Choosing Joy

Breathe deep...
and walk straight into God's unfailing Promises.

A Sweet Endeavor...

We've survived our first year of Bee-Keeping on the Lake!

And what a year it's been... like, what have we gotten into kind of real!  Lots of work, and... yes, we've had a sting or two.  But, oh, the rewards!

That honey... truly, it is beyond sweet!  To be sure, we never imagined we would find ourselves tending thousands of bees when a happenstance encounter to purchase a jar of honey took us off the beaten path last year.

So. if you're new to our neck of the woods, here's the scoop...

For years, we homesteaded our beautiful 30 acres in North Texas with a herd of cashmere goats... I know... just so adorably cute, those baby kids...

In Texas, livestock and other agricultural activities allow the homeowner to qualify for the agricultural exemption on your property taxes... so not only did we enjoy our little cashmere goat business, we also received a tax break... Win-Win!

Fast forward to retirement dreams and our big move to the lake.  And building little cabins in the woods.  And the hard decision not to bring the goats out to the lake... what with coyotes and bobcats and all manner of goat enemies lurking around every corner... {scary sigh}

Then enter the most happy of chance encounters... a neighboring beekeeper just happened to hang a banner on his gate selling his local honey, and during that first purchase of several jars the conversation was off and running... Over the ensuing weeks we learned that Beekeeping also qualifies as an agricultural exemption and more importantly we found ourselves a perfect beekeeping mentor in Byron.  He has taught us the basics of beekeeping and we have been more than grateful for his patience and wisdom and friendship through it all.

And, so the small beginnings of Brushy Creek HoneyBee Farms! (And there are pictures... you guessed?!)

Preparing the hive boxes came first,

a weekend of prepping and painting...

9 Hives ready to go!

Trying out our new Bee-suits... and praying they're Bee-Proof!

Next up... buying our Bee Nucs...

An exciting day for these new beekeepers!

A Bee Nucleus is a small starter colony of Bees... who knew?!

They came in small "hive" boxes that we loaded up in the back of our pick-up and then trekked on home...

and yes, there was lots of buzzing and a few loose bees!

It was getting real!

Once we got home with our Bee Nucs

it was time to transfer them to our prepared hives.

There was lots of sweating going on under those bee keeping suits, just sayin'!

Each starter nuc was packed with several hundred bees,

and they weren't too happy when we opened the box up!

The hives consist of wooden frames filled with wax sheets for the bees to build up their honeycomb... this comb is then filled with one of three things:
1. Brood (the Queen lays eggs which hatch into larvae and finally pupate into baby bees)

2. Pollen (to feed the larvae so they will grow up to be good bees)

3. Nectar (which the bees magically turn into honey) 

 

Once the Nucs were transferred to their new homes,

life settled down to weekly hive inspections and sugar water feedings...

the sugar water gives the new hives a chance to get a good start, allowing the hive to grow and become established even though the nectar flow was short this past spring.

Each week we would check the hives and as the number of bees grew,

we added boxes to the tower to accomodate these growing numbers.

Our clover field took off well and we had a

bumper crop of bees enjoying the bounty!

The butterflies enjoyed it too!

Each week we watched as the comb filled with more and more honey...

Honeybees have an amazing ability to sense when the honey is at exactly the right moisture content to cap it off... here you can see the whiter, waxy cappings on this frame... getting closer and closer to harvest time! 

And it's time!

The frames are all around 80% or more capped,

Byron said it's Harvest Time!

Byron graciously allowed us to use his equipment this first harvest,

so we gathered our frames of sweet, gooey, golden goodness

and headed to his place.

First, we took each frame and gently uncapped the comb,

or basically cut the wax off with a serrated knife!

Then we placed the frames in the honey extractor...

It's a manual, centrifugal-type extractor,

we both took turns cranking it...

the spinning of the tub flings the honey to the outside walls and then down to the bottom of the tub where it flows out into our waiting bucket...

Several hours later, we had our first offical harvest total...

17.80 pounds of honey!

We took that delicious bucket of honey home and continued to run it through 2 more filters before bottling it up for friends and family...

Of course, there were lots of quality control samplings along the way!

Mouth-watering deliciousness... those honeybees know their stuff!!

The sweetest of joys to taste our very own honey!

Bon Appetit!

May your week be filled with sweet harvests of your own,

labors of love, so very worth the wait!

In Grace, Always,

     Jane

Well, Hello Gentle Visitors...

Look who came visiting the lake place early this morning...

A quiet grace that brought a smile to my face.

May you find a little solitude to enjoy simple gifts this day.

Just a moment or two to be renewed and re-centered

for whatever may come your way...

My Love, Always,

                        Jane

Geese Crossings and Ambulance Drivers

Another day spent behind these hospital walls with nurses and doctors, breathing treatments, blood tests and endless other important medical activities...

Dad is continuing to mend.  And I am continuing to worship grateful.

