New Beeswax Candles

Musical Note - 5 inches tall - $7.75 Violin-Cello - 8 inches tall - $9.50 Treble Cleff - 6.5 inches tall - $7.75
Unicorn	Alladin's Lamp

Shedding Light on the Candle's History

For centuries, candles have cast a light on man's progress. However, many people aren't aware of the origin of candles, named for the Latin word "candere," which means "to shine." Although it is often written that the first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians who used rushlights, or torches, made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow, the rushlights had no wick, like today's modern candles. It is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle, using it to aid travelers at dark, and lighting homes and places of worship at night. The rest of the story...

Pick up your candle order at the vineyard.

We do not stock every candle we make at our small sales stand. You may want to email us with an order and we will have it ready when you arrive at the vineyard on the weekends.
G o to our candle search page to make a selection.....

What's the white cloudy film on my beeswax candle?

This white film, called bloom, is normal and occurs to all pure beeswax. More...

Harvest season at the Vineyard -best crop in 5 years! Blending grapes, Grape Crusher Available, Are you receiving our Picking Updates?

This is the best looking crop of grapes we have had in many years. Due to the mild winter we had minimal winter damage and we missed problems with spring frosts. The vines have set fruit, matured during the summer and harvest will began on Friday, Sept 1. Details ......

If you did not receive your emailed picking update and would like to receive them (there is about 4 or 5 of them), click on the "Update Your Profile" link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Every week during September we hold a drawing and someone wins a bushel of grapes. Check the updates for your name.

I was recently working out in the vineyard on my tractor and was thinking about the different combinations of grapes I have used for wine. Since we have more than 20 varieties there is a lot of experimenting that can be done.

Here are some of my favorite combinations......

Grape crushing facilities are now available!
We have established an outside area back by our barn where you may crush and de-stem your own grapes. You provide your own pails and buckets and crush the grapes yourselves, we provide the crusher-stemmer and a hose for clean up. We are not responsible for spilled grapes or juice.
Cost .05/lb.

Make Red Wine the Easy Way!

Grape pails are a plastic pail, with a nylon strainer bag in it, tied with a loose knot, filled with crushed and de- stemmed grapes and quickly frozen. These grape bags may be added to grape juice to add color and body resulting in a red wine, or just used by themselves. They are very handy when you do not have a press - just squeeze them by hand or let them drain - And the strainer bags are re- useable!
More juice & "Grape Pail" info .....

Interesting Website

The Missouri State University Libraries, Paul Evans Library of Fruit Science - Viticulture website caught my attention recently. It provides access to information on the World Wide Web related to viticulture, a.k.a. grape growing, primarily in the United States of America.

Can you grow organic grapes? What fertilizer and spray programs do you use in the vineyard?

Grapes can be grown organically but we only use normal grape growing procedures and a spray schedule set up by the Michigan State University. We stop spraying completely about a month before harvest. More.....

Harvest at the Honey Farm

Lots of summer colony work has been completed and now we are ready to harvest. Bring your containers of honey to fill up from our bulk tank  for $1.75/lb. Details.........

The Honeybees like grapes too!!

A beautiful swarm flew over my barn into the vineyard. The air was alive with honeybees. I followed them, hoping they would land soon -- and they did, on a Delaware grape vine. The rest of the story......

Do Bumble Bees make honey?

Yes, but only a few pounds. The bumble bee colony will average about 250 bees in the summer (honeybees about 50,000) and produce 1-2 lbs of honey (a honeybee colony will produce 50 - 250 lb).  The rest of the story.....

Congratulations!

Harvest candle winner:zahavainla@yahoo.com

Will this months w*nner,
zahavainla@yahoo.com   please contact us and send your address so that I can ship your pair of candles.

Our list of previous candle w*nners.

Click below for something silly to end this newsletter with.

See You Next Issue!