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2026 Hive to Home: A Makers Symposium

Explore below and craft your own unique experience with our individual class pricing, specially curated to showcase the rich flavors of Nebraska's honey and versatility of beeswax.  Join us for an engaging journey!

Saturday July 18th
Central Community College
1215 30th Ave
Kearney, NE
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We've got the Nebraska Honey & Beeswax, now we just need you!

Class Schedule

Makers Symposium Class Info

(Price per class varies, see registration page for details.)

Keynote:  Bob Binnie

Bob Binnie is a Commercial Honey Producer/Packer with apiaries in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia and western North Carolina.  Along with his wife Suzette, Bob does business under the name Blue Ridge Honey Company which is based in Lakemont, Georgia.  Bob began his career in 1981 in Rogue River, Oregon.  He has since had bees in nine state, been President of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, President of the Northeast Georgia Mountain Beekeepers Association, President of the Macon County Beekeepers Association in Franklin, North Carolina, and was voted Georgia Beekeeper of the Year in 2003.

Bob will be giving two, Beekeeper-centric presentations:

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The Chemistry Behind Processing and Using Honey

&
Queen Management and Production

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Class attendees will go home with their own Queen Cell!

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2 presentations for 1 price

Beeswax Candles

Make your own Beeswax Candles!

​You'll learn:

  • Several methods to clean beeswax cappings for candle making

  • How to use candle molds

  • Proper use of wicks

​

You'll take home:

  • Your very own dipped candle

  • Candle or ornament mold

  • Metal wax pouring pitcher

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Beeswax Skincare

Make your own lip balms & solid lotion bar

​You'll learn:

  • Best oils and butters to use

  • Different scents for skin vs. candles

  • Basics on how to render honey cappings wax

​

You'll take home:

  • 6-bar silicone mold

  • Tube Droppers

  • Recipes for products

  • Shopping secrets on where to buy products

  • Products with a sale value of $50

Hot Wax/Cool Art Workshop

Use beeswax to make exciting collages!

Suitable for all skill levels.  

All materials and equipment included.

 

In this workshop you will:

Learn about the encaustic medium, its history and how to make it yourself from beeswax and damar resin crystals.
Learn how to embed papers, fabrics, photos and natural ephemera in encaustic medium. Ready-to-hang small artworks
Enhance your artworks with paint and pastels and incise areas for further interest.

Take home: Ready to hang Artwork!

Artist/Instructor Margaret Berry is a mixed media artist in Lincoln. She uses
encaustic to paint, enhance photographs and make collages. She is a
charter member and former exhibition chair of the International Encaustic
Artists. In addition to being on the Nebraska Arts Council residency roster,
she has presented national workshops as close as Iowa and as far as
Florida. She holds advanced degrees from both UNL and Creighton
University.
In addition to exhibiting nationally, she was selected as the first resident
artist at the Cornhusker Marriott and has shown statewide at the Sheldon
Art Museum, MONA, Lauritzen Gardens, Lux Center for the Arts and the
National Willa Cather Center.

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Mead Making

Basic Mead 101

You'll learn how to:

  • Properly sanitize equipment

  • Use a mead calculator

  • Stop fermentation

  • Back-sweeten your recipe

  • Clarify your mead

  • Bottling process

​

You'll take home:

  • 1 gallon carboy with stopper & airlock filled with mead from the class

  • Racking cane for transferring

  • Bottling wand for bottling

Soap Making

Make your own batch of cold process soap!

You'll Learn:

  • Where to buy quality ingredients

  • How to use a soap calculator

  • Packaging & legal labeling laws for value added products

​

You'll take home:

  • 2lb batch of soap

  • Complete instructions on how to cut and cure the soap

  • Recipes for multiple value-added products

Sourdough Bread Making

Make your own Sourdough bread!

You'll Learn:

  • How to develop gluten

  • What is sourdough?

  • Recipe calculators

  • How to shape a loaf

  • How to feed the starter

​

You'll take home:

  • Your own Sourdough starter made with bread flour, whole wheat flour & salt

  • 2 qt Cambro container with dough made in class

  • Aluminum Baking Pan with Sourdough ready to bake

  • Two spoons for mixing

  • Dish towels

  • Stainless steel dough scraper

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