FAQ's & How we produce candles at Honeyflow Farm.
Meet Cayuga - Row 34

We have been asked many questions asked about wicks, wax & how we make and ship our candles.

Wax Color - All our candles are made with pure beeswax which is usually a golden yellow color with sometimes a golden brown tint. Highly refined, bleached beeswax may sometimes be white (or very light in color) but the beeswax that is used by most beekeepers who produce candles has a golden color from slight amounts of pollen & propolis (a substance produce by the honeybees to glue their beehives together) that is in the wax.

Some candle producers bleach or color their wax, or add paraffin (a product of crude oil) to it. We use only the pure un-refined natural beeswax. It is just as the bees produce it, except that we heat it to 175 degrees and strain it through cheese cloth.

It is possible that the color of our candles may vary. They are a hand made product and the color of our wax may vary from time to time depending on what the honeybees are foraging on and many other climate conditions. Although much of our beeswax is from our own honeybee colonies, we frequently purchase beeswax from other local beekeepers. Although most of our candles are produced in January & February, we also produce candles during the year. Quite often we will make all the pillars at one time or all the hand dipped candles at one time. Since the wax may be coming from different sources the color of individual items will sometimes vary. We try to send you matching shades of beeswax candles, but they are a product of nature and are not always identical.

Bloom - The dusty looking substance on the surface of the candles in this picture is called “bloom”. It is a naturally occuring substance on all beeswax candles after they have been aged for a period of time. It is desired by many people as it gives the candle a very “antique” look and only beeswax will develop it. If desired, it may be rubbed off with a soft cloth or by using a hair drier (with caution!).

Wicks! - Candle wicking is not just string. Our wicks are usually square braid, flat braid or zinc core (in votives). There are no lead core candles sold at our farm!

Every candle has been tested with different size wicks to make sure we are using the correct one. Beeswax burns a lot different than paraffin and they do not use the same wicks. Beeswax wicks are usually much larger in order to feed the proper amount of beeswax to the flame.

Many decorative candles or candles with shapes such as animals etc. must be watched closely when burning. The irregular shape of them causes different thicknesses of the candle as they are burned. Even though we test & try every size wick in every candle to make sure they burn properly, sometimes they will create too large a pool of wax and overflow the sides if left burning too long.   All it takes is keeping an eye on them!

Changes have been made to our shipping rate structure. You now have the option of shipping Priority Rate for speed or Parcel Post for economy.    click here for details ......

We have seen a lot of fancy sites where their candles have very fancy decorations. We are a "Direct From the Farm" candle shop producing just lots of candles at a fair price!

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Meet Cayuga Row 34 (or really the first vine in this row). This will be one of the vines that we will focus on this year, taking pictures of it all during the growing season. You will see it shortly after it is pruned (around Easter), when the buds are swelling and bursting in May, when it blooms in June, when the berries dramatically increase in size in July, when the berries color (although Cayuga is a white grape) in August, and you may be the one to harvest it in September!  

This is a picture of the first vine in row 34, taken in January 2002
Watch it grow during the season.

Variety Focus on Cayuga White - (GW-3) - Large compact clusters. Wine is clean, neutral, light, resembles white Riesling, excellent. Rows 33 & 34 - Mid September

Cayuga White, named at Geneva, N.Y. in 1972, is one of the most productive and disease-resistant varieties grown in the East. Its wine, which has medium body and good balance, has been rated highly. This versatile grape can be made into a semisweet wine emphasizing the fruity aromas, or, using oak aging, into a dry less fruity wine. When harvested early, it may produce a very attractive sparkling wine whth good acidity, good structure, and pleasant aromas. When overripe, however, it can develop strong hybrid romas with slight American overtones. Its excellent cultural characteristics and high wine quality promise an important future for this variety.