, Box 13 717-896-3414 Honev Brook. PA Dependable Motor Co. East Main Street 215-273-3131 215-273-3737 Honev Grove. PA Norman D. Clark & Son, Inc. Honey Grove, PA 717-734-3682 Loysville, PA 717-789-3117 Frederick. HD Ceresville Ford New Holland, Rt. 26 East 301-662-4197 Outside MO, 800-331-9122 m a Bridgeton. NJ Leslie G. Fogg, Inc. Canton & Stow Creek Landing Rd. 609-451-2727 609-935-5145 HEWHOUAK) T Huaheavllle. PA Farnsworth R Supplies, Inc. 103 cemetery Stn 717-584-2106 A.B.C. Groff, 110 South Railroi 717-354-4191 Olw. PA CJ. Wonsid! Bros. R.D. 2 215-987-6257 Pitman. PA Schreffler Equipment Pitman, PA 717-648-1120 Temacuia. PA Charles S. Snyder, Inc. R.D. 3 717-386-5945 West Grove. PA S.G. Lewis Son, Inc. R.D. 2, Box 66 215-869-2214 RSEY Washington. NJ Smith Tracto Equip., Inc. 15 Hillcrest Ave. 908-689-7900 Woodstown. NJ Owen Supply Broad Street & East Avenue 609-769-0308
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