5 New Items this Christmas Season!

These Huge Triple Wick Cylinders are 6 inches wide by 3 or 6 inches tall. These are very large candles - the biggest on our site - the 6 inch one has 5.25 lbs of beeswax! Small Triple Wick = $22.95 Large Triple Wick = $37.95	These are 2 new Christmas Ball Scene Candles - one with a Fireplace scene and one with a Cabin on the Road scene. They have 1.75 lbs of beeswax in them. About the size of our Large Ball Candles. Fireplace scene = $14.95 Cabin on Road scene = $14.95
New 12.5 inch Cylinder Pillar List Price: $29.30 Special Price: $ 23.50	This 3.5 inch wide x 12.5 inch tall pillar is one of the largest of our cylinder pillars. Our cylinder pillars are wider than most other pillars on other sites (most are 3 inches wide) are hand made with old fashioned style metal molds rather than the newer 3 inch plastic molds. It takes at least 24 hours of pouring, cooling & manipulation to create just one of these candles. A larger square braided wick is used in our cylinder pillars allowing the proper amount of wax to be fed to the flame. With this process we end up with a larger and longer burning candle.

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Bloom or No Bloom

We have been having a lot of discussion in our family this year regarding the bloom on our candles.

Bloom is the dusty looking substance that grows on the surface of beeswax candles. It is a naturally occuring substance that appears 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 removed by the gentle heat of a hair dryer.

At Honeyflow Farm we usually let the bloom grow naturally, except for our Nativity figurines and our Christmas Tree ornaments.

On our Nativity sets and Christmas tree ornaments the candles are dipped in a "candle luster" solution that seals, protects and hardens the surface of the candle to prevent dust, fingerprints and it really brings out any detail on the candle.

(click on image for a larger view)

The above picture shows two different candles with and without the candle luster.

However, many people prefer the more natural look with the bloom.

I would prefer to dip any candle that has a decorative picture on it in the waterbase sealer and let the tapers and pillars have the natural bloom on it, but the rest of my family disagrees - So we would like your input.

What do you think? Please click on our very quick survey:

I prefer the more natural bloom finish on all decorative candles. I prefer the more finished, more protective and glossier finish on all decorative candles. Comments:

 

Honey harvest completed - Yields down, Prices up and our honey is a little darker this year.

We finally finished extracting all the crop for this year and we find that the supply in our area is somewhat short this year. I like to have it all finished by Thanksgiving and with the help of a local youth, Eric Fisher, we finished it.

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Merry Christmas From Honeyflow Farm - Free copy of "101 Things to do with Honey" by Elizabeth Cole to the first 10 people that request it - email me here.

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We still have had more questions on what heat does to honey so we added to the information we had in a past article.

What honey do we sell at our farm? Raw & unprocessed?  Unfiltered Wildflower?   Pasteurized ? Yes! Raw & unprocessed honey is available at our farm as comb honey (4 inch square boxes and 1lb jars), in 2 gallon pails (solid), in 2.5lb containers (solid) and from our bulk tank at our sales stand when we are open in the fall (liquid - for a short period of time). Yes! The wildflower/clover mix table honey sold at our farm is not filtered or pasteurized! We warm our honey only to 135 degrees, cooler than most residential hot water tanks. This will retard granulation, a natural condition of honey for a short period of time. This low temperature warming allows us to lightly “strain” the honey through cheesecloth and pack it into containers. Any occasional honey crystals that may appear due to this more natural treatment may be melted by putting the jar of honey into hot water. No! Pasteurized honey is not sold at our farm. Honey does not need to be pasteurized! There has been much talk about “E Coli” bacteria lately. Honey is very acidic (it has the acidity of grapefruit juice) which does not stimulate bacteria growth. Honey is also “hygroscopic”, which means it will absorb moisture. Honey will absorb the moisture from any bacteria that it contacts and not allow it to survive. Honey has been used throughout history as a “wound treatment” to prevent infections. Pasteurization, which is the process of quickly heating the honey to 160 degrees or more and immediatley filtering, will negatively affect the taste and nutritional value of honey. How does heat affect Honey? Room Temperature Comb Honey is really the only “true” raw honey - It is just cut out of the frame and put into a box. 90 to 100 degrees. This is the temperature inside of the beehive where the honeybees live. This is what we consider “Unfiltered Raw” honey and is what we sell from the “Bulk Tank” at our sales stand. 125 to 135 degrees This is the temperature that we bottle our honey at. Our honey is only strained through cheesecloth and not filtered. This will retard granulation about 3 months without affecting the quality. 150 degrees Many local beekeepers bottle at this temperature. The quality is still excellent, but anytime you heat the honey you will start to lose quality somewhat and we have been happier with our lower temperature handling. 160 degrees or more This is the temperature that most large honey packers heat their honey to before bottling. They also quite often “filter” the honey which will make it sparkling clean and a have a long shelf life for a grocery store but the flavor is degraded.

