On December 9, members of the Gorham High School (GHS) Bee Club gathered after school to create homemade lip balm and hand salve from local, organic beeswax. Everyone had a lot of fun learning how to make the products and experimenting with different scents and ingredients.
Students were split into groups of four. First, each group combined about two ounces of beeswax, four ounces of coconut oil, and two teaspoons of almond oil, then melted them in a double boiler over a stove. They poured the hot mixture into empty lip balm or hand salve containers and waited for it to solidify.
“The wax hardens enough so that it’s not like a rock in your pocket,” said Catherine Paul, teacher at GHS and the Bee Club advisor, “but the oil softens it enough so that you can put it on your lips.”
Each group also added six drops of an essential oil into their mixture. The oils are what give the lip balms their scents, but are very strong, hence the need for so few drops. The scents to choose from included peppermint, lemongrass, lavender, orange, tea tree, and rosemary.
“I am going to give my lip balm and hand salve as gifts for friends and family for the holidays,” said Abby Rosingana, a junior at GHS and secretary of the Bee Club.
Photo Credit: Grace JohnsonAli Landry, Aedan Macdougall, Shannon Randall, and Abby Rosingana making lip balm and hand salve.
Aside from making beeswax products, the Bee Club has been busy with many other activities this year. In the Fall, they installed hives in Robie Park and have been maintaining them ever since.
Right now, not every member of the club is able to handle the bees. Only students who have completed a certification process can feed and inspect them up close. “Once certified, we can enter the enclosure and interact with the bees, with permission,” said Ali Landry, a junior in Bee Club. “The next group certification for the club will happen this Spring.”
The Bee Club also worked to run a stand at the Gorham Farmers Market a few times this year. Everything they sold was made by students, including “bee hotels”, stickers, jewelry, and artwork.
The club’s mission is to become informed, confident beekeepers, and to educate the community about the importance of honey bees. Later this year, the Bee Club is planning to do just that.
“In the Spring we are hoping to show a documentary in the MPAC about bees to raise awareness for our club and inform the community,” said Aedan Macdougall, a junior and president of the Bee Club.
The Bee Club has already done a lot this year, and making lip balm and hand salve was a really fun opportunity for club members to learn about some other uses of beeswax. While the club is just getting started, it will continue to work with bees and the greater community for the rest of the year.