Candle Making and Straw Bale Garden Action!

I purchased materials about a year ago to make some emergency soy candles.  Knowing with the big storms that have come through lately it isn't a bad idea to be prepared with some emergency candles.  We are working on putting together an emergency can cupboard in our basement and these will perfectly fit.  The reason I went with soy candle wax is because it is all natural and can be cooked over if need be which normal candle wax really shouldn't be.  The wick is a slow burning wick that isn't supposed to give off harmful smoke either so can safely be burned indoors.  Each candle when burned continuously should burn for 10-15 hours each.  In the event of an emergency chances are we would only be using them during the dark evenings if we lost power so one candle can last several days if not continually used.  We also have two oil lamps however they are not safe to be used for cooking hence why we figured we would make some soy candles. 

----All pictures below are courtesy of Mary Grace my assistant----


We used recycled glass jars to make the candles.  Canning jars could also be used.


Soy wax flakes


I have enough wicks to last us a lifetime!


To combat the wick moving once we pour the melted wax in I decided to hot glue the bottom to the middle of the jar. 


Voila stuck in place!


I used a knife to firmly press it into place.


To melt the wax we made our own version of a double boiler.  The best combo was a large metal bowl inside of a huge pot! 


Pour in some flakes and just let them melt.


When melted it turns yellow and all liquid.


Poured it from the metal bowl into a measuring cup.  Due to it being soy wax you do not need candle only making materials (like you would for normal candle wax), it is safe to use your every day kitchen materials and simply just wash after.  Another perk of using soy wax!


Pour into the jar.  Fill up but leave some room on the top. 


We had to pull the wick straight up and we checked on it every so often until it hardened enough to stay in place in the middle.


Mary said she took this one to be "artistic".


We even had a special fashion show inbetween waiting for the wax to melt!


Starting to cool and harden.


A 5 lb. bag of soy wax made 5 large candles.


Finished products all cooled and wicks cut down.


Success!


When completely cooled just put the jar lid back on and it is ready to be stored.  A match book can be placed inside each candle right under the lid for easy access.  In the case of an emergency one has no time to run around trying to find a lighter or matches.

Today we planted our seedlings and direct sow seeds into our straw bales.


The straw bales after the fertilizer decomposing.


In addition to our seedlings of zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, and peppers we also directly sowed green beans and carrots. 


We only needed to dig down a little bit to make a hole for the seedlings.  The spacing is the same in the straw bales as it would be in a typical garden space.


We then placed our dainty seedlings or seeds into the dug holes.  Had we purchased seedlings from the store they would have been at least 4x the price however more mature.  We likely will need to wait an extra few weeks before our seedlings can catch up to store bought more mature seedlings.  You can use mature seedlings from the store too, we just opted to try out our green thumb this year with our seedlings which surprisingly grew well!


Even the sides of the bales were put to use!  The cucumbers and zucchini now live in the sides and are known to grow well on the sides of straw bales.




Sprinkled garden soil on top.


After everything is planted we put garden soil on top of the bales to trap the heat in and help the seedlings and seeds adjust and grow.


Our straw bales new look!


To stop our pups from having an open buffet of veggies and fruits (like our strawberry plants had become!) we put up a temporary garden fence.


Put the stake posts in then put the plastic garden fencing up.  There are hooks to hook the plastic fencing in however we chose to use plastic zip ties knowing how crafty our fellows are.  Extra reinforcement is never a bad idea.  We hope to be able to take it down and reuse it next year too! 


Our fence in a fence!  Our strawberry plant planter has officially made its new home inside the fence.  While our dogs could easily jump the fencing barrier, we are pretty sure it just being there will be enough to deter them from snacking.


Instead of snacking now they are playing on the jungle gym instead!  We pressure washed but with the latest on and off again rain we haven't been able to get a nice clear day to stain it yet.  Once stained the tarp and flags can go on!