 

The Christmas Stocking

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there"

There was a kindly nobleman whose wife had died of an illness leaving the nobleman and his three daughters in despair. After losing all his money in useless and bad inventions the family had to move into a peasants cottage, where the daughters did their own cooking, sewing and cleaning.

When it came time for the daughters to marry, the father became even more depressed as his daughters could not marry without dowries, money and property given to the new husband's family.

One night after the daughters had washed out their clothing they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night Saint Nicholas, knowing the despair of the father, stopped by the nobleman's house. Looking in the window Saint Nicholas saw that the family had gone to bed, He also noticed the daughters stockings. Inspiration struck Saint Nicholas and he took three small bags of gold from his pouch and threw them one by one down the chimney and they landed in the stockings.

The next morning when the daughters awoke they found their stockings contained enough gold for them to get married. The nobleman was able to see his three daughters marry and he lived a long and happy life.

Children all over the world continue the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings. In some countries children have similar customs, in France the children place their shoes .by the fireplace, a tradition dating back to when children wore wooden peasant shoes.

In Holland the children fill their shoes with hay and a carrot for the horse of Sintirklass. In Hungary children shine their shoes before putting them near the door or a window sill.

Italian children leave their shoes out the night before Epiphany, January 5, for La Befana the good witch. And in Puerto Rico children put greens and flowers in small boxes and place them under their beds for the camels of the Three Kings,

Unknown Source

From our readers

This is a section for comments/questions/recipes from our readers. Please read the comments & feel free to put your 2 cents worth in.

Visit the Readers Comments page to view all the content of these messages. Here are samples of this months e-mails:  

Do the 6.5 tapers fit standard candle stick holder?  ••   What type of wicks do you use?  ••   Moving grapevines  ••  Growing grapes in Florida  •• Is your honey raw? ••  Substituting honey for sugar  ••  I would like to purchase some of your exquisite candles for my holiday list but I do not have a credit card.

The "From our Readers" Page

Lapeer County Concert Choir Annual Christmas Concert

(Why is this here - I also sing in this choir - it's great - come hear us if you are in town)

Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), was an Italian music composer who lived during a period of art commonly known as the Baroque era. Vivaldi was trained for the priesthood and ordained in 1703 but soon after his ordination ceased to say Mass. He lived in Venice and taught music at an all-girls orphanage for most of his life.

We will be performing The Vivaldi Gloria on Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lapeer, Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Imlay City, and Saturday, December 13 at 7:00 p.m.at North Branch Wesleyan Church in North Branch. A portion of the program will include more traditional selections such as The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night.

Lapeer County Concert Choir

Candle W*nner & Laugh of the Month

 

Congratulations! December candle w*nner is:
yankee6161@yahoo.com


Will this months w*nner,
yankee6161@yahoo.com
please contact us and so that I can ship your candles.

Our list of previous candle w*nners.

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Click below for something to end this newsletter with.

Laugh of the month: A new take on an old song.

See You Next Month!

Honeyflow Farm
4939 Mill Rd.    PO Box 275
Dryden, Michigan 48428
(810) 796-2344 (Phone & Fax)

Comments or questions concerning Honeyflow Farm
should be addressed by clicking on the link: