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)
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DEALER
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