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September 2011 ~ Bee Engineers: The Master Builders | |
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After working with bees for over three decades, I am still continually amazed by these magical, little insects. Could you imagine if we made our own building material from our bodies? Well, honeybees do just that! Beeswax is produced in the worker bees' eight wax-producing glands, and used to build honeycomb cells in which baby bees are raised and honey and pollen (their food) is stored.
In other words, bees literally secrete their own building and storage material! Now that's real sustainability: imagine if we could all produce wood from our bodies to build houses ...
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Bees store nectar in perfectly hexagonal honeycomb cells.
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Scroll down to read more about the magic of honeycomb, our handmade, organic beeswax candles, and some sweet Labor Day specials!
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Sweet Labor Day Specials
For all you hard working busy bees, we're offering a sweet Labor Day special!
The White Lilikoi Eco Pack includes: * Three 8-ounce jars of lilikoi honey * Three 8-ounce jars of white honey Special price - $95 (regular price $105)  | |
White Lilikoi Eco Pack. |
Shipped in our custom-designed Eco Six Pack box, this offer is good through Tuesday, September 6th.
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VIHC's Organic Beeswax
Did you know that we recycle our own organic beeswax to make honeycomb foundation for our bees and beautiful beeswax candles for our customers and friends?
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VIHC's 100% pure organic beeswax candles and 6-ounce wax block. |
Visit our online store to see our entire collection of handmade candles and beeswax blocks, which are great for crafts! Read more about the benefits of burning beeswax candles, or click here to learn about 10 household uses for beeswax.
And remember, to optimize your shipping cost, order a few jars of honey when you order any of our beeswax blocks, bee skep candles or bear candles. Whenever possible, we'll pack your order in our Eco Six Pack box to reduce packing material and send you a more environmental product! |
The Magic of Honeycomb
Worker bees only produce wax during the 10th to 16th days of their adult lives. They must consume 6-8 pounds of honey to produce 1 pound of wax!
Sugar from the honey is converted to wax, and then extruded through small pores, appearing as small flakes on the bees' abdomen.
The exact composition of wax depends on the type of flower nectar bees are eating, and can therefore vary by location, season, and colony.
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This bee is drinking nectar from a honeycomb cell, while the cells below her have been capped over with beeswax to preserve the ripened honey for future consumption.
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Everybody knows honeycomb cells are hexagonal -- but why this particular shape? One reason is that hexagonal structures use the least amount of material to create a lattice of cells with a given volume. Honeycomb is also a form of tessellation, or tiling -- when a shape is repeated over and over again, covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps.
In the hexagonal geometry of the honeycomb, nature has engineered the optimum compromise between strength and utilization of space! Though the walls of each cell are no thicker than two or three thousandths of an inch, the comb is able to hold 22 times its own weight! In fact, the weight to strength ratio of honeycomb construction is so efficient that man has copied it in thousands of engineering applications.
Honeycomb cells are also angled up at about 13 degrees to prevent honey from dripping out. How smart are the bees?!
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A wild beehive in the Puako forest. |
In nature, bees build honeycomb in interesting and sometimes exquisite shapes. For the benefit of beekeepers, we try to encourage bees to make honeycomb in uniform sheets, so that we may extract the honey more easily. To this end, we supply the bees with a wooden frame and a straight piece of 'foundation wax', embossed with a hexagonal pattern. The bees then 'draw out' (add to) this wax to build honeycomb cells.
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VIHC's own organic foundation. |
Here at Volcano Island Honey Co., we recycle our own organic beeswax from wax cappings and old honeycomb to make new foundation for our bees. This saves the bees a lot of time and energy -- since each worker bee must eat up to eight pounds of honey to make one pound of wax!
Making honeycomb foundation is somewhat of a 'lost art' in beekeeping. Today, most commercial beekeepers buy industrial foundation made from wax or even plastic.
We started making our own foundation a few years ago. Aside from helping to ensure our bees' home environment is free of toxins and diseases, this craft is truly a beautiful process. We're especially fortunate that Volcano Island Honey bees produce exceptionally pure, light colored wax -- thanks to the abundance of pale yellow kiawe flowers in the Puako forest, where they live.
We also melt down some of our wax to make candles. As a natural fuel, beeswax is scented by the honey and flower nectar packed into honeycomb, giving off a subtle fragrance as it burns. 100% beeswax candles also burn cleaner and longer than petroleum-based (paraffin) candles.
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VIHC's handmade organic beeswax candles. |
Burning beeswax has even been found to emit negative ions, which clean dust, mold, bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants from the air. Some medical practitioners suggest that burning a beeswax candle before bed may help relieve the symptoms of allergies, sinus problems, and asthma.
You can check out our entire handmade candle collection online: we have cute bee skep and bear designs, as well as 6-ounce beeswax blocks, perfect for crafts. Click here to read about 10 everyday household uses for beeswax!
We hope you enjoyed learning a little more about the magical world of honey bees and the myriad ways in which these curious creatures impact our lives.
Please let us know if you would like to know about any other specific bee facets, and we'll try to share what we know!
Aloha,
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OUR EMAIL POLICY
Volcano Island Honey Company does not believe in or enjoy SPAM, does not inundate its customers with email, and does not share your email address with anyone. We appreciate you sharing your email address with us so we can let you know about our product specials and other updates, and we guarantee we won't abuse the privilege. All of that being said, you can always unsubscribe by hitting the SafeUnsubscibe below.
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Labor Day Special!
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White Lilikoi Eco Pack ~ $95.
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" Resembling liquid pearls when drizzed over scones, Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey has a delicate, yet rich taste that magically transports you to an island paradise..."
- Tea Time Magazine September/October 2006
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Ordering
VolcanoIslandHoney.com
Toll Free: 888-663-6639
Phone: 808-775-1000
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Labor Day Special!
| |
White Lilikoi Eco Pack ~ $95.
|
|
Labor Day Special!
| |
White Lilikoi Eco Pack ~ $95.
|
|
|
" Resembling liquid pearls when drizzed over scones, Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey has a delicate, yet rich taste that magically transports you to an island paradise..."
- Tea Time Magazine September/October 2006
|
|
Ordering
VolcanoIslandHoney.com
Toll Free: 888-663-6639
Phone: 808-775-1000
|
Labor Day Special!
| |
White Lilikoi Eco Pack ~ $95.
|
|
|
" Resembling liquid pearls when drizzed over scones, Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey has a delicate, yet rich taste that magically transports you to an island paradise..."
- Tea Time Magazine September/October 2006
|
|
Ordering
VolcanoIslandHoney.com
Toll Free: 888-663-6639
Phone: 808-775-1000
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