As I was leaving tonight heading home. I happened to pull in behind an ambulance leaving the ER bay.  As they approached the stop sign that exited us out of the parking lot, they slowed to a crawl and, well, perhaps a picture would make you smile...

A family of geese casually crossing the road... A sliver of joy split my heart.

The ambulance driver waiting patiently until all were across before pulling out.  {Love}

And all was well until one of the geese had a moment of indecision and that messed everybody up!

Do we stay the course and journey on?

Maybe we should turn around and go back?

I am sure there is an appropriate lesson somewhere here,

but I am way too tired to make sense of it...

In the end,

well....

The family headed back to the grassy knoll from which they came

and decided the bug hunting was superb there after all.

(Or so I imagine that's how it went...)

You never know who will be gracing your path each day...

Grateful for moments of happy joy

even in the midst of dad's worrisome hospital stay!

The Babies of Summer...

Sweet Baby Faces!  They're everywhere!

First peachick of the spring, growing into his fluffy peeps!

 

 

And purring fuzzballs charming everyone...

 

 

 

And then there's the baby goat kids...

 

 

Impossible to hold still, leaping and bounding their joy.

 

 

Oops, wrong end... let's try that again.

 

 

And again...

 

 

Almost had it.

 

 

Too close...

 

 

Ahhh....just right!  Sweet little goat babies!

 

 

Mama Dove, what are you hiding under your downy fluff?

 

 

 

 

Precious, little ones...

 

And our most favorite baby face of all???

 

 

Sweet Aubree Claire, bathing beauty extraordinaire!

 

 

 

Sometimes the smallest are simply the sweetest!

 

May your summer days be gracing you with the most adorable of joys...

          Love and Hugs,

                              Jane

 

It's all about The American Dream... Regret #2

So... if I have found the courage to be true to myself (Regret #1), then perhaps I can find the strength to Simplify...and get off the treadmill of the "American Dream."  Which is not to be confused with the Dreams deep inside each of us, waiting for us to have the courage to be true to ourselves. 

Well, if that doesn't just get all tangled up.  Maybe I could just share from Bronnie Ware's article, Regret #2 of the the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed:

"I wish I didn't work so hard."

 

This came from every male patient that I nursed.  They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship.  Women also spoke of this regret.  But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners.  All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

 

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do.  And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle."

Regret #2 resonates for me...  The American Dream is all about pursuing wealth, prosperity and success.  And there is nothing innately wrong with any of these things.  Unless they trap you in a vicious cycle of work, work and more work just to get ahead.  When my money owns me instead of the other way around I know I'm in trouble.

And that's where we were about 17 years ago... living up to our necks in debt, in the middle of a bustling city that never slept, spending little time together as a family, running on a treadmill of work, commitments and fast food just to keep up...

And we wanted off.

I get this regret.  Missing our children's youth.  Missing our partner's companionship.  And for what?  A bigger house, a better office, a more exotic vacation...

At the end of our lives what will matter more?  The days we spent at the office, or the time we spent with friends and family? 

And so... 17 years ago, Leroy and I looked at each other, gave in to the Dare and put our house on the market.  We didn't even have a real plan.  More of a "if the house sells, we'll move to the country" kind of plan.

God made it so.  5 days after the house was listed, it sold...

And we moved an hour north of the metroplex to a sleepy little town of cowboys and rodeos, spectacular sunsets and endless nights of star-gazing.   And also a smaller house, skunks and snakes, no mall and definitely no pizza delivery.  The nearest neighbor was half a mile away. 

We held our breath to see how our 12 year old son and 10 year old daughter would take the news...

 

Here are my dad, Katie and Travis exploring the creek and watering hole

the day we discovered our farm and made the decision to put down an offer.

.

The smiles and adventures were just beginning.

We found, much to our delight, that this move was the right one for all of us.  No regrets. 

Bronnie is right on two counts...

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do.  We down-sized our life-style, but magnified our heart-strength.  There are few words to express the freedom that move gave us.

By creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle... We became goat-herders... who would ever have believed?  Not our friends, nor our co-workers, nor even our vet.  But the goat-herding brought a happy to our lives that bred contentment.  And joy...

 

 

 

Pepaw (Leroy) and Autumn (first-born granddaughter)

 doing chores (with Barbie in tow).

 

There are days I know it doesn't get much better.

 

And, of course, giving it all up to move to the sticks and become goat-herders is not for everyone!  My mom never did quite get it ;-)  But she loved us enough to let us pursue our path to happiness, and for us, this farm is that little piece of heaven.

 

Simplifying doesn't have to mean a radical upheaval.  Bronnie's advice to have the courage to be true to yourself merges seamlessly with the desire to focus our priorities on quality time with our loved ones, even if that means letting work take a back-burner sometimes...

 

"Enjoy the little things

for one day you may look back

and realize they were

the Big Things."

            ~Robert Brault