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Community Corner

Viewfinder: Candle-Making Class at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden learned about the importance of bees, the history of candle-making and made their own beeswax candles in the class last Saturday.

On Saturdays from November to April, the Chicago Botanic Garden hosts classes for families on topics as diverse as "Dinosaur Plants" -- a class about fossils and the kinds of foliage that grew in the age of the dinosaurs -- to "Homemade Ice Cream," about plants that flavor our food and how to use them in, you guessed it, ice cream. The classes are informative but also hands-on, meant for parents and their children to explore the way plants connect to all facets of our world through guided activity.

On February 26, Toni Wierig, Botanic Garden Class Instructor, led a class on Beeswax Candles -- their history, uses, how to make them and where they come from. Students learned about the life of bees and were able to examine them up close and personal under a microscope. They made hand-dipped candles of colored beeswax and paraffin pillar candles.

Students also planted Bee Balm, a perennial flower that attracts bees, that they were able to take home to plant in their own gardens. In all family classes, students get to leave with a little piece of the garden.

Find out what's happening in Winnetka-Glencoewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Botanic Garden will lead weekend family class every Saturday until April 9.

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