Candle Making and Artisan Bread

My family has really been getting into learning how to do things lately. From cheese making to candle making to home made bread. Didn't get any pictures of the cheese but it was pretty good. The candles, they made with bees wax. It wasn't from our bees, they had to buy it because our bees have not been successful the past two years. Our bees from 2007 might have done well but we had a bear tear into them and they never recovered. It was too late in the season.

Well, this post isn't about bees anyway it's about learning to make things for ourselves. It's pretty cool really, to see something like candles transform before your very eyes.

This way of making candles is a long slow process, but it works. The kids have known how to do this for a long time now since they did it while they were in the 4-H when we first moved here.

However this is the first time they have used bees wax for anything. I really like the idea of using it because if we ever get good at raising bees then we'll always have wax.

It's fun when they actually start taking shape after all that dipping. It takes longer with real hot wax but it makes for a nice looking finish. Cooler wax seems to go on thicker with each dip though. I think most people know how to do this. You just take the wicks and dip them in hot wax, let them cool and do that over and over until you wind up with a candle.
These are the finished products hanging up and ready for use. In the below picture you can see one of them in action. They are a nice burning candle with no mess whatsoever.

Shalea our oldest has been making bread for a while now. She's been making these kind in the below picture. The only problem is that we go through it pretty fast especially when it's fresh out of the oven. Nothing like hot buttered bread right out of the oven. Hmm good!

Lately she's been thinking of getting into artisan bread making and I'm sure it would make a nice little enterprise to add to our farm produce. In fact I believe it could easily become a center piece business for her.

Here are some more artistic types of bread she's learning to make. In fact earlier she made these loaves for tonight's meal.

I've been doing research about wood fired artisan bread ovens in hopes that in the not too distant future I can build one. I've found some plans available online and it doesn't look too complicated though like everything it looks to be fairly labor intensive.

Speaking of labor intensive there is another thing we'd have to deal with if Shalea is going to do this on any large scale and that would be some mechanical means to knead the dough. She hand kneads it now which gives her a pretty good work out. Doing alot of bread would wear a person out I think.

Here in this picture we are about to sit down to this fine meal. Salad, corn, home grown carrots, farm raised chicken and home made bread. We aren't rich by worldly standards but, we eat like kings!

It is a satisfying thing to learn how to do something for yourself in this day and age when almost everything can be bought in a store. People make things in factories but usually all they have to do is push a button. Or they only do one or two things on an assembly line. But hand crafted one of a kind pieces of work are hard to find these days. And you sure can tell the difference too. That is, between something that came off an assembly line and something that is a unique one of a kind. Something that is as unique as the individual who made it, with their own two hands and the intellect and skill that God gave them.

Until Next Time