Bees

I realized yesterday that I was almost out of Foot Balm. Heh, I typed "blam" -- I almost always do and it makes me laugh every time. What the?

Anyway, I was quite sure I had a stack of them here ready to go, and suddenly realized that NO! I'm down to my last dozen or so. Trudged out all the stuff, only to find that I was almost out of ingredients too. Just enough to slosh out one small batch which I hope will last me through next weekend, but probably won't. It's been so hugely popular this summer, and I've gotten so many rave reviews about it. And re-orders. Which, at the end of the day, matters the most.

It all came back to me, this exact same thing happened about a month ago. And I actually had to make an emergency run for tins. In that episode, I was short on everything too, and just made enough to last a few weeks, not the great big extravaganza of foot balm inventory that I had wanted to. So now I really need to stock up -- tins, oils, beeswax, the whole nine yards.

One of the things that I've been meaning to get around to is a new beeswax supplier. I've purchased it locally in bulk, raw form mostly. But it's one gigantic hunk of unfiltered stuff, that takes forever to pound up into chunks for weighing and measuring and quick melting. Whenever I've looked around for other stuff, it's always so expensive to ship (pretty heavy stuff). Pellets or beads were the ultimate goal, but I was dead set against the bleached white ones. Beeswax, the pure, raw stuff, has so many lovely qualities, including the gorgeous aroma, that I wanted it as natural as possible. Beeswax has healing, antiseptic, soothing, softening and emollient properties, one of nature's perfect products. But the previous stuff was so natural, I sometimes had bees still stuck in it, and hated to fish the little bodies and antennas out.

I found a new apiary online, who is right here in the Seattle area -- Tahuya River Apiaries has such a beautiful and professional website. The photos of the mountains where the bees roam to collect their pollen caught my eye, but their dedication to using Old World methods, refusing to use modern chemicals and genetic modification sold me. I love knowing exactly who is taking care of the bees, how they are gently handling the wax -- oh, and it comes in one pound bars, already filtered, but retaining all of its natural goodness. And with free shipping -- hoo boy, I'm ordering already. Can't wait to try their raw honey too. Better ingredients just makes better products. I'm thrilled to find them.

P.S. And a special thank you to the charming gal who requested that A Lot of Flowers in Fairhaven special order the Foot Balm for their shop. They are on their way.