Category Archives: Sustainable Back Yard

Beeswax Face Cream and Furniture Polish

2014-05-02 11.44.202014-05-02 11.30.42

The face cream and the furniture polish have the same basic recipe. I quite like the thought of that! I did add vitamin E oil to the face cream and broke some lavender flowers in to the polish though.

The jury is still out regarding the moisturiser – some people in the family are allergic to all store bought creams and break out in rashes, pimples and is some cases small weeping sores from them – and it takes about 2 weeks of consistent use before the problems start.  The product feels lovely on the skin and I, for one, ( no allergies) shall be using it during the winter on hands, feet, face and especially lips while working outdoors in the cold.

The furniture polish worked very well on my wood wardrobes, and one can use it for dining tables and all wood food prep surfaces since it does not contain any toxins.

Face Cream and Furniture Polish

1 part beeswax. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on honey combs you can clarify your own wax or you can buy some from beeswax suppliers.

3 or 4 parts olive oil  depending on how soft you want the end product

 

Create a double boiler from two pots, the bottom one with water and a small spacer, I used a saucer, place the beeswax and olive oil in the top pot and heat.  When clear and melted remove from the heat and add vitamin E oil or lavender flowers. Pour in to containers while hot and stir while cooling.

Apply the mix containing the vitamin E oil to your skin and the lavender scented mix to the furniture 😉

 

 

 

Beeswax clarified

2014-04-22 14.04.232014-05-02 11.29.132014-04-25 13.16.252014-04-26 07.33.14

 

We have some honeycomb from which we had already removed the honey. I read up all I could about clarifying and extracting the wax and almost gave up trying. It all seemed too difficult, but was very easy after all. I tied the combs up in the top of a pair of pantyhose, put it in a pot of water placed over another pot of water to create a double boiler. I boiled the wax until the wax had melted and leaked out of the pantyhose leaving the crud and rubbish behind, easy to lift out and put in the bin.  After cooling overnight I had this beautiful yellow disk of beeswax floating on the water in the pot, ready for various projects from moisturiser cream, furniture polish to coating my cheeses. It smells so good, too.

1833 – Early maturing, high producing Coturnix coturnix

2014-04-26 - No 18 - 5 2014-04-26 - No 33 - 12014-04-26 - Eggs from No 33 - 2

Following the phenomenon of exceptional early maturity experienced in two of my Coturnix coturnix birds, and many research projects that support a positive correlation between early sexual maturity and total production, I have decided to commence with a new breeding line i.e 1833. The reason for the name is that the Male, No 18, commenced crowing as early as 18 days of age and the Female, No 33, laid her first egg  at 33 days of age and repeated it on days 34 and 35, where we are at now. The family tree of the two birds, include Italian, White and Tibetans on the Male side and Pharoah and Tibetan on the Female side – so a real out cross would result from this mating with hopeful maximal heterozygosity.  The male also comes from a group of Italian females that produced exceptionally and at one stage produced 100% for 18 weeks in a row.  All these Italian hens are still producing at the 90%+ level and is in excess of one year of age. It would be the intention to continue to select for early maturity and total production as primary selection criteria.  The Male and Female respectively weighs 170 and 185 g at five weeks of age, and I shall guard to breed this line too big, aiming at females of 220 – 250 g and males 200 – 230 g. Very early days, but exiting times and I cannot wait for the first progeny of this mating, and as No 33 is already laying eggs, it wont be long.

 

Hen lays egg at 33 days of age

2014-04-24 - Egg by 33 day old hen

Coturnix coturnix Quails never fail to impress. Today I have had a hen laying an egg while she is only 33 days of age.  What the reason or significance of the early maturity is, I do not know. This hen is also from the same batch that produced a Male crowing at 18 days of age.

 

Tuxedos Coturnix are taking the lead in size

2014-04-22 - Bigger than you think

 

Young Tuxedo Coturnix has taken the lead in growth rate for males up to five weeks of age and weighed in at 180 g.